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Q&A: Josh Heupel

Missouri offensive coordinator Josh Heupel met with local media for the first time since accepting his new job. Here is the full question and answer session with Heupel and reporters from Friday afternoon.

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Can you tell us about your background with Barry and is working together something you guys have talked about for a while?

“I wouldn’t say that. I’ve known Barry, played against him, really didn’t know him at that point. I played with his brother, but got to know Barry really on the recruiting trail. We recruited the same area in Texas for a while. Once Missouri left the Big 12, went to the SEC, that’s really when I got to know him more on a professional level. We talked, exchanged notes, what they were doing defensively, what we had done my first year taking over as coordinator, the changes I had made, how that impacted and what he thought of them. There was a lot of dialogue just professionally at that point. The next couple of years with different job opportunities that I may have had or that he had, there were conversations and those types of things.”

So when did these conversations to come here pick up?

“The closer he got to actually getting the job."

What’s your vision for an offense and for this offense especially?

“Score a lot of points. How you do that, there’s a million different ways to do it. That’s not the sexy answer for you guys. I prefer to play up-tempo, I prefer to play with a bunch of pace, throw the ball effectively. I do think you have to run the ball efficiently to win, in any league at any level. If you want to compete for championships, you’ve got to be able to run the football. You know, my first couple years calling it, we finished in the top five in the country in passing, had an experienced quarterback, good skill players, that’s how we were able to play. Former boss wanted to make a change philosophically, wanted to be able to run the football, wanted to get in the quarterback run game, wanted to steal 60 to 80 yards in the quarterback run game and so we did that. With injuries, you know, in every year, your personnel changes during the course of a season because of injuries, quarterbacks, whatever it might be. You’ve got to find a way for those guys to operate and be effective. I’ve had offenses in the top five in the country in passing, had one in the top ten in rushing. We went from averaging 3.3 yards per carry the year before I took over as coordinator, ended up at 6.2 yards per carry. For us here at Missouri, we’ve got to be able to run the football and we have to be physical. You’ve got to be physical up front with your five guys and edge players you have at tight end, but you better be physical across the board. Your wide receivers better be physical as well. That’s an attitude and a mentality that we have to have here. That’s partly developed in your offseason training. But we will play with pace and be able to throw the football.”

What did you learn during your time at Oklahoma? Your first experience and it wasn’t always sunshine and roses.

“No. We were pretty effective too, you know what I mean? Going into our bowl game the last year we were top ten in the country in scoring with only one team that had the same amount of plays or fewer ahead of us in scoring. At the end of the day, what did I learn? Trust yourself, be who you are, schematically and every minute of every day and compete.”

What were your conversations with Barry like about what he wants out of this offense?

“He has a defensive mindset, but not all of those guys are that way all of the time. I feel like he feels the personnel they have and as successful as he’s been on the defensive side of the ball, and maybe some of the struggles that they experienced offensively this year plays into it as well, that he wants an offense to be able to score points. Now I think he realizes that there’s a lot of different ways to be able to do that and you better fit your scheme to your personnel. If you don’t, if your personnel can’t fit in the scheme, then you’re going to have issues. And so year one when you’re taking this thing over, big part of the transition for me and our offensive staff is finding out who we have at our skill positions, who we are up front and how we put those guys in a position to be successful and win one-on-one matchups at the end of the day. Because that’s what you’ve got to do. Your backs, five guys up front, get them to the second level and get them one-on-one with the safety. Same thing with your wideouts. If they’re rolling the extra defender in the box then how are we gonna win the one-on-one matchup on the outside? And put your personnel in the right position to do that.”

Do you have a preference on using the quarterback in the run game?

“I think there’s times that it is advantageous and you need to do it. But you’ve got to be extremely smart in terms of when you’re doing it and how you’re doing it and the types of hits that he is gonna take. If you’ve got a bunch of inside plays with your quarterback and he’s getting smacked around by linebackers in this league, he ain’t gonna last very long. If you’re reading somebody and you got a blocker out in front and the quarterback has time to get out on the perimeter, take what’s there, get out of bounds or get down. I think those are advantageous situations for a quarterback. That’s maybe not the exact answer you’re looking for, but I think there’s a role for it.”

How do you approach the challenge of taking over an offense that was bottom five in the country?

"You just chip away one day at a time. You hire the staff. Good guys that can develop the guys in the room that are great fundamental teachers of the game. You recruit. You bring in great players. Guys that can make a difference for you that fit not just athletically, but mentally fit the attitude that you’re trying to develop and obtain in this program from the head down. And then you develop those guys in spring ball, throughout the summer, in training camp and you give those guys a chance to be successful. You have a great plan through spring ball, but once you truly find the identity of who and what you are, you’ve got to be extremely smart in training camp in giving those guys the opportunity to rep and develop in the schemes that you feel are gonna fit those guys. So it becomes second nature and you’re not just grabbing at straws throughout the course of the season.”

Not sure how much time you’ve had to watch game film or see the guys play, but what are your impressions of Drew Lock and Maty Mauk?

