Local Big Orange connection: Daniel Hood
Knoxville – The 2025 college football season continues this week as Tennessee will look to get back on the winning track as it plays host to the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Kickoff is slated for 12:45 p.m. at Neyland Stadium.
Prior to each Vols’ home game, farragutpress will shine the spotlight on players or coaches who, after their high school careers in West Knox County, moved on to the University of Tennessee to don the Big Orange.
This installment will look back at the career of Daniel Hood, who played for the Volunteers after a stellar prep career at Knoxville Catholic High School.
Throughout his high school and college football career, Hood persevered through adversity. He played for the Irish from 2007-09 for head coach Mark Pemberton and in 2008, KCHS shocked the high school football world by winning the Class 3A state championship and going 15-0 as it battled through injuries along the way.
“That year, we weren’t expected to win many games,” Hood said. “We lost our top two running backs to start the season, and we ended up going 15-0.”
Hood, an all-region performer and all-state standout during his playing days with the Irish, had a breakout season on offense for Catholic during its state championship run.
“I didn’t have a catch until the second round of the playoffs,” said Hood, who played tight end and defensive lineman and Tennessee Titans Mr. Football award winner for the Irish. “My first catch was a 65-yard touchdown and I had nine catches and five touchdowns.
“We had one game where we beat Kingston, 8-7.”
Hood was recruited by Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer, who pulled his scholarship offer.
Hood would, however, go on to play for the Volunteers. With Tennessee, he would have three head coaches, including two of the most unpopular coaches in program history – Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley.
He has high praise for both.
“If it weren’t for Lane Kiffin and (assistant head coach) Ed Orgeron, I wouldn’t have played for Tennessee. I wouldn’t have been a Volunteer,” Hood said. “Phillip Fulmer pulled my offer.
“Kiffin and Orgeron recruited me.”
Hood would redshirt in 2009, Kiffin’s only season on Rocky Top. He would leave for USC just days before National Signing Day in 2010.
Enter Dooley, the son of legendary Georgia coach Vince Dooley. The younger Dooley’s tenure in Knoxville didn’t last three years. And he certainly wasn’t a fan favorite.
But it was Dooley’s effort off the field that captured Hood’s heart.
“My mom was part of a murder-suicide and I was in a dark place,” he said. “I was living in South Knoxville at the time and I didn’t really want anybody to know where I lived.
“And Coach Dooley went knocking on doors to find out where I lived and there was a damn reporter hanging out at my front door and Coach Dooley protected me from that and he met with me once a week just to see how I was doing. He has a big heart.”
During Dooley’s final season, Tennessee lost to South Carolina and the fans were ruthless.
“I remember the South Carolina game and the fans were spitting at him, his kids and his wife,” Hood recalled. “I decided that I didn’t want to play anymore.”
He would, however, return for his senior season at the behest Butch Jones, Dooley’s successor, and strength coach Dave Lawson.
“I wasn’t going to play and Don Lawson talked me into coming back,” Hood said.
The decision to play in 2013 would change Hood’s life.
The Vols went 5-7 and missed postseason play after losing to Vanderbilt at home.
“I didn’t get to go to a bowl game but I got a lot more,” said Hood, who now owns Daniel Hood Roofing and is part of WNML’s Game Day All Day coverage.
“After the Vanderbilt game I had met a guy named Ken, who worked in radio,” Hood said. “I told him I would take his kids on the field after the game.”
Hood did as he promised and now has a broadcasting gig as well as an outlet to promote his business.
