Willie Fritz Reveals Honest Thoughts on Houston's Transfer Portal Class
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Houston Cougars football is ready to go another step higher in 2026. After winning 10 games and defeating LSU in the Texas Bowl, there are even higher expectations on the Cougars this upcoming season for a Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff berth.
That is due to the experience of the returning players, one of the top high school recruiting classes in program history, and the transfer portal class.
This portal class is ranked seventh in the country according to On3 and is a big deal for Houston. A high portal class hasn’t really been the case in the past for UH. However, this season, the Cougars have rocketed past programs like Texas, Florida, BYU, Miami, Ole Miss, and Notre Dame in the transfer portal.
The recruiting for Houston has been taken up a notch under head coach Willie Fritz and his staff. Fritz recently had a press conference on Wednesday breaking down the latest with UH football and shared his detailed thoughts on this highly ranked portal group.
Fritz on UH’s Transfer Portal Recruits
“Perfection is our goal, but excellence will be tolerated," Fritz said.
That is the high-level mindset inside Houston football led by Fritz. It applies in all aspects. The importance of the transfer portal has only increased in college football, and high-level turnarounds can be conducted fairly quickly because of it. 2026 national champions Indiana are an example. Fritz believes it can get done at Houston as well.
“I really think we can win a national championship here at the University of Houston,” Fritz said.
The key to really hitting in the transfer portal is to find guys that meet the culture. It is more challenging for the Cougars given they have less of a support staff than a typical Big 12 school, but Fritz has them working overtime. So far, it has worked.
Houston brought in six transfers last season who made an All Big 12 selection. Tanner Koziol, Amare Thomas, Will James, Eddie Walls Jr. Dean Connors, and Wrook Brown were honorable mentions.
“It shows you that we hit on a bunch of different guys,” Fritz said.
Houston will be hoping that number increases with this season’s class.
At the start of his conference, Fritz broke down the 19 transfer players secured. Nine are from a Power Four program, seven from the Group of 6, and three from the FCS. Three of them were four-star products. An important aspect that Fritz and his staff look at is the snaps brought in vs the snaps lost.
A big reason why teams go in the transfer portal is to get immediate impact. That means experienced players. The more snaps a program brings in, the more instant impact the player can give. Fritz specifically mentioned Houston brought in 7,509 snaps and only lost 1,900 snaps. The gain of 5,500 snaps is significant in his eyes.
“We brought in guys who have experience at this level of football. Last season, that was the case as well,” Fritz said.
What was Houston specifically looking for in the portal and through high school recruiting?
“We need to get bigger, longer, taller to compete for national championships here,” Fritz said.
Fritz went through the entire portal class and pretty much all the players. Size was emphasized on the offensive line, as well as through the defensive secondary. 6-foot-3 wide receiver Trent Walker from Oregon State is part of that.
“He gives us that tall guy out on the perimeter that can give us a mismatch on the corners,” Fritz said.
Incoming senior running back Makhi Hughes was one of the first specific players to be mentioned by the Cougars’ head coach. Hughes played for Fritz at Tulane for a couple of seasons before going to Oregon, and they now reunite. Fritz is excited and mentioned that he knows him very well.
Houston Athletics overall deals with additional adversity from their switch to the Big 12 almost three years ago. Men’s basketball head coach Kelvin Sampson went into detail on that after the win over UCF. Fritz also deals with that.
In all money or revenue markers, Houston remains at the bottom of the Big 12 and is still the lowest in the Power Four. The Cougars are trying to get to the middle of the pack in terms of NIL funding. Fritz believes that he’s got to help and do a better job in that as head coach. A part of their marketing is to promote Houston and their facilities.
In terms of high school recruiting, Fritz said three of the top 10 all-time recruits in UH history were in this class. That would be Keisean Henderson leading the pack, presumably with John Hebert and Paris Melvin Jr. Fritz brags about the fact that he hasn't had to take a plane yet in order to recruit.
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.