Dana Holgorsen spent 25 minutes with the media on Monday, wrapping up spring football. He called 2023 the most interesting spring he’s ever had due to “the world that we live in.” Presumably, he was talking about transfers during spring ball – like Cam’Ron Johnson – who announced he would enter the portal after participating in two practices.
Here are some of the highlights from his 25-minute chat. Dana said:
– 35% of his expected fall roster was not around for spring, either due to injury or as incoming recruits or yet-to-be-recruited players from the portal.
– June and July are now more important to teams than spring ball. Because of roster movement and players coming and going after spring, the roster does not really start to take shape til they meet on June 1. Wish we’d been able to dive more into this thought – Dana is always interesting when he discusses the back end of running a program.
– the portal opens next week (April 15), and the staff will be out recruiting for 2024 and 2025 while also circling back to host guys on official visits for the 2023 season.
– the staff will be recruiting for 11 open spots on the roster. He wants to grab another quarterback as well as 4-5 offensive linemen before June 1. He said they worked with 10 OL through the spring.
– he’s been told to “stay in his lane” regarding marketing and the like.
– the scholarship QBs got more out of spring ball than anyone else. He said Lucas Coley and Donovan Smith split the reps 50/50. He also said it’s vital to have a third option, something he admitted he hasn’t had in the last few years.
– OL coach Eman Naghavi’s biggest impact has been on run blocking, as that was the group’s emphasis in the spring.
– there is a new way of doing things with the OL. I asked him to go into that more.
– Trey Holtz (from that Holtz family) has been a help as an offensive analyst. Naghavi brought an analyst – Robert Beacham – from Tulane with him.
– the receiver room could be the most talented he’s ever coached. He pointed out great springs from Joseph Manjack, Peyton Sawyer, Sammy Brown, and Matthew Golden.
– the team is meeting in the Carl Lewis Auditorium at 3 pm on Monday for a “Team Pride” event, explaining to players the history of UH football.
– there are still three weeks of countable football activities. Tuesday, the team will meet to go over the film from Friday night and for conditioning drills.
– no major injuries occurred in the spring; and
– there are still lots of question marks before the season begins.
