University of Houston Athletics
Spring Football Opens For Cougars
3/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 21, 2005
HOUSTON, Texas - The annual rite of passage known as spring football commenced today for the University of Houston Cougars, as third-year head coach Art Briles greeted over 80 student-athletes to the UH practice fields. The Cougars will practice Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of each week for the next four weeks, culminating in the annual Red-White Game on Saturday, April 16, at 1 pm at John O'Quinn Field at Robertson Stadium.
After a 3-8 season in 2004, Briles is looking forward to the next month in order to return the Cougars to their winning ways.
"(Last season's record) is kind of a driving force for us," said Briles, "because we certainly were not pleased with the way things turned out for us in '04. But, you cannot sit around and beat yourself up over it. What you have to do is learn what you did and take it and use it to get better, and that's what we're doing.
"We've had a great last eight weeks in the off-season, and we've become more accountable as coaches and student-athletes, and I think it's going to show up on the field starting today."
The Cougars are looking to rebound from last season's 3-8 mark that was fueled in part by a rigorous schedule, graduation on the offensive line and a rash of injuries to the backfield. Houston returns 16 starters from last year's squad, including eight each on both side of the ball.
Highlighting the offense is wide receiver Vincent Marshall, who picked up Second-Team, All-Conference USA honors after posting the first 1,000-yard receiving season of his career. Joining Marshall as returning starters are offensive linemen Byron Alfred, Sterling Doty, SirVincent Rogers and Roy Swan, as well as wide receiver Donnie Avery. Kevin Kolb, a two-year starter at quarterback, also returns, as does running back Anthony Evans, who will return for his senior season this fall.
Kade Lane, who has started 36 consecutive games on the UH defensive line and was named Third-Team, All-C-USA in 2004, is the top returnee on defense. D.J. Johnson also returns on the defensive line, making the move from defensive tackle to nose tackle in the Cougars' new 3-4 alignment. Houston also returns three starting linebackers from a year ago, Lance Everson, Wade Koehl and Brendan Pahulu, as well as three members of the secondary in cornerback Willie Gaston and safeties Will Gulley and Rocky Schwartz. Gulley will sit out spring drills to recuperate from off-season knee surgery.
Houston will practice Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of each week, and the practices are open to UH fans. The Cougars kick off the regular season on September 1, when they play host to Oregon at Reliant Stadium, a game that will be nationally televised on ESPN 2.
