If your starting quarterback doesn’t show up at Media Days, people talk. Whispers start. Is he hurt? In trouble? In the doghouse? Now toss in the name Conner Weigman and an offseason transfer from Texas A&M to Houston, and the rumor mill turns into a full-blown factory. The Cougars just dropped the names of four players, and head coach Willie Fritz is heading to Big 12 Media Days—but no Weigman. That absence hit like a cold splash of Gatorade on a summer scrimmage.

The Houston Cougars are rolling into the 2025 Big 12 Media Days with head coach Willie Fritz and 4 key players set to rep the squad on July 9 at The Star in Frisco, Texas. It’s a big-time moment for Fritz, who’s looking to flip the script after a rough 2024 and kick off a new era for the program. Tagging along are some athletes expected to make serious noise this season: wideouts Mekhi Mews and Stephon Johnson, hard-hitting DB Carlos Allen Jr., and veteran linebacker Latrell McCutchin Sr.—all ready to show the Big 12 what Houston’s about. The absence of Conner Weigman’s name on the list has low-key raised eyebrows among Cougars Nation. Something had to be up, right?

Well, not exactly. According to Houston insider and former D3 athlete Parker Ainsworth (Locked on Coogs), Weigman being left off the list wasn’t some passive-aggressive move or injury cover-up. It was about context: “When you look at the guys that they selected—Mews, Boogie, Carlos, Latrell—I think what you’re seeing is a representation of guys that can speak to the program. They came into the shift in mindset and culture, and the growth from last year to next year.”

Parker doubled down: “As much as Conner Weigman has a part in that growth, he can’t speak to what it was before he got there. That’s not really—as far as the direction and the way they want to talk about the program—he can’t do that. He can’t talk about what it was like under the previous offensive coordinator, in the previous system, with the previous talent or whatever, right?” 

Translation? The four guys heading to Frisco can actually tell the story of this team’s gritty climb. Mekhi Mews and Stephon “Boogie” Johnson can talk about the cultural shift firsthand. They’ve lived it—the low-scoring, gut-wrenching losses and the long practices that didn’t pay off. Conner, as talented as he is, just showed up. In media terms, he’s still reading the first chapter.

But don’t get it twisted. Conner Weigman is the guy in H-Town. After three turbulent years in College Station, including a season-ending ankle injury in 2023 and flashes of brilliance under constant pressure, Weigman hit the portal and landed with Willie Fritz. During spring ball, he took over the offense like he owned it. Head coach Fritz didn’t mince words either. He called Weigman’s leadership “sharp” and his arm talent “top-tier.” The offense, once a dead battery, started showing signs of life. The goal now? Rebuild an identity around Weigman’s tools and get this squad bowl-eligible again.

And that offense needed CPR, fast. Houston ranked near the basement in scoring last year, 14 points per game, dead last in the Big 12. Their air attack was so ineffective, the punter became their most consistent weapon. Enter Weigman, OC Slade Nagle, and a gang of portal additions, and suddenly, there’s hope. Like real, touch-the-sky hope. And whether Weigman talks to the media or not, his presence is what matters when the lights go on.

Are the Houston Cougars ready for Big 12 football in 2025?

The Big 12 door officially opened for Houston on July 1, 2023, and let’s just say the welcome party was… not great. Two straight 4-8 seasons and no bowl bids had fans clutching their vintage Andre Ware jerseys, wondering what went wrong. For a program that once flirted with undefeated seasons and electrifying offense, this was a hard crash into reality.

But 2025 feels… different. That second-year pop under Willie Fritz is real. Last season was supposed to be a rebuild, and it showed—in all the worst ways. The Cougars had one of the worst scoring offenses in the country and went scoreless in multiple quarters against bottom-feeder teams. But when you zoom in, there were sparks: an upset of TCU, a stunner against Kansas State, and a bowl-ruiner against Utah. The foundation was shaky, but the blueprint started to show.

This offseason, Fritz didn’t tiptoe through the portal—he bulldozed it. In came Weigman, sure, but also running back Dean Connors, 6’7″ Ball State tight end Tanner Koziol (who might just be the best red-zone cheat code in the league), and a beefed-up O-line stacked with thousands of snaps of experience. That line alone could change everything. Weigman was running for his life at A&M. Now he might finally get a pocket.

Defensively? Quietly solid. Linebacker Latrell McCutchin Sr. and edge rusher Carlos Allen Jr. are tone-setters, straight up. But Fritz didn’t stop there. He snagged LSU DB Jordan Allen and Auburn transfer Keionte Scott to shore up the secondary. These aren’t just depth pieces—they’re ballhawks from SEC territory. Suddenly, this Houston defense looks like it can stand toe-to-toe in the Big 12 slugfest.

Even Vegas is catching on. Sportsbooks set the Cougars’ win total at 5.5 with the over juiced at -200. Still, the Cougars aren’t crashing the Big 12 title race just yet. At +4000 odds, they’re long shots. Kansas State, Utah, Arizona—those are the grown-ups in the room. But what Houston has now is a plan. A quarterback. A direction. And finally, after two years of being out-muscled and outscored, a shot, hopefully.