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Tennessee football: Analyzing Josh Heupel’s second year in last five roles

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee Herd Coach Josh Heupel at the 2021 Music City Bowl NCAA college football game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021.Kns Tennessee Purdue
Tennessee Herd Coach Josh Heupel at the 2021 Music City Bowl NCAA college football game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021.Kns Tennessee Purdue /
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STILLWATER, OK- NOVEMBER 27: Quarterbacks Coach Josh Heupel of the Oklahoma Sooners places his headset on during the game with Oklahoma State Cowboys on November 27, 2010 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. (Photo by Jackson Laizure/Getty Images)
STILLWATER, OK- NOVEMBER 27: Quarterbacks Coach Josh Heupel of the Oklahoma Sooners places his headset on during the game with Oklahoma State Cowboys on November 27, 2010 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. (Photo by Jackson Laizure/Getty Images) /

4. team. 815. . 2007: QB coach. . Sooners

11-3 (6-2); Big 12 Champion; No. 8 AP and Coaches

Heupel got his first job as an on-field assistant a year after that 2004 OU season, joining Bob Stoops’ younger brother, Mike Stoops, in his second year with the Arizona Wildcats and coaching tight ends. A year later, he returned to OU to coach quarterbacks and helped them win the Big 12 championship again with Paul Thompson at quarterback.

This year, OU was breaking in a new quarterback, a guy named Sam Bradford. Current Tennessee football quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle was a backup on this team. Heupel’s coaching immediately turned Bradford into a star, as he completed 237 of 341 passes (69.5 percent) for 3,121 yards (9.2 yards per attempt), 36 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

In the process, the Sooners went 10-2 in the regular season and then won the Big 12 Championship. They did lose their bowl game to the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Orange Bowl, but it wasn’t Heupel’s fault, as the passing was fine. OU gave up 48 points.

Anyway, this was the middle of a four-year run by Heupel coaching OU quarterbacks where he primarily turned Bradford into a Heisman Trophy winner and the No. 1 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. This was the season that proved he knew how to develop quarterbacks.

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