Will James

#5 · DB · Houston6′0″ · 185 lb · Grand Bay, AL · Theodore

Interceptions248th of 391 defensive backs Last gameL 13–21at Utah · Oct 24

Nextvs CincinnatiSat Nov 7 · 3:30 pm ET

via uhcougars.com ↗

His most important play this season

Q1, 9:17 · Texas Tech down 3Will James intercepts Thomas CastellanosHouston at Texas Tech, week 3Q1, 9:17 · Texas Tech 0, Houston 37Texas Tech’s turnover led to a touchdown7Texas Tech’s turnover led to a touchdownTexas Tech’s turnover led to a touchdownT.Castellanos pass intercepted by W.James at HOU45 QB hurried by K.Laufau, End Of PlayWatch from this play Big 12 Conference

All 2 of his plays on video

Will James

DB · Houston · #5

Erases the deep middle of the field. Played for two head coaches across three seasons and two programs. The first one came in 2025: All-Big 12. A game that shows it: 8 tackles against Utah — Week 8, 2026.

28 tackles · 0 sacks

Style of play

Play style

Single-high range who erases the deep middle of the field.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

E'zaiah ShineTulane · 2025 · 85% season match
Malik MuhammadTexas · 2024 · 84% season match
Javion WhiteTulane · 2025 · 83% season match
Jared CollinsArkansas · 2016 · 82% season match
Jaylin WilliamsIndiana · 2021 · 82% season match

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2026	Houston	28	17	0.0	7	2
2025	Houston	39	32	4.0	5	3
2024	Southern Miss	35	21	2.0	7	--
Career		102	70	6.0	19	5

Last game (Wk 8): 1 pass breakup, 8 tackles.

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2026 season · 8 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	W 33-20vs Oregon State	6	6	0.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 2	W 77-6vs Southern	1	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 3	L 26-28@ No. 13 Texas Tech	—	—	—	—	1	—
Wk 4	W 42-28@ Georgia Southern	6	6	0.0	0.0	—	2
Wk 5	W 27-17vs UCF	6	2	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 6	W 35-16@ Kansas State	1	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 7	W 35-32vs No. 18 Oklahoma State	0	0	0.0	0.0	1	3
Wk 8	L 13-21@ No. 10 Utah	8	1	0.0	0.0	—	1	Season-high 8 tackles
Total		28	17	0.0	0.0	2	7

The latest game

Oct. 24 · L 13-21 at Utah, play by play

8 tackles, including 1 pass broken up.

8 tackles
1 pass broken up

First quarterbegan tied 0-0
1st & 10○Broken up
FinalL 13-21

a sackan interceptiona forced fumblea pass broken upa QB hurrya tackle

Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play: 7 of his 8, sacks included.

His game this year: coverage — 7 passes defended in the 8 games with play by play.

How Houston’s defense played that day

Utah’s 11 drives: 8 stopped (2 takeaways) · 3 scored. While the game was within a score they held 8 of 10.

The season, game by game

L 13-21 at UtahOct. 248 tkl0 TFLPlay by play just above

W 35-32 vs Oklahoma StateOct. 170 tkl0 TFL, 1 INTtied for the most passes broken up in FBS that week

0 tackles, including 1 interception, 3 passes broken up, tied for the most passes broken up in FBS that week. His interception on 3rd and 10 ended Oklahoma State’s drive (int).

0 tackles
3 passes broken up
1 interception
3 drives ended on one of his plays

Second quarterbegan up 7-3
4th & 2○Broken up1
3rd & 10✕Interception2
3rd & 10○Broken up2
2nd & 10○Broken up
Third quarterbegan up 14-3
1st & 2○Broken up
FinalW 35-32

a sackan interceptiona forced fumblea pass broken upa QB hurry

1
Broke up a pass on 4th and 2. Second quarter, up 7-3. Ended Oklahoma State’s drive (downs).
2
Intercepted on 3rd and 10. Second quarter, up 7-3. Ended Oklahoma State’s drive (int).

6 more games, with the play by play

W 35-16 at Kansas StateOct. 101 tkl0 TFL

1 tackle.

FinalW 35-16

a sackan interceptiona forced fumblea pass broken upa QB hurrya tackle

Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.

W 27-17 vs UCFOct. 36 tkl0 TFL

6 tackles.

