Tag: Jeff Lebby

Oklahoma’s offense now led by Jeff Lebby sends out first quarterback offer of new regime

2022 four-star quarterback prospect Nick Evers is Jeff Lebby’s first QB offer since taking over as the offensive coordinator for Oklahoma.

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Things are moving fast on the recruiting trail, and that’s exactly how Brent Venables and Jeff Lebby want it. New Sooners’ head coach and his new offensive coordinator have hit the ground running with the early signing period just a week away.

Lebby ran an explosive and fast offense at Ole Miss, and you can be sure he’s going to bring that to Oklahoma. Lebby’s first order of business is to settle himself and situate the quarterback situation in Norman.

There’s the massive elephant in the room in approaching Caleb Williams and his family and trying to do what’s necessary to lock him in for the long haul. Williams could conceivably transfer after the coach he signed to play left for another school on the west coast.

With Spencer Rattler entering the portal a last week and uncertainty about Caleb Williams, the Sooners are in no spot to get caught with their pants down.

Enter Nick Evers, the first quarterback offer of the Lebby-led Sooners’ offense. Evers is a four-star quarterback who de-committed from the Florida Gators earlier this week and received a visit from Lebby and Joe Jon Finley. It didn’t take long for the Sooners to offer the four-star quarterback.

This isn’t a random shot in the dark. Evers was being recruited by Ole Miss even before he committed to Florida. Who was Evers’ primary recruiter from Ole Miss? Jeff Lebby.

Oklahoma has a significant need to have another scholarship quarterback on the roster regardless of whatever happens with Caleb Williams. One could make a strong and almost bulletproof argument they could do with another scholarship quarterback on top of that. Not having three scholarship quarterbacks is a slippery slope.

Evers is an athletic dual-threat quarterback who ran for over 600 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior. He stands 6-foot-3, and his film shows a confident, accurate QB with enough zip to make all the throws. Evers has long strides and seems very alert and comfortable bailing from the pocket if need be. He’s not afraid to let it rip into a tight window.

A staple of Lebby’s offenses has been the utilization of the dual-threat quarterback, which certainly fits Evers and Williams. Another focal point of the offense is the marriage of the quarterback run game with a dynamic running back that provides read-option opportunities in the offensive scheme. That type of stress creates nightmares for teams.

On top of an offer, Gerry Hamilton of On3 reported that Evers will also be in Norman for an official visit this weekend.

There’s no real smoke yet, but Lebby is very much in this race, if nothing else, because he’s had a previous relationship with Evers. And an official visit can change a lot for a prospect in a short amount of time.

There’s no guarantee the Sooners land him. Still, Lebby being on the job less than 48 hours, extending an offer, and setting up an official visit with a quarterback he’s previously recruited makes some noise in the recruiting world. At the same time, he is comfortable and confident in what he sees from the kid from Flower Mound, Texas. That level of comfort could ultimately pay significant dividends.

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Per report, Oklahoma Sooners to hire Jeff Lebby to be offensive coordinator

According to a report from Lee Benson of Oklahoma City’s News 9, the Oklahoma Sooners have a “done deal” with Jeff Lebby to be their next offensive coordinator.

The Oklahoma Sooners coaching staff is coming together under new head coach Brent Venables. It was long rumored that Venables was interested in bringing along Ole Miss offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby to serve in the same role with the Oklahoma Sooners, and it appears that it’s a “done deal.”

According to Lee Benson of News 9 out of Oklahoma City, the Sooners will be hiring Jeff Lebby away from the Rebels, where he’s had a ton of success as Matt Corral’s offensive coordinator for the last two seasons.

Under Lebby, Corral completed at least 68.9% of his passes each year and averaged more than 8.8 yards per attempt the last two seasons. This season, Corrall rushed for 11 touchdowns and 597 yards.

According to Pro Football Focus, if you take away the sack yards that NCAA official stats count as rushing yards, Corral has rushed for 717 yards and 5.7 yards per carry.

Before his time at Ole Miss, Lebby was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Josh Heupel at UCF. After an injury ended his playing career, Lebby was once a student assistant under Bob Stoops from 2002-2006.

Lebby does come to Norman with baggage after serving under Art Briles and being named in the Baylor sexual assault scandal.

Per an Orlando Sentinel story written when Lebby was hired as the offensive coordinator at UCF, leadership discussed their feelings on the matter and their comfort level in bringing Lebby on board.

UCF athletics director Danny White had this to say: “After meeting with Jeff and learning firsthand his personal experience at Baylor, and after speaking with the administration at both Baylor and Southeastern, we became not only comfortable but excited to bring a coach and person of Jeff’s caliber to UCF. I think the results of the last 12 months speak for themselves, and Jeff’s contribution to our program both on and off the field have been profound. Our staff and, more importantly, our student-athletes love working with him.”

It’s important to note that athletics director Joe Castiglione and president Joseph Harroz would not bring Jeff Lebby on board as the offensive coordinator if they didn’t feel comfortable with his past.

All eyes turn to the rest of the staff. As Benson reports, the Sooners are turning back the clock to bring back strength and conditioning coach Jerry Schmidt.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.

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5 Reasons Brent Venables to Oklahoma makes perfect sense

Here’s five reasons why Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables makes perfect sense to be Oklahoma’s next head football coach.

ESPN’s Chris Low reported that Oklahoma hopes to finalize a deal as early as today to make Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables the Sooners’ new head coach.

Low also reported that Ole Miss offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby would be Venables’ top choice as offensive coordinator if the deal gets reached.

Venables always felt like a very real possibility and he’s been the overwhelming favorite to get the job with the Oklahoma fan base.

Now, let’s take a look at five reasons why Venables as Oklahoma’s next head football coach makes perfect sense.

Offensive coordinator hot board: Who Auburn is considering

Who do you think Auburn should get?

The Tigers are currently without an offensive coordinator after firing Mike Bobo.

I doubt Auburn makes a hire within the next couple of days, but I’m sure the Tigers will have an answer a couple of weeks before their bowl game rolls around.

There have been several names tossed around, but specifically Eric Kiesau, the current wide receivers coach at Auburn. It would not surprise me if Harsin elected to make an in-house hire, or if he went out to get someone he’s very familiar with.

Here are the candidates Auburn is considering hiring to be the next offensive coordinator.

Five candidates to replace Mike Bobo

Here are five candidates to replace Mike Bobo.

Bryan Harsin finally pulled the trigger.

Auburn has fired offensive coordinator Mike Bobo after a pathetic showing from his offense in the month of November. Auburn has scored a combined 15 second-half points in the last five games.

Bobo has bumped up Auburn’s averages by a small margin as opposed to 2020 (29.6 points per game in 2021 compared to 25.1 points per game in 2020), but the way the Tigers have fallen apart over this past month has been inexcusable. The offense has cost Auburn greatly in games where they should have won or had a legitimate chance to win.

Here are five candidates to replace former Auburn offensive coordinator Mike Bobo.

Josh Heupel discusses his familiarity with Ole Miss offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel discusses his familiarity with Ole Miss offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby.

Tennessee (4-2, 2-1 SEC) will host No. 14 Ole Miss (4-1, 1-1 SEC) and head coach Saturday at Neyland Stadium in Week 7.

Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. EDT and SEC Network will televise the matchup.

First-year Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with media Monday and discussed Ole Miss offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby.

During Heupel’s tenure as UCF’s head coach, Lebby served as quarterbacks coach in 2018 and was elevated to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2019. Lebby served as a student assistant coach from 2002-06 when Heupel was a graduate assistant (2003-04) and quarterbacks coach (2006) at Oklahoma.

“Jeff does a great job, was our quarterbacks’ coach at UCF when I first got the job there,” Heupel said. “He’s a highly competitive guy, does a great job. You can see offensively that there’s a rhyme and a reason behind everything they’re doing. They’re going to put defenses in a conflict. Uptempo, similar to what we do and I think we are the top two teams as far as plays per minute in Power Five football. They do a great job of being balanced and creating big plays, too.

“It starts with the quarterback, but they’re really efficient in the run game, him being a part of that as well. He does great job on scrambles too, so even though you want to push the pocket on him, you have to do a great job of bottling him up and they have special playmakers on the outside too.”

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Quadry Jones discusses NIL, playing for Josh Heupel and Jeff Lebby

Quadry Jones discusses NIL, playing for Josh Heupel and Jeff Lebby at UCF.

Quadry Jones enters his fourth season at UCF.

The 6-foot, 176-pound quarterback has appeared in six games for the Knights from 2018-20.

Jones is 5-of-6, for 124 passing yards, and two passing touchdowns, while rushing for 15 yards on eight attempts.

His offensive production came under Josh Heupel. Heupel served as UCF’s head coach from 2018-20 and is currently in the same capacity at Tennessee.

Jones joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” to discuss how student-athletes can now benefit from their name, image and likeness.

“I have been doing a few camps already, as soon as they gave us the NIL,” Jones said. “I have one coming Aug. 1, so all of the Orlando quarterbacks, come out and support.”

Jones also discussed playing for Heupel at UCF.

The UCF quarterback mentioned playing in Heupel’s offensive system was an easy transition as a freshman. He played in a similar offense at Jones High School in Orlando.

“It was kind of easy to pick up on because I was already used to hand signals,” Jones said. “It was pretty simple. It was pretty much based off speed. If you have some guys at receiver, you are going to have a pretty good offense to just run right past people — just the simple stuff to use catching the ball and turn up field.”

The entire show with Jones can be listened to here or below. Jones discusses NIL, majoring in criminal justice, playing for the likes of Heupel and Jeff Lebby, and learning quarterback footwork from his former coaches.

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