Texas A&M transfer Conner Weigman is coming back to the Bayou City to play for the University of Houston Cougars. Sidelines Houston was first to break the news on Wednesday evening when a source close to the situation confirmed that Weigman had committed to Willie Fritz and company. The 5 star quarterback out of Bridgeland High School in Cypress returns home after a stint in College Station where he completed 60% of his passes, throwing for 19 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Due to a medical redshirt, Weigman will have an additional 2 years of eligibility.
Lets look at this transfer from a couple different angles. First, from the message it sends out. Regardless of whether or not you think Weigman is THE guy for this program, which there has been much debate on X over, it is undeniable that landing him is huge. As of this writing, Weigman is currently listed as the third best QB in the portal according to 247 Sports.
A top 5 QB in the portal? Committing to Houston?
That is not a sentence that many people would have thought possible just ten days ago during another long night in Provo. Yet, here we are.
That is not a sentence that many people would have thought possible just days ago as UH couldn't match the salary being offered to Shiel Wood by Texas Tech. Yet, here we are.
The message this sends to fans, current players, recruits and other portal kids is that this staff and department is serious about winning. They are serious about building a program. Expect portal players that might not have taken a look at UH to stop and notice now. I was told before this was official that if it were to happen, expect multiple recruits to instantly follow him here. We will watch and see if that comes to fruition.
From a lot of angles, this move makes a ton of sense. Highly rated kid out of Houston goes off to the "big time" of SEC football. Gets setback with no real path forward where he currently is and wants to come home. We know that story. We love that story. Houston is a city of comebacks.
The biggest angle that doesn't make sense is where did this NIL money come from? UH, as anyone who pays attentions knows, has one of the smallest collectives and is the smallest P4 operating budget. From multiple conversations with different people when asked about that the answer was pretty similar: no one knows. While one source in particular told me NIL was not Weigman's main focus, he had to have cost something. Whoever opened the checkbook for this needs to be given a serious pat on the back.
Second and most importantly, his play on the field. Martin Marroquin over at GoCoogs.com had a great writeup about Weigman's strengths and weaknesses. I reached out to Sidelines Texas A&M to get their thoughts since they have seen him up close and personal. Here is what they said below:
"When he's good, he's one of the best processing QBs I've ever seen, but he has a mental block from his injury. He functions well against pressure off the edge, but if your guards get beat and he gets pressure in his face he falls apart. His escapability isn't really cream of the crop...but I think he'd be the best QB Houston has had since Case Keenum."
I followed up by asking if the most important thing to his success is the OL. His answer:
"Absolutely. Need really good center and guard play...sim pressures off the edge he can deal with, but if those three just straight up lose..." well. You can imagine how he ended that sentence.
Now, before all the dark thunderclouds of joy take this and run with it, which there have already been a number of, here are a couple of things. First, coming off a season ending injury is always hard. Coming back with a new coaching staff just raises the difficulty level. Sometimes, a change of scenery is the best thing for you. Second, he will not be facing SEC level defenses here. His success will, in large part, be determined by his protection by the offensive line. He has the ability he just needs to be given the time to complete plays. He will also need WR targets. As we know, the WR core took a hit this week to the portal. Building that back up will also be an essential step in this process.
The bottom line is that this was a fantastic first step. Weigman has the talent to be one of the best QBs UH has ever seen but he has to be protected. The second step is making sure he is by landing offensive linemen in the portal and the third is giving him people to make plays. If we are sitting here in October with the same lackluster offense we had this past season the first place I am going to look is how the oline has played and then the second will be what he has had to work with.
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