Opener in sight after weeks of practices
Throughout the spring and summer and into preseason camp, coach Dana Holgorsen continued preparation for the start of the University of Houston football season, even if it wasn’t exactly clear when that might be.
As games were postponed or outright canceled — a total of five because of the coronavirus pandemic — Holgorsen had to modify his approach to practice. He walked a tightrope on how much and at what speed to conduct practices, also mindful of keeping players motivated and injury-free during a span that has reached 51 days since the start of camp and still has nothing to show for it.
“I doubt this has ever happened,” Holgorsen said about the delay to begin the season, which has left UH, Rice and Temple as the only FBS schools yet to play a game among conferences that originally moved forward with playing this fall.
The latest opportunity comes Thursday at 6:30 p.m., when the Cougars host Tulane in a nationally televised game at TDECU Stadium.
Amid all the uncertainty, Holgorsen said one thing has remained constant.
“We’ve been ready,” he said Monday during a Zoom call with reporters. “We’ve stayed ready, and now it’s time to go play.”
Understandably, the wait has tested patience, from the original opener against Rice being called off (and now likely to be canceled) to consecutive games against Memphis, Baylor and North Texas scrapped in the span of 11 days because of COVID-19 issues with each program.
Quarterback Clayton Tune said the repeated cancellations became “kind of annoying, honestly.” Defensive end Payton Turner called it a “buzzkill.” Right guard Braylon Jones said every week without a game left players “discouraged.”
“It’s frustrating when you prepare and get ready and do everything right,” Turner said. “We’re in Houston, one of the biggest cities for COVID spikes, and have done really well staying in our bubble, washing our hands, being clean, and games are still canceled. It’s a little heartbreaking. But we are a mature group and handled it pretty well.”
Meanwhile, UH continues to be COVID-free during weekly leaguemandated testing protocols, Holgorsen said.
In an effort to get on the field sooner, Holgorsen approached the American Athletic Conference about moving up the Tulane game to Oct. 3 — an open date for both schools — but the league “wouldn’t budge.” So the Cougars continued to wait.
“I commend our guys for hanging in there and practicing at the level that they have been practicing at,” said Holgorsen, who credited the leadership of the team’s eight captains.
UH held a “spirited” practice Sunday, Holgorsen said, as the team officially entered game week. During the lengthy wait to start the season, practice management has been important, although Holgorsen admits that, come Thursday, the veteran UH squad will need to adjust for the speed and physicality that can’t fully be simulated in practice.
“We’ve been smart with how much we’ve done from the very beginning, and I think we’re ready to play,” Holgorsen said. “(But) until you actually get into a game, you’re not going to know.”
Some portions of UH workouts have included top offensive and defensive units going against each other, which is not normally the case, but a change of pace Holgorsen called “very productive.”
“If we would have gotten them out there and practiced really hard and scrimmaged like we would a spring practice situation, I think we would have got worse,” Holgorsen added.
When the Baylor game was canceled — less than 24 hours before the Sept. 19 kickoff — Jones said about 40 players were back in the weight room the same day.
“I think guys have responded well,” Jones added. “Guys were trying to get thatwork in, trying to stay ready.”
Linebacker Grant Stuard, the team’s leading tackler last season, said all the workouts — even without any games — served a purpose.
“At the end of the day, those weeks of practice we had, they weren’t a waste of time,” Stuard said. “We were still getting better. So we are going to be a much more improved, skilled and consistent team, I think, playing now versus if we would have played in Week 1.”