The college football season in Texas starts a week earlier than normal with a Week 0 matchup between North Texas and UTEP. To celebrate us making it through another off-season, we’re counting down the 50 most important players in Texas every day until Aug. 27. The list isn’t necessarily about which players are the best, though talent plays a major factor in most important.

No. 2: Clayton Tune, Houston senior quarterback 

The History

Tune was a three-star recruit out of Hebron High School in the DFW area who signed with the Cougars in the 2018 cycle over offers from Kansas, FAU, and Ole Miss. Tune threw for 6,686 yards and 66 passing touchdowns, adding 1,074 rushing yards and 20 more scores on the ground. He was a three-year starter for head coach Brian Brazil. 

Tune played in five games as a true freshman in 2018, starting the final two games of the season for an injured D’Eriq King. He replaced King as the starter again in 2019, this time for the final seven games of the season when King opted out of the season to transfer to Miami. Tune averaged 219 yards per game through the air that season. 

Tune was securely implanted as the starting quarterback at Houston by the start of the 2020 season. Unfortunately, that was only an eight-game season due to COVID-19. He threw for 2,048 yards and 15 touchdowns while starting every game. His true jump forward came in 2021 when he set career highs in almost every statistical category. Tune threw for 3,550 yards and 30 touchdowns on a 68.3 completion percentage. He’s seventh in the program’s all-time career passing yards list with 7,926 yards and fifth in all-time career passing touchdown list with 64 entering the 2022 season. 

The Skillset 

The 6-3, 220-pound Tune can make every throw on the field. He doesn’t have a rocket for an arm, but he can threaten defenses vertically and is an accurate passer. He’s also athletic enough to buy himself some time or scramble for a first down if nothing is available in the pass game. Tune is a leader who was thrust into action early in his career but handled adversity and emerged as a captain over the last two seasons. He’s a sixth-year quarterback with loads of experience and trust in the offense. He threw four interceptions in a Week 1 loss to Houston last year. He rebounded by only throwing six more over the final 13 games of the season. When he protects the football, Tune is the most efficient and valuable quarterback in the state. 

The Impact 

Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen doesn’t see coaching football as rocket science. He’ll freely admit that when he’s had a good quarterback, his teams tend to win a lot of football games. When he’s been missing that ingredient, his program struggles. If we’re going off that measure, Houston could be conference champions and possibly the run the table thanks to a favorable schedule. The Cougars must get past road games against UTSA and Texas Tech in non-conference play. Do that, and a 12-0 regular season is possible because Houston doesn’t have to play Cincinnati unless the two teams meet in the AAC Championship game. The connection of Tune to wide receiver Nathaniel Dell is the best in the state. 

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