Dooley already major influence on Lock
ATLANTA | Missouri’s Drew Lock led the Southeastern Conference in passing yards (3,659) and passing touchdowns (44) last season, so when word came down that he was losing offensive coordinator Josh Heupel, who left to be Central Florida’s head coach, the senior gunslinger certainly had reason to worry about who was coming in next.
Since Derek Dooley was hired in January to replace Heupel, Lock said the transition couldn’t have been smoother.
Dooley will be Lock’s third offensive coordinator in four years, but the Athens native has already been an influence to Lock, even in his short time in Columbia.
“I was like, wow, this is going to be another huge transition,” Lock said Wednesday at the SEC Media Days inside the College Football Hall of Fame. “After talking to coach Dooley a couple times I knew it was going to be a good fit. He’s transitioned us well. ... He has a pretty good game plan and I’ve really enjoyed my time with him so far and I really wish I could have had him for more (years).”
After considering the NFL draft following his junior season, Lock said the return of 10 offensive starters was a major influence on his return.
Lock now sits at the top of many 2019 mock draft boards.
Dooley, who spent the past five seasons as a wide receivers coach for the Cowboys, is now tasked with leading Missouri’s offense while preparing Lock for the NFL.
“Coach Dooley is teaching me things about the game that I would have never thought about,” Lock said. “Intricate stuff that he’s gotten from the NFL since he’s been there. It’s been a blast to be able to work with coach Dooley.”
With the talented Lock at quarterback, pressure is now on the former Clarke Central tight end and son of Georgia coaching legend Vince Dooley.
Missouri’s offense was the most productive in the SEC last season, posting more than 510 yards per game and averaging 39 points per contest.
After going through the coaching tree and talking to numerous candidates, Missouri coach Barry Odom believed that Dooley, who served as a head coach at Tennessee from 2010 to 2012 after a three-year stint at Louisiana Tech, was the right fit to continue Missouri’s dynamic offense.
“We’ve got a good, strong foundation of what we wanted to be offensively,” Odom said. “When we hired Derek we wanted to maintain some of the things we’ve done with success in the last couple of years. Derek really hit every check mark for me in what I wanted at that position, and he also, because he was a head coach in this league, it’s been good for me to bounce some things off of him, just like the rest of my staff.”
Last season Lock threw for 253 yards and four touchdowns in Missouri’s 53-28 loss to Georgia, and the Bulldogs travel to Columbia on Sept. 22 this year.
With only a spring practice to evaluate the offense, Odom praised Dooley for how he’s handled the job thus far and he’s confident in his offensive coordinator moving forward.
“Once Derek took the job and stepped on campus, I admired the way that he built a relationship with our kids and dove right in,” Odom said. “There hasn’t been one day that he thought that he’s got all the answers. He’s reached out and learned and built it together and I’m excited to see how we keep moving that forward in the fall.”