News, notes, and observations from the first day of Fall Camp for the Houston Cougars:
In the Spring, Conner Weigman (#1) seemed more poised and more confident than I ever saw in 2025. His presence was even larger today as camp began. He is collected and composed. He knows this is his team.
The rest of the QB depth chart, at least on Wednesday: freshman Keisean Henderson (#5), sophomore transfer Luke Carney (#17), freshman Canon Toon (#13), and freshman Ryan Smith (#12). After Weigman, the Coog QB room is crazy young. They have combined for 32 college snaps.
Willie Fritz’s practices have a particular structure. Most practices begin inside the Indoor Practice Facility, then transition to the outdoor fields. Players are (Encouraged? Pushed? Motivated?) to get to practice before the official start time (7:45 a.m. for the first six practices). Still, most don’t have an issue, as they’ve been in the Football Operations Center since 6 for breakfast, position meetings, treatment, and taping up.
Practices are scripted into 5-minute periods, with most practices stretching over 24 periods. The first three periods vary, but at least two will be by position groups. The fourth period is a team stretching/warm-up period, with coaches walking amongst players to offer encouragement. The fifth is usually special teams or work on hurry-up offense, and Most of the indoor periods are spent on drills; then, sometime between the 9th and 12th period, the team moves outdoors for more drills, 7-on-7 periods, and usually two 11-on-11 sessions, the final one usually lasting about 24 plays (3 periods).
One of my favorite UH players ever is former linebacker Jamal Morris. Jamal spent last season as a coach at Brazoswood and is working with the UH S&C staff this summer, hoping to get a spot on the staff going forward. Jamal’s is an inspirational story, which he wrote about for GoCoogs in a 2023 story called Out of the darkness: finding my why. I highly encourage you to read it.
Several coaches appear to have gotten in shape since Spring ball: OL coach Eman Naghavi looked noticeably slimmer, as did Michael Bishop. Most UH assistants pair up with another coach and go walking around campus after workouts. Would love to hear those conversations.
The NCAA changed the eligibility model in June, ushering in the 5-for-5 era beginning with the high school class of 2023. Last week, a judge in Colorado granted an injunction for class of 2022 guys to play this season. The ruling, as schools are beginning Fall Camp, has the potential to change rosters completely. But with the subject still in limbo, Willie Fritz has no interest in weighing in.
“I don’t try to make decisions until plans are finalized,” he said. “I’m just going to wait til that happens.”
Talking with people around the program, the variables around the 2022 guys are too immense e as teams ramp up for the season. What if a player was drafted? Or had a professional try-out? What if they have signed with an NFL agent? Will that guy be eligible? What if a school has no scholarships? No NIL or revenue sharing dollars? Would you add a guy to your starting lineup, demoting someone that had worked to get there since January? What happens if another judge then rules the 2022 guys ineligible?
I would not expect 2022 guys like Boogie Johnson or Ethan Sanchez back before there’s final clarity on this, if that ever comes.
With the advent of 5-for-5, the nomenclature will simply be freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, and fifth year. There will be no more redshirts.
Muizz Tounkara (#14) was using a single crutch in the indoor facility after a left foot injury. He was also in a boot. I believe (but I’m not certain) that he was participating early in practice, so it is possible that the injury occurred during the workout. By the end of practice, he was not using the crutch. Mu is expected to miss four weeks.
Jalen Mayo (#2) tweaked a hamstring and did not participate late in practice, but DC Austin Armstrong told me it was mostly precautionary.
In the past, defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong has told GoCoogs how he installs his defense in a slow, deliberate manner. Today, he mapped out the phases of his offseason program:
- February is the identity phase, where players work on fundamentals and learning the scheme;
- Spring Practice is the DNA phase, the traits he wants his defense to be known for;
- Summer is the work phase, a couple short 2-3 week segments where they can hone in and perfect what they’ve learned;
- And August is the evaluation phase. There’s no new install for the first 10 Fall practices, so everything that is run is off the play sheet the players have had for a while.
“We’ve given from February to the month of August, six months, to learn what to do, the fundamentals, communication, all the intangible skills, (and) the tangible skills that you need to be successful,” Armstrong said.
He says that, as of now, there are 19 guys on defense that they consider to play winning football. “We gotta get that number up. We showed it to our players last night, and told each player where they were at. We live in a world of being totally transparent…here’s what you’ve got to do. It takes what it takes. Can you do it or not?”
Armstrong said he believes the players respect the transparency and knowing where they stand.
The New England Patriots, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Philadelphia Eagles each had scouts at practice.
The first team offensive line remains the same as in the Spring (L to R):
Alvin Ebosele (#79), Shadre Hurst (#56), Anthony Boswell (#52), McKenzie Agnello (#66), and Drew Terrill (#73).
The second team during 11-on-11 drills was RJ Lee (#72), Larry Crawford (#70), Aaron Wolford (#50), Noah Abebe (#71), and Ronnell McClain (#53). Lee is a sophomore, while Wolford and Abebe are freshmen. More on OL depth from Martin Marroquin coming later this week.
Behind that second-team OL, Keisean ran an offense with freshman RB John Hebert (#23) behind him quite a bit. During the first 11-on-11 session, Keisean faked to Hebert up the middle and kept it for a big gain off the right side. The future looks fun.
Koby Young (#2) caught a 40-yard bomb in the corner for a TD. It was a ball Koby might have gotten a PI call on last year, but today he made a great play and catch while on the move. When Conner came up to him on the sideline after the play, Koby’s smile could have lit up New Orleans East.
Also in 11-on-11: Transfer WR Trent Walker (#4) made great grabs on both sidelines and across the middle. TE Patrick (OverMiddle) Overmyer (#9) caught a nice ball on a slant. A year ago, I’d have told you Amare Thomas (#0) had a great practice, but his standard has been impossibly high for the 75+ practices I’ve seen him participate in.
Willie Fritz has used a microphone at every practice since his first few weeks on campus. Every play, he offers pointers or praise to at least one guy on the field. He criticizes, but leaves it up to position coaches and coordinators to really jump someone’s ass if needed.
Typically, we see several guys lose their breakfast on the first day of Fall Camp. Today? Only
Chance Bryant (#45) has gotten noticeably bigger and was running with the second team at the Jack position. Will be monitoring him throughout camp.
Keisean had a great practice, but did have a couple of freshman moments. Several members of the coaching staff told him near the end of practice that he can’t let 1-2 bad plays ruin the day. Minutes later, another offensive staffer talked to his position group about having the competitive maturity to adjust to the highs and lows of Fall Camp.
