The 8th and final commitment of the weekend for the Bearcats was from high three star defensive back Luke Evans. Evans was a huge priority for the Bearcats as the Hollywood, Florida native was drawing major interest across the country and it shows why. A long physical cornerback, who stands 6-foot-2 tall, is a dominant defensive back and for those who haven’t watched his tape, should check it out and they’d quickly see why Bearcats defensive backs coach Kerry Coombs was making it a priority to land Evans. Evans had 20 plus offers including offers from schools like Georgia, Texas A&M, North Carolina, Penn State, Arkansas and more.
The Bearcats are absolutely loading up on talent in that defensive back room and Kerry Coombs is playing a huge part in that as the Cincinnati native, is entering his first season with the Bearcats after spending the last few years at Ohio State where he was defensive backs coach from 2012-2017 before leaving to join Mike Vrabel’s staff with the Titans before returning back to Ohio State after one season in the NFL. Coombs is known as one of the best defensive back coaches in all of the country and since arriving to campus early this year hes landed some top of the notch talent for that defensive back room alongside guys like JQ Hardaway, Daeh McCullough, Luke Evans and potential top target in Amare Snowden who is the Bearcats top remaining target in the class of 2023 along with Jermaine Matthews, if the Bearcats can land both of those guys as they head to the Big 12, there’s a potentially chance we could see another legendary defense like the 2021-2022 team had very quickly as they arrive in the Big 12.
What’s next though?
If you’re a Bearcat fan you have to be absolutely fired up with how the first weekend of summer camps have gone after the day the Bearcats just had. Landing a guy like Daeh McCullough is a huge get for the Bearcats as he could become the next Bearcats lockdown defensive back after losing guys like Sauce Gardner and Coby Bryant this past season, but not only did the land one of the top safeties in the country, they locked him down at the right time before the Bearcats take off the Big 12 in 2023. Meanwhile the Bearcats are on a roll right now when it comes to recruiting and I will safe this, I wouldn’t want to be in the way of Luke Fickell and the Bearcats staff right now when it comes to recruiting after the weekend they had, which was arguably their biggest recruiting weekend in program history. After landing McCullough, the Bearcats jumped up number 11 in the class of 2023 recruiting rankings which is absolutely huge, especially as they head to the Big 12, Luke Fickell and the Bearcats are building something very special in Clifton right now and man does it have a lot of people fired up and excited as they head to the Big 12. The Bearcats weren’t playing around though as they’re showing they are here to stay after back-to-back seasons in the Top 10, something Luke Fickell has always hit on was how he didn’t want to be a Top 10 team, but a Top 10 program and he was not messing around. The Bearcats have killed the offseason after seeing seven guys transfer in with the likes of Nick Mardner, Corey Kiner, Noah Potter in the class of 2022 but they have also landed big time recruits like JQ Hardaway, Mario Eugenio, Marcus Peterson, Daeh McCullough, Khamari Anderson, Jackson McGohan, Trevor Carter, the future is starting to look very bright heading into the Big 12 in 2023 and a lot of people are starting to take notice of what Luke Fickell is building in Clifton now that the Bearcats have a Top 10 recruiting class in the class of 2023, as they currently sit at number 6 behind schools like Ohio State, Notre Dame and Penn State. The Bearcats are making it known they aren’t playing around and there is something very special being built up there in Clifton and college football is starting to take notice.
