All eyes have been on the Cincinnati Bearcats defense this offseason as their defense has been gaining a lot of national attention as Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, Coby Bryant and Myjai Sanders, all having some hype around their name, it covers up how well this defense actually is. People know how good the secondary is, but what is getting covered up is the depth of the linebacker core and how special this linebacker room actually is.
The Bearcats linebacker room is a well knit, senior oriented group of guys as starting linebackers Darrien Beavers and Joel Dublanko came back and used their extra year of eligibility for the Bearcats. We spoke to Beavers and Dublanko at Camp Higher Ground and here is what Dublanko had to say ahead of the 2021 season as he is looking to step in for Jarell White who was the leader in the linebacker room and is now playing in the CFL for the Calgery Stampeders.
Dublanko said, “Yeah Jarell was a big part of our defense last season, he was a huge contributor, a key producer. Jarell was a big time guy for us in clutch situations, I think that just presents opportunity, not just for the new dog coming in but for all people, there’s more production to fill now. Everyone on the defense is going to pick up those left over pieces.”
This is a nice quote from the senior as he looks to play a big role in the middle of that Bearcats defense along Darrien Beavers, who transformed his body tremendously this offseason as the 6-foot-4 linebacker is now up to 255 pounds ahead of this season and had a great camp especially after transformation of his body this offseason. Beavers, Dublanko as well as senior Wilson Huber lead the linebacker room as coach Fickell gave a lot of praise to Huber earlier in the week as he said, “Huber can do a lot of different things, that can cause a lot of problems within the defense.” We saw that at camp as Huber who is also 6-foot-4 was used in many different scenarios and will look to be a huge contributor on this Bearcats defense.
Ty Van Fossen is another upperclassman in the linebacker room who is looking to step up and see a lot of playing time this season as he is coming off a very hot start to camp as he was someone who really impressed myself. The 6-foot-2 junior showed he is ready to step into a big role and be a key piece to this Bearcats defense.
