Tennessee Vols HC Josh Heupel has great reaction to being called 'pasty' as a recruit by Oklahoma HC Brent Venables
Earlier this week, Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables described the first time he met current Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel. Venables told reporters that he first met Heupel, who led the Sooners to a national championship as a player in 2000, when the young quarterback arrived in Norman for a visit. At the […]
Earlier this week, Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables described the first time he met current Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel.
Venables told reporters that he first met Heupel, who led the Sooners to a national championship as a player in 2000, when the young quarterback arrived in Norman for a visit.
At the time, Venables, who was Oklahoma's defensive coordinator, thought Heupel was "frail" and "pasty" and threw a wobbly ball.
"We didn't know anything about Josh, but he was outside of the office window," said Venables when describing Heupel's first visit to Oklahoma. "There's a quarterback, he's on a visit, and there's maybe two guys on a visit, and he was one of them. And he was outside — we had an old turf field down there — he was playing catch. And again, I'm saying this with incredible appreciation and respect for Josh, couldn't have been more wrong. Don't judge a book by its cover. He was skinny and just frail. And it was in the middle of winter. [Heupel was] just kind of pasty. And the ball was coming off — he was a southpaw, probably hadn't played in a couple months — and the ball was wobbly. You know, Josh could occasionally do that. And we're like, 'that ain't it'. And (Mike) Leach (then OU's offensive coordinator), he didn't want to bring Akili Smith (who was viewed as the better prospect) in on a visit. No, not interested. And so, a lesson learned."
On Wednesday, Heupel was asked about Venables' comments during the SEC weekly teleconference.
"Yeah, I probably was a little pasty," said Heupel. "I was hiding in hibernation in the early part of my life. But when we got there, I certainly had to continue to grow as a player. I might have always had a little wobble on my ball, but staff there, Mike (Leach) and obviously the strength staff there, did a great job of helping me transform."
There's obviously a lot of respect between Heupel and Venables, who spent nearly a decade together at Oklahoma. But that won't change anything about the matchup between the Vols and the Sooners on Saturday night in Norman. Both teams badly want to win this game and they'll be leaving everything on the field.
