Houston Cougar Football started Fall Camp on Tuesday and went through four practice sessions before a day off on Saturday. Through the end of camp, that’s the schedule: four on, one off.
Wednesday night, the team will have a closed scrimmage under the lights at TDECU. After an off day on Thursday, expect lineups and rotations to start taking shape beginning with Friday’s practice.
The defense is working more ball-hawk drills than I’ve ever seen. It’s early, but it seems to be a focus for DC Austin Armstrong.
The quarterbacks are raving about their new meeting room in the Memorial Hermann Football Operations Center. Besides being larger and more comfortable, there’s an in-floor turf area where they can demonstrate throws or actions (or, as one said jokingly, could be turned into a golf simulator).
The offensive line that has run as the first team most consistently:
LT: David Ndukwe (77)
LG: Jason Brooks Jr. (73)
C: Demetrius Hunter (59)
RG: Matthew Wykoff (74)
RT: Dalton Merryman (75)
Wykoff and McKenzie Agnello (66) have been spending some time at center, as well. They’ll continue to experiment, but I believe Ndukwe, Brooks, and Merryman are set at their positions. I expect Cayden Bowie to be in the mix as well.
Monday, the team weighed in before practice and again after practice, but before lunch. They are focused on keeping the guys hydrated. After Tuesday’s opening practice, the offense lifted while the defense lifted on Wednesday. By the end of the week, the schedule after practice was “meet, eat, treat” for one unit and “treat, eat, meet” for the other.
A current UH wide receiver told me that he believes Stephon Johnson is finally hitting his potential and is getting more aggressive. It couldn’t come a moment too soon: Johnson led all receivers with 32 catches last season. That’s the lowest team lead in catches since 1994, when Jay McGuire and Ron Peters each caught 28 balls.
Boogie makes such great reads on the ball and runs precise routes. Thursday, he ran a dig route, made a great cut, and found the ball off his back shoulder (which Weigman had placed perfectly).
The same receiver that told me about Johnson says that Koby Young is “radical.” Since the spring, Young has improved himself and his position on this team. He had a few drops on Thursday, but went right back to making plays. After one sensational catch on the sideline, a teammate walked up and told Young, “That’s a ****ing grab, boy!”
For the most part, UH does two 11-on-11 sessions during a Fall Camp practice. Each is 2-3 periods long (a period = four minutes). Most of the work is situational, typically on the plus side of the field.
Conner Weigman has looked in control and has made a lot of quality throws, but on the first play of the first 11-on-11 session on Friday, he threw a pick-six. Zeon Chriss looks more confident. In an 11-on-11 situation – down 7 in OT – Zeon nailed Devan Williams on a crossing route in the end zone on Friday.
Austin Carlisle has made some good throws this Fall and made smart decisions. He’s worked the middle of the field more than I thought he would. But he had passes knocked down in back-to-back series on Friday in 11-on-11: one over the middle and one by the edge rusher. In his next series, he made throws outside to the checkdown.
A series later, he rolled out to his left and found freshman tight end Wyatt Herbal for a walk-in score.
Other freshmen that have been impactful in week one: Zaylen Cormier, DK Mays, Jaquise Martin, Richmond Ugochukwu. Cormier has impressed – his route running has been good. On the first day of practice, Martin ran a perfect comeback route and picked up big yardage. DK Mays has been making plays against the run. Ugochukwu has impressed his teammates with his skill at linebacker.
The tight ends look like they’ll be a potential threat this season. Tanner Koziol and Luke McGary look to be the top two guys, but Jayden York and Traville Frederick will get some playing time. Koziol made an impressive one-handed catch on Thursday, and McGary has been consistent in his reps. Jayden York made a superb over-the-shoulder catch in traffic Friday.
CJ Douglas, the transfer from Samford, has had a solid camp so far. He came from across the field to break up a Weigman 40-yard pass to Stephon Johnson and got his hand on another sideline pass the next day.
