With QB Clayton Tune Coming Back and the Recruitment of Talented Transfers Already Heating Up, UH Football Eyes a Much Bigger Future

Almost as soon as the clock hits 00:00 in Cincinnati, certainly before all the fans who storm the field clear out, Dana Holgorsen and his University of Houston coaching staff are already turning to recruiting. By the time, an 11-2 Houston team is on the plane flying back home, the recruiting push is going full speed ahead.

“Coaches, they went straight into recruit mode right after the game,” UH athletic director Chris Pezman tells PaperCity in describing the scene. “That will play a big role for next season. Because obviously I think we’ll be pretty active in the transfer portal with some kids who can come in and make an immediate impact for us.

“Because we’ve got some really key pieces that we’re expecting to see back next year between Clayton and (No. 1 receiver) Tank Dell, the defense. You look at our top 22 on each side — the top 44 players — we’re set up to have a run.”

When Pezman and Holgorsen met at the coach’s house over the holiday break last winter (the Turnaround Meetings that only PaperCity reported on) to go over every single aspect of the program in the wake of a 3-5 COVID shattered season, they looked at 2021 and 2022 as bigger and bigger steps.

“When we looked at this year and next season with the kids we have coming back, we feel good about setting ourselves up to have runs like this in the next couple of years,” Pezman says.

This 11-2 regular season with a bowl game against a traditional SEC power (Auburn) still coming up on December 28th is seen as a step towards an even more impactful 2022 season. Holgorsen talked about his drive to make sure the American Athletic Conference Championship Game — which Houston lost 35-20 at No. 4 Cincinnati — is played at TDECU Stadium next season in his postgame radio interview with 950 AM KPRC.

Just minutes after the loss to Cincinnati ended. Then, Holgorsen repeated it in the more formal postgame press conference.

Identifying more transfer talents like Marcus Jones, who is going to be an impact NFL player, is Holgorsen and his staff’s mission. It is even more important than the Birmingham Bowl in many ways. It is how you make 11-2 one giant stepping stone.

The Return of Clayton Tune, America’s Toughest Quarterback

Having Tune back as a third year starter is a vital driver in that push. Tune’s already proven he may be the toughest college quarterback in America, playing through a severe hamstring injury earlier this season, getting absolutely pounded by Cincinnati to the tune of eight sacks and numerous other hits and still continually coming back for more on Saturday.

“Clayton’s a pretty quiet kid, but he’s one of those kids when you look him in the eye, you can see that little twinkle,” Pezman says. “And he takes it — as most people do, but even more so with Clayton — pretty personal. And that kid took a lot of criticism early in the year.

“. . . But that’s a tough ass kid. And looking forward to getting him back next year and continuing to put a lot of pieces around him. Because again, I think we’re set up to have a pretty good run. Finish the bowl game and get ready for next year.”

When Pezman and I talk on Sunday, he’s coming from watching basketball practice with Kelvin Sampson’s team preparing for Monday night’s home game against Alcorn State. With a trip to a Top 5 worthy Alabama team that just beat Gonzaga in Seattle looming.

“I was at basketball practice today and you could just see how Kelvin runs a program and how we want to mirror that across the board,” Pezman says. “And that’s not taking anything away from Dana at all. We’ve just got a model of success, a track record of decades.

“Even though it’s one sport versus another, but there’s a lot of commonality in the way (Sampson) develops his roster, develops his players and runs his program that we’re trying to emulate across the board.”

A national TV ABC championship game showcase for football last Saturday, a 9 pm ESPN 2 showdown with Alabama for men’s basketball this Saturday. Pezman expects that to be how it goes for UH’s two power programs regularly for years to come. One big game after another.

“That’s a tough ass kid. And looking forward to getting him back next year and continuing to put a lot of pieces around him. Because again, I think we’re set up to have a pretty good run.” — Chris Pezman on Clayton Tune

Holgorsen’s football squad will go into its bowl game against Auburn as the 20th ranked team in America. The University of Houston administration is banking on that being the new norm.

