Kendal Briles already helped propel Florida Atlantic to a conference title. Cougars’ coach Major Applewhite brought him back to Houston, his alma mater, in hopes of doing it again. 

“We want to be more explosive. We want more points,” Applewhite said. “We’re still going to run the football. We’re not going to abandon the run, but we want to be more explosive down the field.”

Briles’ controversial arrival came a little more than a year after leaving Baylor in the wake of a sexual assault scandal that ended with his father, Bears’ coach Art Briles, university president Ken Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw all being fired.

But last season, FAU ranked fourth nationally in plays longer than 40 yards. Houston was 67th. The power spread is back at Houston after Applewhite went just 7-5 in his first year as Cougars head coach, a step back from Tom Herman’s 22 wins in his two seasons at UH. The new system is a close cousin of what Houston ran under Herman and Applewhite’s first year, but this offseason was about adjusting to the differences.

“Sometimes it’s the same play, we’re just signaling different, quarterback is saying it a little different and we’re going to run it a heck of a lot faster,” Applewhite said. “But the guys have really adapted to it. We’ve just got to continue to develop depth.”

Doing so with a completely rebooted offense won’t be easy. D’Eriq King returns as the starting quarterback after capturing the job late last season, but he’s moving on without Steven Dunbar and Linnell Bonner, who combined for 299 catches and 3,769 yards the past two seasons. King was the Cougars third-leading receiver in 2017, too.

He’ll try to rebuild the passing game around receivers Courtney Lark, Keith Corbin, Marquez Stevenson and Jeremy Singleton. Terry Marks and Kinte Hatton were also spring standouts at receiver who could be targets for the Cougars new, high-octane offense.

Running back responsibilities will fall to Mulbah Car after Duke Catalon left the team in March. Colorado transfer Patrick Carr should give the Cougars backfield a distinctly vehicular feel.

The biggest question for the Cougars is whether they have the offensive line to be as effective as Applewhite hopes immediately. The entire right side of the line is gone with guard Na’Ty Rodgers and tackle Marcus Oliver out of eligibility. 

“The safest thing in the world is to take the snap and hand it to the guy next to you. We want to be balanced enough to do it both ways,” Applewhite said. “We’re not there yet. We’re not there yet consistently. There’s times where we’ll get advantageous looks and blocks and look like an All-American front, and then there’s times things get a little screwy and we look average as grits. We’re getting there, but we’re not deep.”

Applewhite wants his new offense to be explosive, and the offensive line may decide whether or not it’s an accurate descriptor of the Cougars’ attack.