FinalW 27-17

a sackan interceptiona forced fumblea pass broken upa QB hurrya tackle

Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. It places 7 for him; the box score credits 6.

W 42-28 at Georgia SouthernSept. 266 tkl0 TFL

6 tackles, including 2 passes broken up.

6 tackles
2 passes broken up

Fourth quarterbegan up 35-21
2nd & 6○Broken up
1st & 10○Broken up
FinalW 42-28

a sackan interceptiona forced fumblea pass broken upa QB hurrya tackle

Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.

L 26-28 at Texas TechSept. 180 tkl0 TFL, 1 INT

0 tackles, including 1 interception. His interception ended Texas Tech’s drive (int).

0 tackles
1 interception
1 drive ended on one of his plays

First quarterbegan tied 0-0
1st & 10✕Interception1
FinalL 26-28

a sackan interceptiona forced fumblea pass broken upa QB hurry

1
Intercepted. First quarter, up 3-0. Ended Texas Tech’s drive (int).

W 77-6 vs SouthernSept. 121 tkl0 TFL

1 tackle.

FinalW 77-6

a sackan interceptiona forced fumblea pass broken upa QB hurrya tackle

Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.

W 33-20 vs Oregon StateSept. 56 tkl0 TFL

6 tackles, including 1 pass broken up.

6 tackles
1 pass broken up

Fourth quarterbegan up 26-13
1st & 10○Broken up
FinalW 33-20

a sackan interceptiona forced fumblea pass broken upa QB hurrya tackle

Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.

Signature game

Week 7 · 2026

W 35-32

vs Oklahoma State

1 interception · 3 pass breakups · 1 interception return yards

Edged out Oklahoma State at home in a shootout.

Where he ranks

Interceptions2tied for 6th in the Big 12 this season; tied for 46th among current FBS players over the whole career (5).

Conference ranks count every player in the conference with a row in that stat, any position. Career ranks count current FBS players, from the games in our log.

Opponents faced, by strength

Ratings of the games shown run from -5 to +18 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).

Defensive profile

Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet

PD rate

25%7 pass breakups

Interceptions

2interceptions

Tackle volume

28tackles this season

TFL rate

0%0 TFL

28 tackles · 7 pass breakups · 2 interceptions.

Teams and coaches

2024Southern Miss1-11HC: Will Hall and Reed Stringer · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2025Houston10-3HC: Willie Fritz · Run-leaning

2026Houston6-2HC: Willie Fritz · Run-leaning

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 84 (#26 of 344). Show the ratings

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

84All-Conference level #26 of 344?

7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: passes defended (99th percentile). Strength: interceptions (83rd percentile). Concern: tackles for loss (10th percentile).

Box-score production (7)

Passes defended#20 / 2515 · 99th pct

Interceptions#50 / 557 · 83rd pct

Solo tackles#656 / 2515 · 73rd pct

Tackles#793 / 2515 · 67th pct

Sacks#1116 / 2515 · 28th pct

0.0

QB hurries#1214 / 2515 · 26th pct

Tackles for loss#2000 / 2515 · 10th pct

0.0

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2026 season · 8 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home4g	3.2	0.0	0.0	1.0
Road4g	3.8	0.0	0.0	0.8

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-77g	2.9	0.0	0.0	0.9
Weeks 8+1g	8.0	0.0	0.0	1.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Willie Fritz

Pass share

43.3%

241 pass / 315 run

Plays / game

69.5

8 games

Team sack rate

3.4%

265 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning.

Awards

Player standing · 2026

28 tackles in 8 games

About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS defensive back who plays every week.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

84 · #26 of 344 corners

Three-star recruit. Now #26 at the position.

2026 outlook

In the mix for All-Big 12

Based on 2025: #7 of 42 Big 12 DBs

How the All-Big 12 base rate is computed

A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 35% of returning players who ranked #4–10 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 31–38%).

Starter

The No. 1,622 recruit in the country is starting in the secondary in the Big 12.

Will James

This week

His most important play this season

Style of play

Similar players

What fans said

In the game threads

Named in

Where to follow

Career stats

Game log

The latest game

The season, game by game

Signature game

Where he ranks

Defensive profile

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Awards

28 tackles in 8 games

Starter

Four seasons, three schools

Moves

2023

2024 11 games

2025 12 games