Cameron Malveaux adds weight, memories during 5 years at Houston
Cameron Malveaux was asked to reflect on his five years at Houston during the Las Vegas Bowl Kickoff media conference Friday at the Hard Rock Hotel.
The defensive end took a deep breath.
“Whoa,” Malveaux said. “There’s been a lot.”
Malveaux showed up to the Houston campus in 2012 weighing 210 pounds and was still undecided about playing basketball or football.
The redshirt senior committed to football, gained 65 pounds, became a team captain and started in all 12 games for the Cougars this season. He’ll lead a ferocious front seven one more time when Houston meets San Diego State at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.
“I worked so hard to achieve these goals with my team,” Malveaux said. “I came in at 210 pounds and now I’m 275, and that’s a big jump and I’m thankful for everything.”
Besides gaining weight, Malveaux gained a long list of coaches during his time at Houston. Malveaux was:
• Recruited by former Houston coach Kevin Sumlin, who left for Texas A&M after the 2011 season.
• Coached from 2012 to 2014 by Tony Levine, who was fired.
• Coached by Tom Herman in 2015 and 2016, when he started in all but one game the past two seasons.
Herman left for the Texas job last month and was replaced by offensive coordinator Major Applewhite, who will make his coaching debut Saturday.
“Going through many staffs and a lot of different players and coaches that coached me, I got to meet a lot of great people,” Malveaux said. “Coach Herman brought a lot of great people with him last year, and I built trust with them and gave us a good culture change, and it’s been different and difficult but well worth it.”
ROCKY APPROVES OF MAJOR
San Diego State’s Rocky Long, who has been a college football coach since the 1970s, gave a rousing approval of Major Applewhite as the new coach at Houston.
“I want to congratulate coach Applewhite on being named the new head coach,” said Long, who has coached the Aztecs since 2009. “It’s well deserved, and that shows the intelligence of the university and the administration at Houston, and they picked the guy that deserved the job.
“He knows the system. Houston has been revolutionary on offense, and Major has a lot to do with it.”
BRIGHT FUTURE
Tyler McCloskey is part of the winningest senior class in Houston history, but the tight end thinks the incoming recruits and returning players will match the seniors’ success.
“I’m really excited to see what they do,” McCloskey said. “I know they’ll be competitive, but I think they can be lights out.
“And the recruits that they have brought in, no offense to Cam (Malveaux), but they’re much better athletes than we ever were.”
Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0492. Follow @gmanzano24 on Twitter.
