New Mizzou OC Derek Dooley discusses progress of Tigers’ offense this spring
By Adam Spencer
Published:
The Missouri Tigers lost offensive coordinator Josh Heupel before their Texas Bowl appearance this year, as Heupel took the head coaching job at UCF.
Now, the Tigers have turned to former Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley to run the offense, though he’s never called plays at any level before.
After the Tigers’ recent spring practice, Dooley said the team hasn’t created an offensive identity yet. Instead, he told STLToday.com that this spring will be about seeing what the offense’s strengths are and then forming a style from that:
“We’re going to keep pushing them on learning more stuff, looking at new concepts,” Dooley said. “Hopefully after spring we’ll have a lot on film. We can figure out what we’re going to major in, what we’re going to minor in and what we’re going to throw out. But you don’t really know until you keep putting stuff in.”
As far as the running game goes, Dooley said the Tigers will try to find creative ways to use the four tight ends on the roster since they don’t have a true fullback:
“If we had a fullback we’d have some fullback sets,” Dooley said. “But we don’t have one. So we have four tight ends on the roster. We’re just playing around with it. We’re throwing a lot at them, seeing what sticks. You kind of sling it up on the wall and whatever sticks you keep it going. You throw a little more on the wall, see what sticks and keep it going. That’s what we’re doing.”
Considering the Tigers had one of the most-explosive offenses in the country last year, you’d hope Dooley wouldn’t mess too much with that formula. However, he hasn’t decided exactly how he wants things to work just yet, according to Tuesday’s discussion.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
