There's a moment on tape from last November that tells you everything about why Will James now finds himself on one of college football's most exclusive preseason lists.
Houston trailed TCU 14-0, and the Horned Frogs' passing game looked unstoppable. Then James stepped in front of a throw for his first interception. He came back for a second one before halftime. He added a forced fumble for good measure. By the final whistle, the sophomore cornerback had matched his career high with five tackles and set a new one with two picks, earning PFF National Team of the Week and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors in the process.
Nine months later, that kind of performance is exactly why the Football Writers Association of America put James's name on the 2026 Bronko Nagurski Award Preseason Watch List, announced Tuesday. Sometimes called the defensive answer to the Heisman Trophy, the Nagurski goes to the nation's top defensive player and comes with a résumé of past winners that reads like a Hall of Fame ballot: Aaron Donald, Luke Kuechly, Chase Young, and Ndamukong Suh. Last year it went to Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, the first Big 12 player to win it since Suh in 2009, a reminder that the league James plays in has recently produced college football's best defender. James is building a case to be next.
A debut season that set the tone
James arrived at Houston last year as a transfer from Southern Miss and needed all of two games to make his mark. In just his second appearance as a Cougar, he read a tipped pass and turned it into a 37-yard pick-six against Rice, a play that helped Houston hang onto the Bayou Bucket in the rivalry's finale.
From there, the production never slowed. James finished 2025 leading the Cougars with three interceptions and four total turnovers gained, adding two forced fumbles, and racking up eight pass breakups—second on the team. His 77.8 PFF defensive grade ranked third on the roster, remarkable output for a first-year player still learning a new system under defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong. The Big 12 took notice, naming him Second Team All-Big 12 as he and running mate Latrell McCutchin Sr. formed one of the more disruptive cornerback tandems in the conference.
The résumé is already growing before Year 2 even starts
The preseason hype hasn't waited for James to prove it again. He's already been tabbed a First Team Preseason All-Big 12 selection by three separate outlets, including the conference itself, and he landed on Dave Campbell's Preseason All-Texas First Team recognition that stretches well beyond the Big 12 footprint.
Now comes the Nagurski nod, which puts James in the same conversation as some of the country's most decorated returning defenders as the watch list rolls out across the sport this month. The path from here is well-defined: the FWAA and Charlotte Touchdown Club will trim the field to finalists on Nov. 19, with the trophy handed out at the Nagurski Awards Banquet in Charlotte on Dec. 7.
That's a long way off, and Houston's season will have plenty to say about whether James is still in the picture by then. But entering Year 3 under coach Willie Fritz, coming off a 10-win 2025 season that surprised much of the league, the Cougars have a secondary anchor who has already shown he can take over a game—against a ranked TCU team, in a rivalry finale, in his first year in a new uniform.
If James matches last year's trajectory, the Nagurski watch list won't be the last award list with his name on it this fall.
