QUAPAW —
Josh Heupel has been spending some quality time with dad.
The only thing is the University of Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator and his father, Ken, are spending that time on the road teaching football and life experiences to young players.
"We really enjoy it," said the younger Heupel, who helped the Sooners win a national championship in 2000. "It's still a father-son relationship. Trust me, he's all over me during the camp, keeping me on my Ps and Qs. It’s a lot of fun, though."
This marks the fourth straight year the Heupel's Day of Champions Football Camp has made a stop in Quapaw.
The camp, sponsored by Downstream Casino and Resort, drew players from Quapaw, Fairland, Miami, Afton, Riverton, Kansas City, Carthage and Webb City.
"I get to spend a couple days on the road with my dad and a lot of good friends in the coaching profession," Josh Heupel said. "It’s a great opportunity to work with young kids, talk a little ball at night and get ready for the fall season which is coming up quickly.
Heupel said the camp uses football as the venue or avenue to draw kids in so the coaching staff can teach them principals and traits that will allow them to be successful as the grow up.
"We have great staff that loves the game of football, but they love to use it as a tool to help kids be successful in the classroom, outside the classroom and for the rest of their lives," he said.
Heupel is in his second season as the Sooners' co-offensive coordinator, sharing the duties with Jay Norvell.
OU finished fifth nationally in total offense and passing offense in 2011. The Sooners also finished No. 10 in scoring offense while Landry Jones was No. 6 nationally in total offense. Blake Bell broke the OU record for rushing touchdowns by a freshman quarterback with 13 TDs.
Jones threw for 4,463 yards and 29 touchdowns for a Sooner team that went 9-3, then hammered Iowa 31-14 in the Insight Bowl.
"We’re excited about him coming back," Josh Heupel said. "He’s continued to progress. It’s a real sense of urgency this year I think in understanding this is his last year and he needs to make things work for us as a program and for himself. We have a great group of guys surrounding him. The offensive line has a great attitude and has had a great work ethic throughout the entire spring.
"Championship teams have great summers and we’ve had a great summer."
Also back is tailback Dominique Whaley, who basically came from nowhere - making sandwiches in a Norman Subway - to become the team's leading rusher.
"He did to the outside world, but from within our walls everybody understood he had capability of being a great player the way he approached every single day, his work ethic, his attitude and his demeanor," Heupel said. "He was very impressive from the first day he set foot on campus. In spring scrimmages when he got an opportunity to play before he was eligible, he was as productive as anybody we had in our program at that time.
"So him playing at a high level wasn’t a surprise to anybody inside our program because he played at that level every single day."
The Big 12 Conference gets a makeover Sunday when Missouri and Texas A&M depart and TCU and West Virginia come aboard.
"You get TCU and West Virginia coming into the conference and it absolutely doesn't make things any easier," Heupel said. "There are bunch of teams ranked in the Top 25 preseason poll. That doesn't always indicate how good team are, but certainly it's a tough schedule. We always play one. Our kids embrace it. They like the competition week in and week out. It drives us on a daily basis."
This is a down time for the Sooner coaching staff, but things will start gearing up in mid-July. Players will report in early August to start preparation for the Sept. 1 opener at Texas-El Paso.