“Maty, winner, competitor, tough. Finds a way to extend, make plays. Drew, great talent, quick hands, which sounds weird when you’re talking about a quarterback he’s got quick hands, but the ability on run-pass options to catch, get the laces or not get the laces into the mesh, read a guy, pop out of it and get the ball out of your hands is extremely important in today’s game. Quick arm, just on dropbacks, ability to get it out, can throw from different angles, body positions, arm talent. Both those guys are extremely talented.”

You know Drew a little bit, right? You recruited him?

“Yeah, we recruited him.”

Made a late offer, right?

“Yeah, ultimately from the head down, he was not going to take a quarterback in that recruiting class. Then as I found out it was getting closer and closer to Drew saying, ‘Hey, I’m getting closer to making a decision,’ I offered him. Loved him in person, loved his competitiveness and overall athleticism. He’s a great basketball player.”

Have you had much chance to study other personnel?

“A little bit, yeah. First get here and then you get into recruiting, but you better have a little bit of a base of who you are, what’s your depth at these positions. And you won’t know them intimately. Do I know them the way I should or that Barry maybe does? No but I have a feel for what we have.”

What do you see as some strengths on the roster and some places you maybe need to improve?

“First and foremost, the thing moving forward is we’ve got to be competitive, we’ve got to be tough. Those are all attributes that I think we’ve got to continue to develop inside this program. But if you look at position by position, offensive line there is some youth there. Physically, those guys have got to do a great job in the weight room. We’ve got a junior college tackle committed, signed (Tyler Howell), gonna be here whenever we start school here in ten days or whatever it is. He’s got to have a great offseason, physically put himself in a position to play at an elite level in this league. Some young guys that maybe didn’t play inside the program that guys feel maybe were ready to play got to have great offseasons and adjust to what we’re doing. We got to have some depth there at the offensive line position. Wide receiver has some youth that has played some ball. Really need to develop fundamentally, technique and become great competitors in my mind. Need to find, you know, a couple guys who can be difference makers on the recruiting trail as well.”

Have you spoken with Maty and what have you told him about his chances or his place on the team coming into the spring?

“It’s gonna sound funny, but I just got done talking about the personnel we have here. The guys that have come in and I’ve seen, whether it’s a walk-on or a guy that’s started here, they all get the same song and dance and it’s pretty simple. They all have histories and in talking to some of the coaches that have been here and GA’s that are here right now, I know some of their pasts and other coaches will as well, but that has no bearing on who and what they are moving forward. Everybody starts with a clean slate, I don’t care if you started every ballgame last year or you were running scout team reps. You’re going to earn it every single day. The guy that has the best offseason is the guy that’s gonna start first day in spring ball. Guy that has the best first day of spring ball is the guy that’s gonna be starting day two. Compete.”

What was the last calendar year like for you? Losing a job at Oklahoma, resurfacing at Utah State, how crazy was it all?

“Not that crazy. Little bit of a circus initially. My wife and kids moved out in spring. I’ve known Matt (Wells) for a long time. Not the same way, but kind of the same way that I’ve known Barry. Got a chance to talk to him, he’s obviously on the offensive side of the ball. There were things I wanted to do there when I went there, we talked about getting into the eighties as far as number of plays per game. Then things change. We lose, I think, four out of our top five or five out of our top six wideouts by the tenth period of the second practice of fall camp. Injuries, suspensions, kicked off the team. The dynamics just changed and so we changed. Our tempo this past year came from sugar huddle. Wide receivers are breaking out fast, then we’re lining up in different sets, maybe have speed sweep. But we played within the three phases of the game to give ourselves the best chance to operate and win. Injuries throughout the year at quarterback and all over the place. Enjoyed my time out there. Great group of guys, great staff. Matt’s been a great mentor. He’s a big-time head coach and will get a big-time head job here soon. Just learned a lot of things from him and how to operate every single day and build a program. Obviously excited about the opportunity to come out here.”

As far as putting together a staff, I know you have one spot on the offensive side that still hasn’t been filled, but the guys who are here, Andy was already set, what were your discussions with Barry and how much input did you have putting together an offensive staff?

“Guys that he feels strongly about on the field, in the meeting room and as recruiters are guys that you want to hold on to. He feels strongly about some of those guys from the previous staff. I didn’t know either of them. I knew Andy (Hill) a little bit just from recruiting against him, in particular Dorial out of Springfield and had bumped into him a couple times. Those guys are great guys. I’m getting to know them right now. They’re competitive, they want this place to be great and they’re team guys. That’s my take on them after knowing them for seven to ten days. There’s a reason that they’ve been here this long and there’s a reason that they’ve been a part of this place being so successful for a long time and there’s a reason that coach Odom kept them.”

How much input are you going to have on the offensive line hire?

“Barry’s the head coach, man. That’s why he gets paid the big bucks.”

Do you feel the need with Drew to build him up a little? Do you think his confidence maybe was shaken last year?

