Mike Leach Explains Similarities in His Offense and the Josh Heupel Tennessee Offense

Mike Leach and his former quarterback have some commonalities within their offenses.

There's a reason why Mike Leach is known as one of the best college football coaches in the history of the sport. 

Leach played a huge role into the development of the Air Raid offense, which has influenced every level of football and has turned several schools around when run in its purest form. He's also known for his extensive coaching tree and the success of those that have coached for and/or played under him.

Josh Heupel, who was Leach's quarterback at Oklahoma, is among the shining examples of that as his Tennessee Volunteers are currently one of the only undefeated teams in the nation, knocking Alabama out of the top-five in the rankings with a 52-49 victory in Neyland Stadium last week.

While there are some differences between the way Leach and Heupel do things on offense, there are some similarities that show up on film and some of the same plays. Leach noted this when we asked him about what he saw out of Heupel's system and how it compares earlier this week. 

“He’s definitely got some things that look familiar,” Leach told me. “I can think of a play in particular that we ran back in the day. He’s got his quarterback running that play better than he ran it. So, yes."

It will be interesting to watch how things progress for Tennessee as the season moves forward. But there's all the reason in the world for excitement with a team that has real postseason chances and a quarterback in Hendon Hooker who could contend for the Heisman Trophy.

The Vols have currently put up 65 points on UT-Martin and will face Kentucky and Georgia up next on schedule, contests that will show just where they stand in the race to make it into the College Football Playoff.