It’s Day 14 of the daily, which has quickly become the most viewed daily content on UH Athletics. Thanks for your support! After today, we’ll have featured 46 topics in these two weeks. Not bad! Thoughts on Australia, coaches at the mike, and QB starting to come into focus.

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At The Mikes. Today, the media meets with Assistant Head Coach/RB Coach Mike Jinks and QB Coach Mike Burchett. I’ve never interviewed Jinks but am looking forward to it (I have spoken to Burchett). Either way, these are two spots on the team with the biggest question marks on who will start. I suspect we get 0 answers, but we’ll try.
 

Outback. The four games are over in Australia for the basketball team. They begin their trip back today and will be on campus sometime Tuesday afternoon.

So what did we learn? Well, not much. As Kelvin Sampson has said, this trip was about the 10 practices. The exhibitions are nice and to give guys real-world action.

JoJo Tugler got 56 minutes on the court with his teammates in game situations before the fall semester begins. That’s a big deal. Mylik Wilson has been a revelation but that started in the scrimmage. Galen Robinson told me in our scrimmage podcast that he loves Mylik because he shoots when it’s there, passes when it’s not, and doesn’t turn the ball over much. Wilson had seven turnovers vs. 11 steals and 16 assists.

But the real lesson is, did it bring the guys closer? Do the new guys see what Cougar Basketball is like in game situations? How much hustle and willpower is needed? And did it give Kelvin something to work with when practice opens in October? Yes, yes, yes, and oh hell yes.
 

Players Getting Won Over. I asked six football players this week – 3 on offense, 3 on defense – what they thought about the QB battle. From that small sample, it appears the team is coalescing around Donovan Smith as the starter. Smith has emerged over the last week or so, and as one told me, “It looks like it’s Smith’s job.” To a man, they praised Lucas Coley and said he’s shown growth but that Smith has been better.

That says nothing about what Burchett and Holgorsen’s thoughts, although Dana has said all summer that Smith has had the lead. Either way, I doubt it will be announced anytime soon – there are reasons to go into the opener without announcing it. The staff will likely settle on the starter after camp breaks next weekend, giving Smith all the reps with the first team for two weeks before the UTSA game.

Smith has the confidence of his OL and his receivers.

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Full coverage of UH’s trip to Australia