Walkons

Now listed on roster

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Thanks, I’ll try to do a rundown of them tonight.

One guy I noticed is Brandon McDowell, Sr. CB transfer from Texas State. He is a graduate transfer walk-on here, but he was a scholarship player at Texas State that started 24 games at CB over the past two years as well as handling punt and kick return duties. I don’t expect him to be Brandon Wilson, but maybe he can fill that role adequately.

I’m hoping we have a real punt returner this year. D’Eriq King struggled last year with making good decisions when fielding punts, so he was replaced by Collin Wilder, who I don’t recall ever actually returning a punt. He was put back there essentially to fair catch everything. It would be really nice to have a legit return threat this year.

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Absolutely. And would like to see Wilder used more at his natural safety position, though the upperclassmen starters are solid.

He was replaced because Postma got injured and became the 2nd string QB.

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Gotcha. Well, he should have been replaced because he couldn’t figure out when to field or not field a punt. He fair caught way too many punts inside the 10 yard line with no real threat to down the ball.

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I don’t envy punt returners, it’s actually one of the hardest positions in football, and also the time where you are often hit the hardest.

I checked it out. (could have missed one or two) Out of 28 opportunities for King, he had 3 touchbacks, two downed inside the 10, fair caught at the 5, 7 and 8, the rest were outside the 10. The one he caught on the 5 was his third punt return catch of his college career. Chalk that up to jitters. The other two were back to back against UConn late in the game. We can’t know if the coaches told him to do that or not but he didn’t lose his job that day.

It’s fair to say that he had a lot of fair catches but I don’t have any college statistics on percent of punts being returned to compare it. Maybe you were thinking about Stevenson? When Postma got hurt and King went to backup QB, Stevenson had a couple of punt returns, his last one was catching it on the 4 and losing 2 yards.

New Walk-on Roster Adds:

WR Joshua Hancock (Jr) from Killeen Ellison via Central Texas College - Doesn’t look like he played football until he arrived at UH, at least I can’t find anything. Hard to find stats or rosters for Central Texas College as its NAIA and all I can find for them is a schedule. Nothing on him from Killeen Ellison. Was on the Red-White roster sent out for the spring game.

WR Timon Nolan (Jr) from George Ranch HS via Blinn JC - Nolan was a Dual Threat QB out of high school that ended up at Blinn. Looks like he played in 4 games his freshman year going 3-5 for 4 yards and 20 rushes for 156 yards and 2 TDs. For whatever reason, he didn’t play his sophomore year. Here’s his HUDL from Blinn: http://www.hudl.com/profile/2007016/timon-nolan/videos

WR Cole McGowan (RS Fr) from Magnolia HS - 2* WR that had an offer to Navy out of high school. Wasn’t on the roster last year even though he’s listed as a redshirt. Played in the 2016 Bayou Bowl All-Star game and was a 1st Team 19-5A WR as a junior, but tore his ACL that wiped out most of his senior season before he was able to come back near the end. HUDL: https://www.hudl.com/profile/1595209/cole-mcgowan

TE Shane Creamer (Fr) from Del Rio HS - Creamer was a preferred walk-on. He was an Honorable Mention 6A All-State TE and was a 1st Team 29-6A OF in baseball last year. Interesting prospect who needs a little more bulk to play in college. Here’s his HUDL: http://www.hudl.com/profile/3699569/shane-creamer

OL Colson Altman (Fr) from Brenham HS - Altman has a lot of weight on him as he’s 6’0 and 327 pounds which is the highest on the Cougar roster. Here’s his HUDL: https://www.hudl.com/profile/3303338/colson-altman. Looks like he has some experience with long snapping as well as here’s his grade from a camp in 2015: https://www.chrissailerkicking.com/player-rankings/profile?player=7287

OL Jordan Boatman (Fr) from College Park HS - Boatman is a very large prospect, measuring in at 6’6" and 325 pounds. I believe he was invited as a preferred walk-on. Here’s his HUDL: http://www.hudl.com/profile/2982107/jordan-boatman

DE Nnanna Ejiogu (Jr) from Strake Jesuit - Goes by “Tito” or at least he did when he played football at Strake. Played DT and RB in High School and graduated in 2014. Doesn’t look like he’s been playing since then, at least I can’t find a record of him playing. Did play in the Spring game and recorded a TFL.

DB Brandon McDowell (Sr) from Texas State - (from another thread) McDowell looks to be a grad transfer (Non-scholly) from Texas State and is a Redshirt senior that primarily plays CB. Last year, he returned 25 kicks for 416 yards and 16 punts for 161 yards. As a CB, he has started the last 2 years; last year he made 41 tackles, 8 assists, 3 TFL and 3 Passes defensed. Texas State highlights prior to last year: Brandon McDowell || #TRUE || Texas State Highlights - YouTube

DB Jayson Price (Jr) from Lamar HS via Trinity Valley CC - there isn’t much out there about Price as I can’t find him listed on Trinity Valley’s roster the past two years. It does look like he was with the team in the spring as he made 1 tackle in the first Spring scrimmage. Here’s his HUDL from high school: http://www.hudl.com/profile/1385212/jayson-price

DB KIng Ekejija (Fr) from Cedar Hill - was a preferred walk-on, Rivals had him as a 2* safety, but it doesn’t look like he received any offers. Tall at 6’2" 200 and was mostly a WR in high school.

K Caden Novikoff (Jr) from Churchill HS in San Antonio via Trinity Valley CC - from another thread, Novikoff is a junior out of Trinity Valley Community College. Last year, he was 17-19 on FG with a long of 44 and 67-73 on PATs.

LS Anthony Cantu (Jr) from Dobie HS via Navarro CC - Always tough to find info on long snappers. Here’s Cantu’s HUDL from his time at Navarro - http://www.hudl.com/profile/5257454/tony-cantu, and here’s a review of him while he was in high school - https://chrissailerkicking.com/player-rankings/profile?player=6248

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No, I was definitely talking about King. I didn’t track his catches, but it sure seemed like more times than that when he fair caught inside the 10. But, numbers have a way of proving you wrong, and it’s certainly true we don’t know what the coaches were telling him. I just hope the added emphasis on special teams this year results in better punt returns. Guess we’ll see.