Drew Lock’s college coach talks up the star QB prospect
Denver Broncos quarterback Drew Lock is a stud on and off the football field. No one knows that better than Missouri HC Barry Odom.
It’s hard to believe it’s been more than five months since the last football game of the 2018-19 season, and now we’re close to getting football back for good again.
One of the things I’m most looking forward to about the remainder of the 2019 offseason/preseason is watching Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Drew Lock get his feet wet in the NFL.
Lock, a second-round pick of the Broncos in the 2019 NFL Draft out of Missouri, was expected to be a first-round pick by just about everybody. Until he wasn’t.
The Broncos scooped him up in the second round after trading up to the 42nd overall pick with the Cincinnati Bengals, and to me, that was one of the biggest steals of the entire 2019 NFL Draft.
Lock was right up there with Dwayne Haskins as the QB2 in this year’s draft behind Heisman-winner Kyler Murray, who went first overall to the Arizona Cardinals. Depending on what you think about Murray’s translatability to the NFL at just a hair under 5-foot-10, you might have even had Lock as the QB1 in this year’s draft.
His resumé was pretty outstanding.
Despite some early issues with inaccuracy, Lock honed his skills over four years with three defensive coordinators and racked up 99 passing touchdowns against SEC defenses, including a whopping 44 touchdown tosses in 2017.
Lock’s upside as a prospect is huge, and no one knows his game better than Barry Odom, Missouri’s head football coach since 2016.
In an interview with DenverBroncos.com, Odom offered some of his scouting notes on Lock.
"“He understands how to move in and out of the call, maybe check and get the best look possible for the team to have success in that situation. So the mental side of it comes with preparation. He’s a guy that’s always liked football, and he likes not just the game of three hours, but the process leading up to that point of learning as much as he can learn about his opponent and how he can attack that to give the team an opportunity to be successful…No matter where we were on the field, we felt comfortable in opening up the playbook because of his arm strength, his knowledge of the game and his ability to make the right decision.”Barry Odom (via DenverBroncos.com)"
Those are some great notes there, and there was even more from Odom on Lock in that post as well, I just took a couple of interesting snippets.
I love that a coach commends Lock for so much more than just physical abilities because we know he’s a natural athlete.
Lock could have played college basketball for a division one school. He could have played quarterback at other major universities outside of his home state of Missouri.
But this guy loves football and he takes pride in where he comes from, and he never relied so much on his talent that he let it get in the way of the part of the game that is most important going from college to the NFL level: preparation.
Lock has learned over the last four years how to prepare like a pro. I love that.
He’s going to come into Denver with a chip on his shoulder for being a second-round pick, but he didn’t need that motivation to prepare well and do his job well. He’s already taught himself that discipline, and he cares about it.
Although Missouri wasn’t contending for a National Championship while Lock was there, he led his team to some impressive wins and impressive performances against top-flight competition. He didn’t always put his best foot forward against the best teams, but Lock beat some really good defenses while he was at Missouri.
I’m convinced the Broncos got a good one in Lock. Fans need to afford him patience as he’s a rookie just like anyone else, even if he’s a rookie with fairly high expectations.
Next. 3 major questions heading into training camp. dark
Lock will get the year to develop and won’t likely play unless the Broncos are getting blown out, blowing someone out, are locked into a playoff spot that won’t change, or an injury happens to Joe Flacco, but we’ll get to see an extended look at him with 19 open training camp practices and five preseason games.
Bring it on.