Why Keisean Henderson Is The Next Piece To Houston’s Rise In The Big 12 Conference
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Houston football is coming off a 10-2 season which exceeded many people's expectations in head coach Willie Fritz’s second year at the helm.
With the recent success, the University of Houston has become an attractive destination for recruits all across the country.
The highlight of the Cougars’ 2026 recruiting class, freshman quarterback Keisean Henderson, is the No. 1 player in his class, and he is coming to Houston to make a name for himself and the University.
He sat down with Houston Cougars On SI on behalf of Panini America to talk about his future with the program.
What Keisean Henderson Brings To Houston
Henderson comes into the program as Houston’s highest-rated recruit in history, surpassing the great Ed Oliver, who now plays amongst the nation’s best athletes with the Buffalo Bills.
With that added pressure and expectation to be great, the freshman quarterback uses that as motivation to become the best version of himself.
”Houston fans are getting a guy that wants to win,” Henderson said. “Someone who is not going to back down from any challenge and has fun while playing the game. Someone who is willing to do anything for the team.”
That type of hunger and team-first mindset is exactly the type of character that Fritz looks at when recruiting, and Henderson is fully bought in with Houston’s plan for him.
The young star first met Fritz and coach Slade Nagle when they were at Tulane, but the relationship was strong enough to follow them to Houston.
”For all of the staff at Houston to be people I’ve met early on in my career, it made it more of a homey feeling,” Henderson said. “The season that they had this year, it is only going to get better. You don’t just have one season like that and then the next season it falls off. I feel like the culture that is built in the facility that I have now seen with my own two eyes, it’s the standard to be a part of a squad like that.”
Henderson is now on campus and he is preparing for spring ball which is right around the corner.
While his goals are in line with everyone else in the program, to win a Big 12 and National Championship, he brings in several personal goals for his time with the Cougars.
”I want to instill my name in the record books at the University of Houston,” Henderson said. “I want to win the Davey O’Brien Award and the Heisman. I also want to take my shot at Case Keenum’s record. But first there is a lot of little details I want to obtain first before I even get the chance to do that like win over the locker room and become an all-around team player that everyone can lean on.”
The future quarterback of the Cougars did not hold back when addressing his goals, and with his mix of confidence and trust in the coaching staff, anything is possible for him, and he will be an exciting player to watch in his time at Houston.
Ashton Grissom is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He is currently a senior at the University of Houston and majoring in Sports Media Production with a minor in Marketing and Spanish. He also works for two student organizations: The Cougar and CoogTV. You can find Grissom on his Instagram (@ashtonagrissom8) or Twitter (@ashtongrissom8).