Steady Quarterback Key To Sooners' Success

Oct. 26, 2000

By OWEN CANFIELD
AP Sports Writer

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - The player who makes Oklahoma's flashy offense click is about as exciting as your local CPA.

Josh Heupel is more about grit than glitz. In this age of me, Heupel talks about we. He's soft-spoken and humble, almost boring. He swears he doesn't read or listen to what is written or said about him.

He doesn't exactly knock your socks off on the field, either. Plenty of quarterbacks have stronger arms, and no defensive coordinator spends much time worrying about his scrambling ability.

But Heupel's play is the biggest reason Oklahoma is 6-0 and ranked No. 3 heading into Saturday's game against top-ranked Nebraska.

"He's just exceptional," coach Bob Stoops said. "I don't think there's any other way to say it."

Heupel has completed 68.6 percent of his passes for 1,894 yards and 11 touchdowns, with just four interceptions. In the Sooners' three Big 12 games, he is even better - 75 for 107 (70 percent) for 995 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.

And Heupel has been at his best in the two biggest games so far. He threw for 275 yards and a touchdown against Texas, then burned Kansas State with 29-of-37 passing for 374 yards and two TDs despite being knocked down repeatedly.

"Up to this point, I haven't seen anybody better," Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said afterward. "Although I know there's a lot of great players out there, that was as fine a performance as I've seen in an awful long time."

Snyder said Heupel's demeanor and toughness remind him of Chuck Long, whom he coached while an assistant at Iowa in the 1980s. Long is now the quarterbacks coach at Oklahoma.

"They're great decision-makers, they have great poise and a tremendous ability to place the ball in a position or spot where receivers have a chance to get to it and defenders have no chance," Snyder said.

And to think, Heupel wound up at Oklahoma almost by accident.

Heupel spent one year at Weber State before transferring to Snow Junior College in Utah, where he threw for a ton of yards but didn't exactly find himself swamped with offers from Division I coaches.

Stoops, after getting the Oklahoma job in 1998, hired Mike Leach from Kentucky as offensive coordinator. As defensive coordinator at Florida for three years, Stoops had seen what kind of trouble Kentucky's wide-open offense could cause and he thought it would work at Oklahoma.

Leach began searching for a quarterback and found Heupel.

"I think what really impressed us is when Josh was here on his recruiting visit, all he wanted to do was watch videotape," Stoops said. "He didn't want to go out and run around town, he didn't care about going to see the learning center. I think he knew he was smart enough, he'll get a good degree.

"He wanted to watch football. He wanted to know, `Can I run this offense and have success?"'

Yes, he can. Heupel threw for 3,460 yards and 30 touchdowns last year and helped lead Oklahoma to a 7-4 finish and its first bowl trip since 1994. Then he spent the spring and summer studying more film, bulking up in the weightroom and working with Long to improve his mechanics.

The payoff has been obvious. Oklahoma ranks first in the nation in scoring, fourth in passing offense and fifth in total offense.

He is the first to credit his teammates, and it's true that Oklahoma's receivers and offensive linemen have been outstanding. But Heupel has been uncanny.

The quarterback in Oklahoma's offense has plenty of leeway to call audibles, and Heupel seldom makes a wrong call. He has thrown 118 straight passes without an interception. Plus, he is willing to stay in the pocket and throw under duress.

"If you're a throwing quarterback, getting hit in the mouth is going to be part of the game," he said. "Teams want to bring heat on you, and they're playing a game of can you get rid of the football before we get to you and can you complete it."

Heupel has won most of those. As a result, he's the front-runner for Big 12 player of the year and a Heisman contender. Just don't expect him to get excited about it all.

"I'm the same quarterback that was at Weber State, at Snow Junior College. I'm the same person," Heupel said. "God has blessed me with a great opportunity to come out here and play football and have a great platform to reach a lot of people. Hopefully, I've taken advantage of that to the fullest extent."

On Thursday, Heupel was announced as one of five nominees for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, presented each year to the nation's top senior quarterback.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Steady Quarterback Key To Sooners' Success

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