Three Offensive Players to Watch for Houston Football in 2025

The Houston Cougars‘ offense needs a big boost in 2025 if they hope to reach a bowl game in coach Willie Fritz’s second season as head coach.

Here was how the Houston offense ranked last season in FBS:

Points per game: 14.0 (No. 132)

Rushing yards per game: 135.4 (No. 90)

Passing yards per game: 152.7 (No. 126)

Total yards per game: 288.1 (No. 128).

The Cougars were one of the worst offenses in college football last season. Can coordinator Slade Nagle and a relatively new cast of players turn it around?

Here are three offensive players to keep an eye on for the Houston Cougars.

QB Conner Weigman

So, who is Wiegman? I mean, college football fans know who he is. But is he just a college football quarterback, or is he truly the five-star player he was touted as coming out of Bridgeland High School in Cypress, Texas?

That’s what Houston hopes to find out. Fritz believes that injuries limited Weigman’s ability to reach his ceiling as a player at Texas A&M, where he played in 15 games and started 13. There, he completed 60% of his passes, threw for 2,694 yards, 19 touchdowns, and seven interceptions.

Fritz brought in Nagle to install an offense with more Tulane concepts. Those concepts turned Michael Pratt into an NFL prospect. Could it do the same for Weigman? Maybe, but right now the Cougars would settle for consistent, effective, and healthy from the fourth-year player.

WR Stephon Johnson

If Weigman produces as hoped, then the biggest beneficiary might be Johnson, who was the Cougars’ leading receiver a year ago. But, given the state of last year’s offense, that didn’t mean much.

He played in 11 games and started nine. He led the Cougars with 32 catches and 402 yards, along with two touchdowns. Down the stretch, he had three straight 50-year receiving games. He also led the team with 14 first-down receptions.

Johnson has helped around him, thanks to the return of young returning starter Re’Shaun Sanford II and some solid transfers. But a successful offense for Houston means a successful season for Johnson.

LT David Ndukwe

The massive Ndukwe is a returning starter and brings his 6-foot-6, 325-pound frame back to Houston for one more season, this time to protect Weigman’s blind side.

Pro Football Focus graded out his pass blocking at 81.8, which was second-best for Houston last year. He only allowed one sack in 277 dropbacks, along with no pressures in seven of his first nine games.

He’s an under-the-radar potential Big 12 selection at season’s end. But he’ll need help. Center Demetrius Hunter is the only other returning starter, and the unit needs to take a jump in 2025.