Josh Heupel: Drew Lock will “put himself in a position to play at an extremely high level”

You’d be worried if he didn’t say this, I guess, but Mizzou offensive coordinator Josh Heupel talked about the KC Star about his high expectations for the 2017 Tiger offense.

“I expect a bigger jump in [Drew Lock] as a player,” Heupel said. “If he has a great June and July, with all of the work he has put in during the offseason, he’ll put himself in a position to play at an extremely high level.” [...]

After struggling against LSU and Florida, Mizzou averaged 29.7 points per game and 6.3 yards per play over the second half of 2016, rising to 42nd in Off. S&P+ after ranking a dismal 120th the year before. Lock’s limitations were obvious, but he was a true sophomore learning how to actually play good football.

Your biggest jumps tend to come after your first and second seasons in college, and this is his second offseason. His entire line returns, as does almost his entire set of skill guys. Whatever the ceiling is for Lock — and I know that is a source of much debate within the Mizzou fan base — we should see a decent amount of it this fall.

More Links:

• So uh, is Max Scherzer the best pitcher in baseball? I still figure it’s Kershaw (and so does Bill James), but there’s a case.

• No Missouri players were selected on Day 2 of the MLB draft, which means the odds are pretty good of the Tigers bringing back almost everybody not named Houck (and the seniors, of course) next year. Things wrap up today. Meanwhile, Mitchell Forde spent draft night with Tanner Houck on Monday.
• Mizzou Softball’s Ehren Earleywine sat down for a lengthy chat with The Trib’s Blake Toppmeyer this week. Pretty interesting stuff, from moving Amanda Sanchez to catcher to comparing this year’s incoming freshman class to the 2009 gold standard.
• NEW PAPN! Godfrey and I talked Ole Miss, Big Game Bob, EA’s NCAA football game, the early signing period (I used Mizzou as an example, naturally), and, as always, lots more.