Head coach Tom Herman said the culture at UH is about being physical and mentally tough, while competing on each and every snap.
“Stuff that the NCAA makes us do those first couple practices in shorts is good to get guys running around, but this is real football and it’s good to see the pads popping,” Herman said. “We live tackled quite a bit. It was good to see some new faces out there too especially on defense running around hitting people.”
Herman said his main focus for this week’s practice was effort and ball security.
“The fanatical effort with which we practice rep after rep, period after period, minute after minute,” Herman said. “We did a decent job at it. We can always do better, and hopefully we can do a little better tomorrow.”
Three takeaways from Spring Practice
Offensive Line
Last season the offensive line’s performance stuck out especially after losing a couple of starters and having some freshmen step up to the starting positions. Herman said he already sees the offensive line ahead of where they were this time last year.
Receiver Uncertainty
Herman said he’s still unsure who’s going to play the H-Back position for the Cougars.
“I don’t know who’s going to play H receiver for us,” Herman said, “that’s a little bit worrisome.”
Defensive Line
Herman said he really liked the way the defensive line worked and is interested to see how some of the new faces in the secondary work.
“I like our effort, but we always have room to improve on things,” Senior Defensive Tackle B.J. Singleton said. “It’s a good compliment, but we’re just trying to get better every day.”
Singleton said they’re working on bringing the defensive line along.
“We got a younger group, but we got some seniors that could help us out,” Singleton said. “(We’re) just really trying to play better as a defense.”
But he likes what he sees from the newcomers.
“They’re bringing it because they got to prove themselves,” Singleton said. “They got some blue stripes on and they’re trying to get them blue stripes off. They got a lot of energy and that’s always fun to watch.”