Fresh off being ranked No. 24 in the preseason Coaches Poll, the Houston Cougars are entering the 2026 season with heightened expectations in the Big 12. With only the Texas Tech Red Raiders, BYU Cougars, and Utah Utes ranked ahead of them in the conference, perhaps the Coogs have more of a fighting chance than previously thought.Before dialing up the Houston hype too much, though, there are questions to answer in the trenches. Specifically, whether or not Slade Nagle and Eman Naghavi can get three transfers up to speed quick enough.UH is filling its right tackle, left guard, and center vacancies with Miami (OH) Redhawks transfer Drew Terrill, Tulane Green Wave transfer Shadre Hurst, and Toledo Rockets transfer Anthony Boswell, respectively. They'll be joining blindside tackle Alvin Ebosele and right guard McKenzie Agnello along the starting offensive line.Shadre Hurst Comes to Houston With the Most Hype on the LineTulane Green Wave offensive linemen Shadre Hurst blocks during the first half against the Memphis Tigers | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters ConnectHurst is expected to be the biggest difference-maker of the group after being named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Conference First Team, not to mention his 2025 Second-Team All-American nomination from The Sporting News.In 2025, during a CFP season for the Green Wave, Hurst had a 90.5 pass-blocking grade, good for 4th in the FBS, and an 80.9 run-blocking grade, which was 10th in the FBS.Tulane's offense didn't produce as much as it should've on the ground (166.3 yards per game on 4.5 YPC), but that was not on Hurst.Anthony Boswell is Similarly Decorated in the IOLBoswell could be an NFL talent already, looking to springboard from the Coogs to the NFL with his second transfer. On his third team in three years, Boswell went from a non-factor on the Purdue Boilermakers to a can't-miss transfer from the Rockets.CBS Sports' Mike Renner believes Boswell "played with incredible balance and leverage in an outside zone-heavy scheme" in Toledo. Renner questions whether a second-year jump is imminent, but also claimed it wasn't necessary to get Boswell to the pros.Houston knows what it needs from Boswell, while also having expectations of the arrangement. Sounds like this short-term investment could seriously work if the center gets up to speed with quarterback Conner Weigman in time to make noise in the Big 12 this season.Drew Terrill is Consistent at the Tackle SpotTerrill comes in with second-team All-MAC honors and a 75.5 Pro Football Focus (PFF) grade over 734 snaps from a season ago. Terrill comes in with arguably the least hype, but that's not to say there's none.The knock on Terrill is that he's undersized for the tackle spot, but he's got the agility to make up for it. He is a very willing run-blocker, which is a nice bonus.Running back transfer Makhi Hughes, who totaled 2,779 rushing yards and 24 touchdowns at Tulane in 2023 and 2024 before moving on to Oregon in 2025, will enjoy attacking the C-gap behind Terrill. Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow