Houston WR Stephon Johnson Set to Make Season Debut Against Southern
In this story:
It looks like the Houston Cougars have finally gotten some official clarity this week regarding one of their two players involved in the potential fifth year of eligibility for the class of 2022.
This situation has completely taken over college football, with the question of players who were previously involved with the NFL potentially coming back for a fifth collegiate season.
Wide receiver Stephon Johnson rejoined Houston in the middle of fall camp, given the program's expectation that he would end up being eligible for a fifth year. Johnson went undrafted and never signed an official NFL contract other than participating in New York Giants rookie minicamp, which is based on invite.
Houston and coach Willie Fritz seemed confident that he would end up playing. A Dallas judge granted a temporary restraining order at the end of August to the 41 plaintiffs mentioned in the lawsuit for an additional year, and that included Johnson.
While that court order gave him a fifth year of eligibility, there was still more confirmation that was needed to be completely sure that Johnson was indeed eligible to play this season. On Monday during his weekly press conference, Fritz gave the all-clear for Johnson and that he's good to go for Week 2 against Southern.
Johnson is Ready to Play
"Stephon is eligible. He's going to play this week. He kinda got thrown in the fire there a little late, but he'll be ready to go this week," Fritz said.
Houston's head coach clarified last week that the fifth year has to be approved by the program's compliance as well as the NCAA. The Cougars didn't want to play anybody at all until it was 100 percent finalized and certain that they would be eligible.
"The last thing you want to do is declare somebody eligible when he's not eligible," Fritz said prior to Week 1.
Johnson was in the same pads as everyone else last week and needed to be steadily brought back in to reach the same level as the rest of the team. Considering that he joined in the middle of August, he was behind in terms of adjusting to the system. Fritz mentioned that the rest of the team had a "nine-month jump" on him.
His experience from last season would've certainly helped him get up to speed. That was likely a key part of his situation as well.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound wideout is a Houston native and has 69 receptions for 954 yards and seven touchdowns since he joined the Cougars in 2023. Johnson joins a deep Houston receiver room that features Preseason All-Big 12 member Amare Thomas, as well as senior transfer Trent Walker and redshirt sophomore Koby Young.
On the other hand, transfer safety Myles Rowser's situation still hasn't been completely resolved yet.
“I’m not quite sure with him. There’s another court case coming up and all sorts of things. So his deal is not tied in with Stephon’s deal at all," Fritz said.
He also mentioned that he didn’t think Rowser would be eligible this week.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Maanav Gupta is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He graduated from the University of Houston in the summer of 2025 with his bachelor’s in journalism and a minor in Spanish. Gupta spent three years at the student newspaper, The Daily Cougar, and also covered the 2025 Final Four and National Championship as Houston beat writer for College Basketball Review. He also has his own YouTube channel, Maanav’s Sports Talk, where he has interviewed professional athletes and broadcasters like Jim Nantz, Jose Altuve, J.J. Watt, Rich Eisen, and Alperen Sengun. Gupta was also a contributor to the Houston athletic program as a student. You can find Gupta on X, Instagram and TikTok @MGSportsTalk.