Editor’s note: Thirteenth in a series previewing each team in the Big 12 in 2025.
It’s year two of the Willie Fritz era in Houston.
Fritz — who enjoyed success at Tulane, leading the Green Wave to back-to-back 11-plus win seasons, including a win over USC in the Cotton Bowl in 2023 — was tabbed to lead Houston’s program as the Cougars made their Big 12 debut.
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He knew he was taking over a bit of a rebuild — Dana Holgorsen had 8-5 and 4-8 seasons after going 12-2 in 2021 — and coupled with the move to a power conference, it would take some time for Houston to get on a winning track again.
That played out in 2024, when the Cougars went 4-8, winning just three Big 12 games. The 17-14 win over Utah, in particular, was the low-water mark of the Utes’ troubled 2024 season.
Like Utah last season, Houston’s issues mostly boiled down to its offense. The Cougars ranked No. 128 of 134 FBS schools in total offense, gaining just 288.1 yards per game. Houston scored just 14 points per game, second-to-last in all of FBS.
Meanwhile, the Cougars’ defense performed admirably, especially for the lack of help they were getting on the other side of the ball. Houston ranked No. 25 in total yards allowed (324.8 per game) and held opponents to just 22.9 points per game.
As expected in a transfer portal era where teams can rebuild their rosters in just one offseason, Houston went to work in the portal to fix its offense.
It starts at quarterback. The Cougars grabbed Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman, who threw for 819 yards and three touchdowns with five interceptions last season and a 56.1% completion rate.
While anything will be better than Houston’s quarterback situation last season, will Weigman raise the bar enough at the position for the Cougars to be competitive?
Houston is hoping.
“Conner’s from Houston. Five-star. Played high school ball there. Had a bit of an up-and-down career at Texas A&M — some of that was coaching changes, and he also got hurt,” Fritz said. “He probably wasn’t full speed until maybe February after he got to our place in January. He’s been everything I hoped he’d be. Great young man. Great leadership abilities.”
Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman warms up before a game against Auburn, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Auburn, Ala. The Houston Cougars snagged the former five-star QB out of the transfer portal in the offseason. | AP
Houston brings back leading receivers Stephon Johnson (402 yards, two TDs) and Mekhi Mews (253 yards, one TD) and is counting on redshirt freshman Koby Young to step into a bigger role in 2025. Houston also added Amare Thomas from UAB (670 yards, eight TDs) and Harvey Broussard III from Louisiana (486 yards, three TDs), so they’ll have options at the position.
At tight end, the Cougars again reached into the portal and got Ball State’s Tanner Koziol, who had 839 yards and eight TDs last season.
In the backfield, the Cougars will be counting on Re’Shaun Sanford II, who was the top rusher for Houston a season ago with 444 yards and one score on 95 carries, and also return Stacy Sneed (305 yards, one TD) and add Dean Connors (780 yards, nine TDs at Rice).
Up front, Houston tabbed three transfers — Jason Brooks Jr. (Oklahoma State), Matthew Wykoff (Cal) and Dalton Merryman (Texas Tech) — to join returners Demutrius Hunter and David Ndukwe. The offensive line was bad last year, so fixing it was priority No. 1 for the Cougars.
Fritz hired Slade Nagle, who was the offensive coordinator for Tulane in 2023, in the same position.
Will the offensive overhaul work? It’ll be hard to be worse than last season.
The bad news for the Cougars? They return just four starters from their excellent 2024 defense — tackle Carlos Allen, linebacker Brandon Mack II, cornerback Latrell McCutchin and safety Kentrell Webb.
Houston picked up defensive end Eddie Walls from FIU (five sacks, one forced fumble), and defensive tackle Khalil Laufau (four sacks) from Washington State along the defensive line, Sione Fotu (19 tackles, two pass deflections) from Utah and Corey Platt Jr. (out for 2024 due to injury) from Tulane at linebacker, Will James (21 tackles, seven pass deflections) from Southern Miss at cornerback and Blake Thompson (60 tackles, two forced fumbles, three pass deflections) from Louisiana Tech at safety.
Utah linebacker Sione Fotu (12) during game against Arizona, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, in Tucson, Ariz. Fotu transferred to Houston in the offseason. | Rick Scuteri, Associated Press
While there’s lots of new faces, Houston still should be solid on the defensive side.
If the offense can be improved, the Cougars should go bowling for the first time since 2022.
“I think we’ve also done an excellent job with the portal — signing guys that fit our profile. We had a little bit more time this year to vet guys, gather information and get the right guys who fit our culture. So yeah, we want to take a big step forward in year two,” Fritz said.
Houston Cougars 2025 preview
2024 record: 4-8 (3-6 Big 12)
Utah ties
- Sione Fotu, former Bingham High and Utah LB
- Khalil Laufau, former Herriman High DL
2025 Schedule
- Aug. 28 — vs. Stephen F. Austin
- Sept. 6 — at Rice
- Sept. 12 — vs. Colorado
- Sept. 26 — at Oregon State
- Oct. 4 — vs. Texas Tech
- Oct. 11 — at Oklahoma State
- Oct. 18 — vs. Arizona
- Oct. 25 — at Arizona State
- Nov. 1 — vs. West Virginia
- Nov. 7 — at UCF
- Nov. 22 — vs. TCU
- Nov. 29 — at Baylor