2025 marked year three in the Big 12 for the Houston Cougars, and it was by far the program\u2019s most successful season as members of the conference. After winning an eight combined games in 2023 and 2024, the Cougars rattled off nine victories in the regular season \u2014 positioning themselves at No. 21 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.<\/p>\n
Team success often translates to individual success, and Houston set a new school-record for All-Big 12 selections at six, after warranting four in 2023 and two in 2024.<\/p>\n
Here are the Cougars honored by the Big 12\u2019s 16 head coaches, who are not permitted to vote for their own players:<\/p>\n
WR Amare Thomas<\/strong>: Thomas transferred in from UAB and burst onto the scene as Houston\u2019s top wide receiver. His 906 receiving yards are second in the conference and his 10 receiving touchdowns tie for second among all Big 12 players. Thomas produced three 100-yard games this year, peaking at 157 against Oklahoma State. The breakout receiver also enjoyed a 3-touchdown game vs. West Virginia to kick off November.<\/p>\n TE Tanner Koziol<\/strong>: Koziol was one of the most established transfer portal adds, arriving in Houston after snagging 94 receptions last season at Ball State. And unsurprisingly, he currently leads all FBS tight ends with 65 receptions, turning them into 651 yards and five touchdowns. Koziol played a massive role in Houston\u2019s spotless 6-0 road record, attaining 100 yards at Arizona State and eight receptions at UCF \u2014 both closely-contested Cougar victories.<\/p>\n DE Eddie Walls III<\/strong>: Walls arrived as a disruptive pass rusher from FIU, and his talent immediately translated across schools. He ranks first on the Cougars with 5.5 sacks and 9.0 tackles for loss, and he batted down five passes at the line of scrimmage this year. Walls was instrumental to Houston\u2019s signature 24-16 road win over defending champion Arizona State, producing three sacks in that contest alone.<\/p>\n DT Carlos Allen<\/strong>: Allen is tied for the lead on the Cougar defense with 75 tackles\u2026 and he is a 6\u20191\u201d, 295 pound defensive tackle. That is rarefied air for the position, and no FBS defensive tackle is in the same stratosphere as him when it comes to producing stops, and Allen inhibited plenty of runs at the first level all year. He added seven tackles for loss and a forced fumble to his r\u00e9sum\u00e9, operating as one of the top returning players on the team.<\/p>\n CB Will James<\/strong>: James instantly meshed with this Houston defense after a previous stint at Southern Miss, showcasing his talents from the get-go. In his second game, he returned a 37-yard pick-six to seal the Bayou Bucket over Rice. But James\u2019 greatest masterpiece was his TCU performance where he intercepted two passes and Peanut Punched a ball for a forced fumble. In total, he logged three picks, two forced fumbles, and eight pass breakups.<\/p>\n CB Latrell McCutchin<\/strong>: McCutchin suited up for a second-straight year in red and white, and he remains one of the longer tenured Cougars, gracing the campus since the 2023 season. The veteran cornerback led the team with 10 pass breakups and generated 46 tackles and a forced fumble en route to his first All-Big 12 selection. While McCutchin never secured an interception, his lockdown coverage skills were on full display from August through November.<\/p>\n The Cougars saw five players earn honorable mention status.<\/p>\n RB Dean Connors<\/strong>: 184 rush, 851 rush yards, 5 rush TD, 31 receptions, 242 receiving yards, 3 receiving TD<\/p>\n OLB Jalen Garner<\/strong>: 75 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 3.5 TFL, 2 FF<\/p>\n SS Wrook Brown<\/strong>: 44 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 6.0 TFL, 2 INT<\/p>\n K Ethan Sanchez<\/strong>: 20-of-25 FG, long of 52, 38-of-38 XP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2025 marked year three in the Big 12 for the Houston Cougars, and it was by far the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":425840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4345,110646,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-425839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-legacy-aac","10":"tag-texas","11":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115665501207328041","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}