Of Thompson and Heupel

[Zing]

I remember at the end of last season how a lot of excitement was due to the anticipation of Heupel coaching Bomar all summer long, because Bomar showed spark as a pocket passer with the ability to run when things got dicey.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but the situation has changed a bit with Thompson under center... He's a fantastic athlete, but I'm not sure if he's proven his passing ability just yet. Given that he's a fast and powerful runner with the ability to throw quick dump passes, how do you think this will change Heupel's effectiveness as a quarterback coach?

Basically, it seemed like Bomar was tailored to coach Heupel's old playing style, and that's one of the reasons why we had such high expectations for Heupel as a coach. Now that we've got an athlete whose physical abilities are so much different than the quarterback from 2000, will this lower, not affect, or raise Heupel's ability to coach? (Raise being a possibility because running is already formidable, and he's got the ability to boost a player's passing smarts faster if they don't have much expertise in that area.)

Honestly curious here.

[All_Day_28]

I don't think it affects his ability to coach.. we've always known Josh has the potential to be a great coach, regardless of who he's coaching..

[Egeo]

well, hopefully heupel can teach him how to be an effective passer

and heup was great at avoiding the pressure long enough to find the open guy - something easy to pass on to an athletic guy i think

[msteudem]

One of the best things that Paul will learn from Josh is reading defenses. Josh was awesome at doing that and changing plays at the line. I think that Paul's biggest weakness has been his read on defenses so having Josh and having had him teach him how to read the defense I think is a big plus.

I know a lot of reading defenses is based on qb instinct but don't worry ..... Josh will teach Paul how to use the force. ;) :P

[TrophyCollector]

If Josh can ever teach any QB to be as good at reading a defense and checking off to the right play as he was, they won't need much talent.

[All_Day_28]

If Josh can ever teach any QB to be as good at reading a defense and checking off to the right play as he was, they won't need much talent.
so true... Josh>>>>_____

[Desert Sapper]

I think Josh will look really good as a coach this year, because there's no way Paul doesn't improve. He's going to be better than last year. The question is really how much of JH rubs off on him and how quickly. If Paul is a good student and responds well (I think he's probably better than Mr. Ego in that category), we could see a huge year out of the ENA. Apparently ENA is the leader we need him to be. If he can learn to make those same decisions and can exploit defenses, he could be just as dangerous as JH was, maybe more so given his athleticism.

[King Crimson]

well, i think the test is gonna be can PT convert 3rd and 8's. that was certainly the hallmark of Jason White and Heupel was a freak.

but, i agree that by all accounts the learning curve with Josh as coach should be higher with PT than it may have been with Mr. Wonderful. whether we are a better team or not without Mr. Wonderful remains to be seen. He was a pretty talented guy.

[Octavian]

As far as a working relationship, I think Josh will be relieved that *****'s gone. Josh (moreso than any other of the coaches) wasn't being shown the sort of respect that a player should show a coach....much less a quarterback and his quarterback coach.

PT is in his 5th year and has a really light class workload.

He's saying that he's spending most of his out-of-class time w/ Josh and KW watching film and studying the offense (and I'm guessing also studying the top defenses in the early part of our schedule - though thats just conjecture).

Hopefully, he'll pick up on enough to be servicable and make the offense click. He's only had about a month though...

[Desert Sapper]

PT is in his 5th year and has a really light class workload.

He's saying that he's spending most of his out-of-class time w/ Josh and KW watching film and studying the offense (and I'm guessing also studying the top defenses in the early part of our schedule - though thats just conjecture).



I think this could be the biggest factor in his success this year. He should get about twice the football schooling, and I can't think of any better teachers.

[Zing]

Hm, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Should work out well, and hopefully Thompson can learn how to read defenses from Heupel. Let's hope that his instinct is something that can be learned as well.

[Blues1]

IMHO - Josh will be a Head Coach someday....This Season Josh and PT will grow....Students learn from the Teacher and the Teacher learns from the Student - Both will learn - Both will grow -We may not go 14 and 0 ..?? - But we will put up One Hellva' Fight.....

Get ready to Rock....

[rogcoley]

Paul has no one looking over his shoulder this year. We need and have a team leader who is a hungry senior. He wants to learn and become better. Perhaps Bomar thought he was great already and wouldn’t have been a good student of Josh.
Bomar’s stats: 10 td 10 int. He HAD potential. He now has a qb position at Sam Houston State, which is in Huntsville, where there is also a prison. Can you say “The Longest Yard”?

[tbl]

I think we all can foresee Heupel being a head coach one of these days. In bizarro world, what do we do if he goes the way of Royal??? Will our generation of fans still have the same admiration for him we do now, or do we turn on him like we did Royal? Granted, Heupel contributed much more that Royal did... but still.

All hypothetical and will most likely never happen... but it made me wonder.

[FlatheadSooner]

The relationship, or lack thereof, between Bonehead and Josh was one sticking point I was worried about this year.

Now I feel that Josh's coaching talent will be much more fruitful and will help to make ENA surprise the CF world by end of the season!!

[Taxman71]

PT looked no better, no worse against TCU than RB did against Tulsa. RB got the opportunity to improve the rest of the season, where PT did not. If PT were left behind center all year, he would be sitting in great shape right now IMHO. I expect PT to show steady improvement every game, just like RB did. I don't expect PT to have nearly as many turnovers as RB, but may complete fewer throws (i.e.-the type only an arm like RB can complete).

In hindsight, turnovers killed us last season as our defense played very well all season (sans the first half against the whorns). Eliminating the turnovers and we are win a few more last year and pull away on a few more.

[David Earl]

First, for Josh to do Bomar any good, Bomar had to listen. He wasn't listening.

Second, don't underestimate what Josh can do for Paul by way of coaching.