“Most kids you might feel that way with. In the games that I watched down the stretch of the season, he got beat up a little bit. A couple of them, I got a chance to see on TV a little bit. He got knocked around. The one thing I will say about him is he kept coming. Physically, he’s a tough kid and I think the other kids in that room are wired the same way. Is his confidence shaken? It could be. I may not know that. That’s not the assumption I make after talking with him and meeting with him. He’s a confident kid, eager to learn, wants to be put in a really good situation to be successful. He understands that he’s got to grow fundamentally, he’s got to grow mentally and understand what we’re doing, but also understand the defenses. When I watched him, his eyes and body weren’t in the same place and as a quarterback, if you don’t have a great understanding of what’s going on and what you’re trying to call and run versus variations on defense that you can get, if your eyes aren’t in the right place, you look really bad really quickly and the game’s really fast. The game will slow down for him this spring. I truly believe that and I think he’s got a great future ahead of him. To answer your question, I don’t think his confidence is something that he’s gonna have to worry about.”

Is that what stood out the first time you met with him or did you notice other things?

“I watched him in crossover tape, we were playing BYU after they had played them here. Some of the talent jumps off the tape right away. I wasn’t watching him in particular at that time, I’m obviously studying BYU’s defense, but you know, you could see his timing was off, he’s late with the ball, he’s not anticipating the window coming open. Those are things that maybe some young quarterbacks go through, absolutely, but if you don’t have a great understanding of what you’re doing and what’s on the other side, then all of a sudden, those things become glaring weaknesses just because your eyes aren’t in the right place.

“I think it’s tough. If you’re a true freshman, coming in in June, pick everything up and then play in September, that’s a hard process to go through.”

Do you know where you’ll recruit or will you just focus on quarterbacks?

“I don’t know. That hasn’t been set yet.”

Where have you recruited? Texas mostly?

“I recruited Texas, the east side of the Metroplex into East Texas for a long time. A little bit of Louisiana for a year when we decided to make that a region at Oklahoma, then we got back out of it and went more national recruiting. Those have been my primary spots. I recruited Arizona and parts of Utah this past year. My last two years at Oklahoma, 90 percent of my time was spent recruiting offensive linemen. We were real thin there after my first two years as coordinator so in the spring and in fall recruiting I helped the offensive line coach there majority of the time.”

Is that a focus for you right now too?

“Offensive line? Yeah. I think we’ve got some young guys in this program that can play at a high level. I don’t know all of them as well as I should because I haven’t seen them out on a game field, you know what I mean? But there’s some guys that have a chance to develop. They’ve got to have great, it’s true of all of our guys, I think January, February, March leading into spring ball, that first quarter of your four quarters of your calendar year, that’s a pivotal part of us becoming a team that can compete and win week in and week out. There’s a lot of strides that we need to make physically.”

Do you have much of a relationship with (strength and conditioning coach) Roark (Cutchlow)?

“Know of him. I’ve met him a couple times. Friends and colleagues that I know in that world have the utmost respect for what he has been able to do and build with guys inside of his program. A ton of respect in this profession for him. I’m excited about that hire, him being able to unleash his magic.”

What are your next couple of months like balancing recruiting with developing a plan for what you want to do going into spring football?

“Recruit every single day. It’s the lifeblood of who and what you are as a program so you’ve got to do it every single day. Once the staff, we’re off the road in early February, late January, diving into what we’re gonna do schematically. And then as you get into your offseason conditioning program, you get a really good feel for your players, just toughness, athleticism--when I say toughness I’m talking about mental and physical--and then you get into spring ball, you get a true sense of who they are on the field with the pads on.”

Being at Oklahoma, what stuck out to you about Missouri over the years?

“There’s a lot of moments against them. Some good, some bad. To me, it’s a unique place. The lone school inside the state. You’re able to recruit some great recruiting grounds, fertile recruiting grounds, and kind of be the main attraction. Obviously you’ve got to compete against some other regional schools here. I think you’ve got a great fanbase, it’s a program that’s had a ton of success. Obviously the transition they made into the SEC, the first year struggled, year two and three I think it was, or three and four, whatever it was, the success speaks for itself.”

Do you have to adjust coming into the SEC? Obviously the Big 12, defense seemed optional at times.

“You’re going to play great defenses in this league. You look at the SEC East in particular, I think maybe all of them are defensive head coaches. That might be wrong. Butch might have been an offensive guy and Jim McElwain down at Florida, but there’s a lot of defensive guys in this league. There’s great players in this league and great players on the defensive side of the ball. It’s different. The point totals are different than what they are in the Big 12. But at the end of the day, again, you can play a lot of different styles and be successful. It’s about putting your kids in situations to be successful.”

I know you’ve had less than two weeks to really look at anything.

“It hasn’t been that long that I’ve been here.”

Is there anything about the offense you felt comfortable with looking at it?

“That’s not fair. The thing that I’m looking at is personnel. If that’s what your question is about, obviously we want to improve everywhere. All those pieces come together. Scheme, personnel, all of that’s got to fit together for you to be successful on Saturdays.” You need to almost completely rebuild the offensive line in terms of who started last year. Do you like it that way or would you prefer to have some guys back? “We don’t get that luxury. It is what it is, you know what I mean? You lace them up and go to work with the guys that you’ve got.”

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