Oklahoma Football: Top 10 Quarterbacks in Modern Sooners History
By Chip Rouse
Oct 24, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops runs onto the field prior to action against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
No. 10 – Josh Heupel (1999-2000)
Josh Heupel was recruited out of the junior-college ranks by Mike Leach, the Sooners’ offensive coordinator in Bob Stoops’ first season as Oklahoma’s head coach in 1999. The Sooners won seven games in Heupel’s first season as the Oklahoma quarterback, throwing for 3,460 yards and 30 touchdowns, but it was in his senior season in 2000 that he and the Sooners really shined.
More from Stormin in Norman
- Oklahoma football: Injury report includes pair of Sooner defenders out for season
- Oklahoma football: ESPN, USA Today bowl projections after Week 3
- Oklahoma football: Sooner ‘D’ grading well, but real test begins with Big 12 play
- Two Oklahoma football players receive Big 12 weekly honors
- Oklahoma football: Sooners’ stock rising fast in ESPN prospective rankings
Oklahoma went a perfect 13-0 in 2000, capped off with a win over Florida State in the BCS National Championship game. Heupel played a major role in guiding the Sooners to their seventh national championship in football and the first under Stoops. Heupel threw for 3,606 yards, 20 touchdowns and averaged over seven yards per pass attempt in the 2000 season. He was voted the Associated Press Player of the Year, the winner of the Walter Camp Award for 2000 and was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy that season.
Heupel, who is from South Dakota, where he was the Player of the Year in high school, was drafted in the sixth round by the Miami Dolphins in the 2001 NFL Draft. He suffered from tendinitis during the season and was never activated on the Dolphins roster. He was released by Miami and signed with the Green Bay Packers in the offseason in 2002, but was let go by the Packers in the preseason. At that point, Heupel made the decision not to continue pursuing an NFL career.
In 2005, he was hired by then-Arizona head coach Mike Stoops as an assistant and to coach the tight ends. A year later he returned to OU, where he coached the quarterbacks for five seasons.
In 2011 the former OU quarterback became co-offensive coordinator for the Sooners, and he remained in that role through the 2014 season. After the 2014 season, in which Oklahoma finished a disappointing 8-5, Heupel and several other Sooner assistants were let go. He is currently the offensive coordinator at Utah State, which incidentally had offered Heupel a scholarship before he chose to accept an offer to play at Oklahoma.
Next: No. 9 - Darrel Royal (1946-49)