Five things you might not know about Drew Lock

Somehow, the Broncos stole Drew Lock in the second round. His slide from potential top-10 pick into the 40s was unexpected, but it worked to Denver’s advantage.

The Broncos traded up to the 42nd pick in the 2019 NFL Draft to pick Drew Lock, Missouri’s star gunslinger.

Here are five things you might not know about the new QB in Denver:

He earned a basketball scholarship

Drew Lock is a pretty good athlete for a quarterback. His 4.69-second 40-yard dash time was sixth among quarterbacks at the combine. His 7.03-second three-cone was third. His 4.12-second 20-yard shuttle was second.

Back in high school, his athleticism was enough to earn him a Division-I basketball scholarship. Missouri, Oklahoma and Wichita State were interested in him. Wichita State offered him a scholarship.

Of course, Lock chose football after he became ESPN’s sixth-ranked quarterback in the 2015 high school class.

During his sophomore year, Lock received his first scholarship offer. It was to play football at Missouri. He wanted to play at Missouri, following in his father and his grandfather’s footstep,s but didn’t sign right away. It wasn’t until the Tigers put the heat on Lock by offering another quarterback that the star verbally committed to the school.

But even then, he wasn’t totally locked in. Jim Harbaugh took over at Michigan after Lock’s senior season, and Harbaugh pushed Lock to reconsider.

“I really liked Coach Harbaugh, but he was trying to get me to change my mind,” Lock told MUTigers.com. “He told me I would never make it to the NFL if I went to Missouri. He said he would be the best coach to groom me for the NFL.”

But Lock held strong and became a third-generation Tiger… And an NFL quarterback.

He didn’t get off to a hot start at Missouri

Lock was a four-year starter and three-year captain at Missouri, but he wasn’t ready to play when he got to campus.

“I decided there wasn’t anything that could come my way that was tougher than my freshman year,” Lock told NFL.com. “I knew there wouldn’t be any season that could top that. I had been through the fire and back.”

Lock stepped into the starting lineup in Week 5 of his freshman year and improved the Tigers’ record to 4-1. But he lost the next four games and didn’t throw a touchdown in any of them. His confidence was shot.

When university president Tom Wolfe responded weakly to a series of racial incidents on campus, students were outraged. The football team announced they wouldn’t practice or play until Wolfe resigned or was fired. But Lock stood on the sideline.

“I figured the guys hated me,” Lock said. “I thought it was more the seniors’ place to set the tone for the team at the time. I might’ve felt better about speaking out if we had been playing well, but we weren’t scoring points. If we had gotten better results on the field, I probably would have spoken up more.”

After a strike-shortened week of practice, the Tigers beat BYU 20-16 and Lock turned in his best performance of the season. He felt like he’d turned a corner.

“For me, it was huge,” he said.

He started doing “lonely work”

Following his disappointing freshman season, Lock needed to improve. He couldn’t survive off of athleticism alone and needed to work on his technique.

Over Christmas break, Lock trained with his personal coach, Justin Hoover, for 21 days. They worked on his arm slot, footwork and other mechanics. They tried to get him some reps under center after Lock worked exclusively out of the shotgun before.

“When nobody’s watching what are you doing to master your craft?” Hoover said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.“Nobody does it more, or more efficiently than Drew.”

But Hoover wasn’t as worried about Lock’s body as much as his mind. Lock was shaken by how poorly he played and Hoover wanted to rebuild the 18-year-old’s confidence before he returned to campus.

“When he left and went back to school in January, he was going to walk back in there like he was Tom Brady,” Hoover said.

He wasn’t in his team’s Senior Day picture

 On Senior Day, Lock completed 16 of 25 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for two more scores. He didn’t turn the ball over. Missouri beat Arkansas 38-0.

After the game, the team’s seniors gathered at midfield to take a picture to remember the moment. Lock decided not to join them.

“I backed up and wanted to watch everybody just have a blast sitting there,” Lock told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.“And all the smiles, to be able to take it in — instead of me smiling and looking at cameras. I’d rather take it in myself.”

He impressed new CU head coach Mel Tucker

New University of Colorado head coach Mel Tucker has some insight on Drew Lock. Tucker spent the last three seasons in the SEC coaching the Georgia Bulldogs’ defense. During that time, he played Lock’s Tigers three times. Tucker won all three.

“His arm talent is off the charts,” Tucker told The Denver Post prior to the draft. “He’s a competitor. He’s a guy that if you make a mistake defensively, he can hurt you. He throws a really nice deep ball, and I definitely think he’s an NFL talent.”

“I think he’ll have a really good NFL career.”