Here is the CliffsNotes version of new Tennessee quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle’s life – infant years, toddler years, grade-school years, teenage years and Josh Heupel years.
Halzle has known the new head coach of the Volunteers since 2006, when Heupel was in his first season as Oklahoma’s quarterbacks coach and Halzle had just transferred to the Sooners out of Golden West (California) Junior College. They have resided in countless meeting rooms, on multiple practice fields and inside various stadiums since, and Halzle doesn’t expect that to change despite Heupel taking over a Southeastern Conference program for the first time.
“His favorite thing to do is coach quarterbacks, and he trusts me because we’ve been together,” Halzle (pronounced HALLS-lee) said on a recent Zoom call. “We’ve been in the same meeting room for 13 years. He knows that we value the same thing in a quarterback and how the offense is instructed and taught. He can trust that I’ll be an extension of his voice in that meeting room.
“He’s still going to show up, because he can’t help himself. He loves going into that quarterback meeting room. He’s got a lot more responsibilities than he used to, but he’ll never take his hand fully out of that quarterback room.”
Halzle played in 21 career games for the Sooners during the 2006-08 seasons, completing 53 of 83 passes (63.9%) for 640 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. He never landed the starting role, losing out to Paul Thompson in 2006 and to Sam Bradford the next two seasons, but Halzle said that Heupel was very fair during those competitions and that Tennessee fans can expect the same in upcoming months when Harrison Bailey, Hendon Hooker, Brian Maurer and Kaidon Salter vie for the job.