Houston Football may have finally found their answer for a quarterback next year with the commitment of Zeon Chriss out of Louisiana Tech. Chirss announced on Twitter this morning that he had chosen the Cougars as his next home.
Committed! Psalms 23:4!✝️ pic.twitter.com/bhLY3958rV
— Zeon Chriss (@zeonchriss) January 3, 2024
Zeon Chriss May Be the Perfect Fit
Zeon Chriss is a true dual-threat style of quarterback. Sometimes it seems that the term dual-threat is thrown around casually, but Chriss actually fits the definition. Last season, Chriss threw for 1,222 yards and added 479 yards on the ground in seven games before suffering an injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Had Chriss played in all 12 games, realistically, Chriss would have been around a 2,200 yard passing and 850 yard rushing season, which made him such a high target for many teams looking for a quarterback.
Zeon had received interest from South Carolina, Georgia, TCU, and Utah to name just a few of the schools that reached out. Many programs viewed him as either a day one starter, or a project QB with huge upside with three years of eligibility left.
Ultimately, it seems that Zeon Chriss wanted to go somewhere where there would be less pressure and where he will likely start from day one.
Louisiana transfer QB Zeon Chriss tells TPR that he has received interest from the following programs:
UCF
South Carolina
Tulane
Georgia
Western Kentucky
TCU
Duke
Houston
Buffalo
Colorado
Utah
CalOne of the top freshman QBs in the NATION last season!
Check out the TPR… pic.twitter.com/TexerBqpsd
— The Portal Report (@ThePortalReport) December 29, 2023
So why did he choose Houston? The most likely answer is Willie Fritz, the new coach for Houston. Willie Fritz while at Tulane liked to use a dual-threat quarterback system. The last four years, starting QB Michael Pratt rushed for 1, 145 yards, including 478 yards in 2022.
With a new coach and quarterback that has promise, it could be the right recipe to boost some energy into the Houston program, which for most of 2023 was the bottom of the Big 12, with some suggesting that the conference should have gone with another team instead of Houston in expansion, particularly with teams like Oregon State and Washington State lacking a conference home.
An Opportunity to Build Something Special
This was referenced earlier, but Zeon Chriss and Willie Fritz have an opportunity to do something really special for Houston and in the Big 12. Houston is a recruiting hot-bed that could almost single-handedly create a good team if all the recruits stayed home.
If Fritz is able to build up Houston the same way that he did at Tulane, he would go down as a Houston and Big 12 legend. Maybe Chriss saw that opportunity as well and decided it was too much of an opportunity to pass up.