BOULDER, CO - Houston’s linebacker room has been in constant motion over the past 10 days, and yet the defense still found a way to hold Cincinnati to 24 points.
Jaden Yates returned against the Bearcats and was on the field for almost every snap. Sione Fotu was dealing with family news after his wife gave birth last week, which left him in and out of practice and limited in the Cincinnati game.
He logged just 10 snaps, though he still managed a QB hurry. Carmycah Glass exited early in the first half against UC and was listed as out for the Colorado game on Tuesday’s injury report.
Christian Brathwaite, meanwhile, turned in a strong showing with 50 snaps against Cincinnati and is expected to play a major role tonight.
With Yates back, Fotu limited, and Glass sidelined, Houston’s defense had to absorb a lot of change and still kept the Bearcats from breaking through.
That was part of the backdrop when I asked defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong earlier this week what he wants to clean up over the final three weeks of the season. We also talked about the defense’s split between first halves and second halves.
One of the more interesting changes came before the season, when Willie Fritz said Houston’s in-helmet communication - the “green dot” - shifted from the defensive backs to the linebackers. The green dot is the helmet with the coach-to-player radio receiver, and only one player on the field can wear it at a time.
The setup has bounced around since the technology arrived at UH. The NCAA approved in-helmet communications for the 2024 season, but Houston didn’t get the equipment until midway through fall camp. Around that same time, the program had an administrative shakeup, with Houston firing AD Chris Pezman in June of that year and hiring Eddie Nuñez.
Back in 2024, then-defensive coordinator Shiel Wood had the green dot with the inside linebackers, since he was coaching that group while also handling DC duties. But managing the calls, the signals, and the communication proved to be too much, so he handed the in-helmet duties to safeties coach Joshua Christian-Young, who moved the green dot to the safeties room, mainly Kentrell Webb. That arrangement worked well for Houston’s defense that season.
Armstrong inherited that system when he became defensive coordinator and left the green dot with the safeties at first. Asked why he eventually moved it to the linebackers, he said:
“When I got here, the whole staff was here, we had a good MOJO, and I didn’t want to mess it up,” Armstrong said. “So I let them do it.”
When Christian-Young left for Kentucky last December, Armstrong shifted the communication back to the linebackers, which was also the setup he had at Florida in 2024.
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For Houston, the bigger concern was not just the upset loss to No. 14 Colorado, but the way a short injury scare turned into another layer of trouble in a 42-32 defeat. Colorados win pushed the Buffaloes closer to bowl eligibility, while the Cougars were left to sort through another frustrating outcome in a game where the momentum never fully swung back their way. [Read more 🡒]