Hendon Hooker explains why Josh Heupel's scheme works and it sounds like something Kirby Smart would say
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker was asked this week at SEC Media Days about Josh Heupel's offense and why it works so well. Hooker offered an explanation that included a comment that sounded exactly like something Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart would say. "He (Heupel) lets the quarterback be a quarterback and have […]
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker was asked this week at SEC Media Days about Josh Heupel's offense and why it works so well.
Hooker offered an explanation that included a comment that sounded exactly like something Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart would say.
"He (Heupel) lets the quarterback be a quarterback and have fun and play with freedom," said Hooker during an interview with 440 Sports. "He puts the trust in you and he knows that your preparation is going to have you ready for the game time situation. Practice is 10 times harder as far as situational work. A lot of people talk about that game-winning drive against Alabama, but we were doing that almost every single day in practice. Imagine being backed up on the goal line and trying to go score the ball in practice and then we get in the game and it's 10 times easier."
Smart is famous for his hard practices at Georgia that he feels are tougher than games.
It sounds like the same thing is true under Heupel at Tennessee. Now, their methods are very different — Smart is more of an old-school dictator-type coach while Heupel, though ultra-competitive, has more of a "fun" atmosphere while demanding that players work hard every day. The approaches might be different, but the goal is the same — make practice as hard as possible so it's easy on Saturdays.
For most of last season, it looked pretty damn easy for the Vols. So I'd say Heupel's approach to practice, while it looks different than Smart's, is a championship-caliber approach
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