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Josh Heupel gave arm for Oklahoma national championship. Brent Venables tells gutsy QB injury story
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- Josh Heupel gave arm for Oklahoma national championship. Brent Venables tells gutsy QB injury story
Josh Heupel led Oklahoma football to the 2000 national championship as a star quarterback while concealing a serious injury to his throwing arm.
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, an assistant on that Sooners staff, revealed that tidbit while praising Heupel's toughness during the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday.
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"You know in that 2000 season – many people probably on the outside don't know this – he spent the back half of that year injured," Venables said. "His throwing arm, his elbow was as big as a watermelon. It was swollen up the last five or six games.
"The way he managed that with his toughness was really incredible."
You could say that Heupel, now Tennessee 's coach, gave his left arm for Oklahoma that season. It never returned to full strength and cut his NFL career short.
Heupel will lead the No. 7 Vols (3-0) against No. 13 Oklahoma (3-0) on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) in his return to his alma mater.
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Josh Heupel arm injury impacted NFL career, still lingers
Heupel was a Heisman runner-up that 2000 season. And he guided Oklahoma to the BCS title after telling his teammates during a preseason speech that they could win the national championship, ESPN.com reported .
The left-handed Heupel said he still has damage his throwing arm after gutting through that injury without missing a game in the 2000 season.
"It still doesn't look right, if you look at it closely," Heupel said. "There are a couple of other nicks and bruises too that caused me some problems at the end of that year.
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"But that team, in general, the ability of guys to be resilient and play through whatever they were going through was a huge part of why we were able to go win a championship."
Heupel's NFL career was cut short , in part because of injuries to his throwing arm that he played through at Oklahoma.
He was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the sixth round of the 2001 NFL Draft and spent training camp with the Green Bay Packers in 2002. But injuries to his throwing arm persisted.
Quarterback Josh Heupel #14 of the Oklahoma Sooners moves with the ball as he pushes back a player during the game against the Oklahona State Cowboys at Lewis Field in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Sooners defeated the Cowboys 12-7.Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr /Allsport
How Josh Heupel played through pain for Oklahoma
Despite those arm injuries, Heupel passed for 1,412 yards and eight touchdowns and rushed for two more TDs in the last six games of that 2000 season.
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He was named AP Player of the Year and helped the Sooners remain unbeaten, surge to No. 1 in the polls and win the national championship.
"His best qualities were his poise, his control, his belief in the players around him," Venables said. "He was as consistent of a player as I've been around."
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com . X, formerly known as Twitter @AdamSparks . Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe .
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Josh Heupel: Tennessee coach hid injury at Oklahoma, per Brent Venables
