Five best returning players: WR Marquez Stevenson, WR Keith Corbin, LB/DB Grant Stuard, QB Clayton Tune, LB Donavan Mutin

Football is, like all others, a copycat sport. Once someone finds something that works, others try it. That goes for tactics, formations and individual playcalls ... and I'm curious if it ends up going for the Houston Tank as well. With the Coogs starting 1-3 in 2019, Dana Holgorsen decided to attempt something both logical and insane: He basically called it quits on the season and started building toward 2020. That meant redshirting star quarterback D'Eriq King, leading receiver Keith Corbin and basically anybody else who still had one to give. By my count, 11 players played either three or four games while redshirting. The depth-chart churn was incredible. Only two combined RBs and LBs played in more than eight games. Only two offensive linemen played in all 12, and 11 logged at least 170 snaps. Meanwhile, Holgorsen had already brought in a load of transfers, many of whom had to sit in 2019.

...it's possible that all 22 starters are juniors or seniors. Class balance? None whatsoever. This is Rams-esque, "destroy your cap for years to reach the Super Bowl in 2018" territory. But if you win doing this, and then just keep right on doing it, maybe it keeps working? Especially in an incoming era of transfers not having to sit for a year (and especially with you in Texas, where plenty of potential transfers went to high school)? Quarterback Clayton Tune returns; in parts of two seasons he's thrown for 2,328 yards, 19 TDs and 11 interceptions, and he has more experience right now than he would have without King's redshirt. Plus, the Coogs boast one of the most explosive receiver duos in the country in Corbin and Marquez Stevenson. Three of four main RBs return, including 2019 leader Kyle Porter, and eight of the 11 linemen mentioned above are back, having combined for 88 starts.