“Not trying to put too much on Dana — kind of like I’m not trying to put too much on Kelvin,” Pezman tells PaperCity. “But there’s no reason to expect why we wouldn’t be a preseason ranked team (next year) and with our schedule, we’ve got everything in front of us to take advantage of that.

“And to be there at the end of the year and to be playing a game at the end of the season that is important. That is what you strive for. It’s not that first game of the year in August or September. It’s the end of the year that matters. And that’s why we want to continue to put ourselves in position to be in those games.

“We’ve broken through before and we’re pretty damn close. It’s coming.”

Dana Holgorsen Pushes to Close the Gap

Closing the gap with Cincinnati — which made history as the first non Power 5 conference team to break into the College Football Playoff — and the Big 12 power programs that UH will start playing in 2023 centers around improving the offensive and defensive lines.

“You look at that Cincinnati team or Baylor in basketball last year,” Pezman says. “There are just times where they’re further along than where you are. And I don’t like admitting it any more than anybody else does. But (Cincinnati coach) Luke (Fickell) has been there five or six years and Dana’s been here three years.

“. . . The difference in the progress of their program is the depth of their talent. Particularly in the O-line, D-line. That’s where you see the biggest gap between the teams that are working to move up but aren’t there yet.”

That is where the recruiting push — with a heavy emphasis on immediate impact transfer portal players — is so crucial. While players like Deontay Anderson understandably lingered and felt the full weight of the loss to Cincinnati, Holgorsen, defensive coordinator Doug Belk and the rest of the UH coaches quickly had to move on.

Much like Kelvin Sampson called transfer portal big man Josh Carlton right before UH played Oregon State with a Final Four berth on the line, the UH football coaches almost immediately went into recruiting mode after Cincinnati.

“It meant a lot to me,” Cartlon tells PaperCity of Sampson reaching out to him on such an important night.

Carlton ended up coming to UH and is now one of the reasons a reinforced Houston basketball team is 7-1 and gunning for another long NCAA Tournament run. “Just knowing the pedigree of the program,” Carlton says of deciding UH was his transfer choice. “Just talking to Coach Samps and having the opportunity to play championship basketball at a high level.”

Holgorsen is looking for his own impact players in football.

“Unless, you’re around it or see it, it’s a nonstop relentless process,” Pezman says of college recruiting. “To be frank, that’s why you see coaches go to the NFL and get out of college. Because the workload is different. There they can just worry about coaching their sport and not worry about recruiting and roster management.

“Not to the degree that you have to in college because of the way the system is set up now with transfer options, kids opting out and enrolling early and all those things that go into it. It’s a much more fluid roster than it was 15, 20 years ago.”

These are the usually hidden battles that fans do not see, the relentless toil that truly sets up special seasons.

“It would be hard for them to understand the work that it requires to have success and get a kid like Josh Carlton in here,” Pezman notes. “Or Marcus Jones. That’s another kid who transferred in. And (the coaches) worked their ass off recruiting that kid for obvious reasons. Because they knew he was special.”

Identifying more transfer talents like Jones, who is going to be an impact NFL player, is Holgorsen and his staff’s mission. It is even more important than the Birmingham Bowl in many ways. It is how you make 11-2 one giant stepping stone.

Who has time to look back? Even after a season that included a streak of 11 straight wins and a conference championship game berth.

“That third quarter where they kind of overwhelmed us a little bit, that’s just the difference between  year six in a program and year three,” Pezman tells PaperCity of the Bearcats’ 21-0 power flex. “What we have to improve on. The good thing is this wasn’t anything, it’s not as if. . .

“Our kids continued to play hard,” the AD continues. “We’re in a pretty good spot. We’re pretty damn close to being pretty damn good. I know that’s a different measure than a lot of people’s opinion, but in my opinion, I like where we’re going.”

For now, it’s on to the transfer portal. And recruiting in general. You need to build on special.