The Cincinnati Bearcats came into the season with high expectations, even with uncertainty in the air everyone knew if they got to play this could be a special team. With Luke Fickell staying and this being his fourth recruiting class to cycle through the depth on both sides of the ball have noticeable when you watch this team play. I’ll talk about the offense another day, but today I’m going to zero in on the defense and a specific group which is the defensive backfield.
After three games played the Bearcats have seven interceptions which is tied for the lead in the NCAA with Syracuse and UTSA. This unit hasn’t given up a passing touchdown this season also. They haven’t played a super talented passing attack, but teams that have tried haven’t had a lot of success. Teams have been playing from behind against the Bearcats and are only averaging 171.7 yards a game. On top of the low yards average the opposing quarterbacks are at a 51.5% completion rate.
During the off season sophomore cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner put out a tweet that said Cincinnati is DBU and people kind of dismissed it, but looking back at it, he was looking into the future. Starting with Sauce he was a Freshman All-American last season. After countless sites broke down his freshman season most came up with the conclusion that he is one of the best in the country, not the conference, the country. He is tied for second in the country with two interceptions. We thought teams would shy away from him, but they are testing him like they thought last year was a fluke and the cornerback has been ready at every opportunity.
To follow Sauce, senior cornerback Coby Bryant had a rough junior season after having a real good sophomore season. For those that follow the program know Bryant battled some nagging injuries last season so a lot of people may have been down on him. The Cleveland, Ohio native also has two interceptions and is one of the NCAA leaders. He seems locked in to having a strong senior season which makes this secondary even more scarier.
Redshirt sophomore Arquon Bush is almost the forgotten man of this group as he starts in the slot aka the nickel corner. Bush has been very impressive as well tied with his teammates with two interceptions as well. Bush battled some nagging injuries last season as well, but now he’s back ready to roll.
Nice article JT. I happen to believe that this secondary will prove to be the best in program history. The starters are phenomenal and the 1A guys could start for most schools. The QUALITY depth is what takes them over the top.
Thanks a lot.. this is a very good group.. the whole group had good offers.. and are laying a great foundation