In the middle of this wild weekend celebration, while the wicked witch has been vanquished for at least a year, someone needs to find disgraced former Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt and give him a Big Orange hug.

For all the wreckage he left in his wake of program mismanagement, for all the money and illegal benefits he and wife handed out to recruits that put Tennessee directly in the NCAA’s crosshairs, he allowed his offensive coordinator in December of 2020 to recruit a transfer quarterback that left the program with its best present in years.

Hendon Hooker.

Jim Chaney, OC for the Vols under Pruitt, identified Hooker once he left Virginia Tech and headed to the transfer portal at the end of the 2020 season. His 3 years at Virginia Tech were uneven, but Chaney told me last year he liked Hooker’s arm talent and the way he managed the game.

So he convinced Pruitt to sign Hooker, and Pruitt — who was busy fighting for his job — signed off on it, because what else was he going to do? Pruitt got fired, Josh Heupel was hired, and Heupel convinced Hooker to stay in Knoxville.

And this is what happens when the right coach and the right quarterback find each other.

A streak is broken, a statement is made.

Tennessee’s 38-33 win over longtime nemesis Florida on Saturday afternoon was so much more than breaking a 5-game losing streak, or winning for only the 2nd time in 17 games in the series, or surviving a last-second Hail Mary (again!).

It was a coming-out party for Hooker, who somehow, despite an unreal season in 2021 (36 total TDs, 3 INTs), was but a blip on the national preseason screen. The Vols were preseason SEC darlings, but Hooker was a supplement to Heupel’s celebrated offense.

There was Bryce Young and Stetson Bennett and Will Levis and, wait a second, what in the world is Spencer Rattler doing in this conversation?

That spectacularly shortsighted offseason is gone now. Hooker has arrived after throwing for 349 yards and 2 TDs, and rushing for 112 yards and another score against the hated Gators in a nationally-televised game that everyone — inside the SEC and out — zeroed in on.

He made big throws, and escaped and made back-breaking runs while extending plays. The Vols had explosion plays in the passing game of 70, 45, 43, 21 and 16 yards (twice). They had explosion plays in the run game of 44 (by Hooker) and 39 yards.

They executed Heupel’s Blur Ball offense nearly flawlessly over the final 3 quarters of the game — and did it while Hooker dealt with a bruised throwing shoulder after being driven into the ground on a tackle.

Hooker gutted it out and got better as the game wore on. He was poised, not panicked. He was decisive, not hesitant.

He was everything the Tennessee quarterback position wasn’t in this rivalry over the previous 5 seasons. Jarrett Guarantano and Quinten Dormady and Keller Chryst and Brian Maurer and JT Shrout, and my goodness, do I really need to continue?

But for the decision of Chaney, currently an offensive analyst at Georgia Tech, imagine where Heupel would be in his rebuild of a completely gutted team when he arrived in Knoxville. Frankly, Tennessee had a brief idea of where it would be without Hooker in the first 2 games of the Heupel era.

Though Heupel convinced Hooker to stay at Tennessee, he also recruited Joe Milton from the transfer portal and chose the strong-armed Michigan transfer over Hooker after the 2021 fall camp. The result was disastrous.

Milton struggled to execute the offense and had issues reading defenses. Less than 2 quarters into Week 2 against Pittsburgh, it was obvious Milton wasn’t going to work. Hooker took over and the Vols changed immediately.

Now here we are, with a beautifully restored 1966 orange Mustang, growling and grinding and doing 90 in a 45 — with Hooker at the wheel.

Six years ago in this game, when quarterback Josh Dobbs led the Vols to a victory that snapped Florida’s 11-game winning streak in the series, Vol Nation was convinced their long-suffering program had turned the corner.

Coach Butch Jones stood on a ladder in front of the Pride of the Southland Band and orchestrated Rocky Top. Dobbs did, too.

Then Tennessee lost 3 of its next 4, and was no factor when the calendar rolled to November the games to remember arrived. A year later, the Vols went 4-8 and Jones was fired.

Pruitt was hired (we don’t need to get into that mess of a hire), and the under-qualified and overwhelmed P. E. coach (no offense, to the great P.E. coaches of our youth) quickly flamed out. But his OC, Chaney, left the gift of gifts.

Hendon Hooker has arrived, everyone.

And so has Tennessee.