It’s no secret that Tennessee football‘s new head coach Josh Heupel has a touch for developing young quarterbacks into NFL prospects. His quarterback-driven offensive mind is one of the many reasons Danny White selected him as the new honcho on Rocky Top.
As a quarterback himself at the University of Oklahoma in 2000, Heupel was the Heisman runner-up and won the BCS National Championship with the Sooners. His track record with top draft picks and current NFL quarterbacks speaks for itself.
Throughout his distinctive coaching journey, he’s mentored names like Sam Bradford, Baker Mayfield, and Drew Lock at some point in each of their college careers. He also gave Green Bay Packers’ 2020 first-round selection Jordan Love his only FBS offer while on staff with the Utah State Aggies.
Heupel has had proven success developing passers at the collegiate level, but what is it that makes a quarterback successful in his offense? Tennessee football’s head coach touched briefly on that during his introductory press conference last Wednesday.
"“It’s about the makeup and the guy inside as much as it is anything. How competitive are they? You know I think that’s extremely important – what drives them every day, what is their ability to react and respond to adverse situations, can they wipe the slate clean from the previous play, can they handle all of the noise and all of the pressure that’s going on around them, not just on gameday but in everyday life as they walk through campus. Can they meet the expectations and the work habits that you have to have? All of those little things add up to a guy playing at a championship level at that position. If you’re going to chase championships you better have a championship quarterback.”"
It’s especially important to remember the last sentence of his quote: “If you’re going to chase championships you better have a championship quarterback.” Five quarterbacks coached by Heupel won conference championships in college. Bradford and Mayfield were two of them. The other three were Paul Thompson, Landry Jones and McKenzie Milton.
Obviously, he has a Heisman winner in Bradford. Thompson, Bradford, Jones, Mayfield, Lock, Love and Trevor Knight make up seven guys recruited or coached by Heupel at one point who made NFL rosters. Four of those guys have started at least one game in the pros: Bradford, Jones, Mayfield and Lock, although Mayfield never actually played a game under Heupel.
Simply put, that championship comment has clearly manifested itself in results at four different places, including two Power Five programs. Given that truth and Heupel’s QB specialty, maybe the Vols are finally in the right hands.
UT’s quarterback situation moving forward
There should be plenty of talent for Heupel to pick from in Tennessee football’s quarterback room next season. Returning scholarship players include Brian Maurer who started four games and appeared in eight as a freshman in 2019, and Harrison Bailey, who saw action in six contests and started three of them as a freshman last season.
The Vols are also adding graduate transfer quarterback Hendon Hooker from the Virginia Tech Hokies and incoming four-star freshman Kaidon Salter. Hooker started six games in 2020 for the Hokies and Salter just led the Cedar Hill Longhorns to their first state title appearance since 2014.
Another key piece to this puzzle is four-star in-state QB prospect Ty Simpson, set to announce his college destination on Feb. 19. For Heupel, who has stated previously that locking down in-state targets will be a priority for him and his staff, Simpson feels like a must-have building block for his first recruiting class in Knoxville.
Though Tennessee football’s new coaching staff is still being assembled, maybe Heupel alone could be enough to snag a pledge from the 6’2″ 185-pound phenom out of Martin, Tenn. in the coming days. The prospect of being coached by him given his track record has to be a selling point for a guy like Simpson.