Dana Holgorsen ready to shift into another gear with UH football as season nears
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Dana Holgorsen era is gearing into full swing at the University of Houston.
With the opening game against reigning Big 12 champions Oklahoma, who added star QB Jalen Hurts, Holgorsen is making practice intense.
"I think it's probably a little uncharted territory for 'em," Holgorsen said, adding that both the teams and coaches practice hard. Holgorsen said he doesn't feel that has happened in this program in a while.
Holgorsen with the grind of camp, injuries have come. He said that while he is happy with the reps and effort players are putting in, Holgorsen hopes all of the roster can reach full strength and health soon.
Two players in particular that Holgorsen credited were transfers Gio Pancotti and Justin Murphy, who he said have established themselves as starters.
Pancotti is a transfer from Texas Tech, and Murphy is coming to Houston from UCLA.
"They've brought to the inside what we needed them to bring to the inside," Holgorsen said.
The program has had a couple of live practices, with two more to come before the team's first scrimmage.
Holgorsen said he has seen a growth in the overall talent with his players since the spring, and hopes that more players will come into the program and continue to elevate it.
When it comes to red-shirting players, Holgorsen said he is open to red-shirting as many freshman as possible with there not being many on the roster.
Holgorsen added that if players have redshirts available and are lower on the depth chart, he will lean towards red-shirting them. He said that will give players the ability to develop, and that's how you build a program.
Holgorsen said it's "crazy" that some of the seniors on his roster are 20 years old. He said the average starting age of his players last season at West Virginia University was 23.
