Per GoBearcats:
Cincinnati football head coach Luke Fickell and senior leaders Jabari Taylor and Tre Tucker will both appear live on ESPN+on Thursday at 11 a.m. ET as part of the American Athletic Conference Football Media Day.
Kris Budden, Rene Ingoglia and Morgan Uber will anchor the coverage, which will start with commissioner Mike Aresco at 10:05 a.m.
Fickell led UC to a 13-1 mark in 2021, as the Bearcats won their second consecutive AAC Championship and became the league’s first team to advance to the College Football Playoff along the way. The sixth-year coach was the conference’s Coach of the Year for a third time and he also won nearly every national coach of the year honor.
Cincinnati has not lost to an AAC opponent in more than two years and is 22-2 overall since 2020 with its only two losses coming to Georgia and Alabama – the last two national champions – in New Years Six Bowl games.
Despite having nine players selected in the NFL Draft, the Bearcats are still expected to contend for the AAC title thanks to talented veteran leaders like Taylor and Tucker, who have been key contributors for the Red and Black for several years.
Taylor, a defensive tackle from Akron, Ohio, used his bonus year of eligibility to return to Cincinnati for his sixth year. A member of the defensive line rotation for the last three years, he is expected to start this season and be a versatile force who can play on the end or as an interior lineman.
Taylor is the rare college defensive lineman who actually played some quarterback in high school. An outstanding athlete, he kicked a 40-yard field goal to cap spring practice this year and tossed a near-perfect first pitch at a Cincinnati Reds game this summer as part of a “Bearcats at the Ballpark” promotion and pregame ceremony. He has appeared in 44 games and tallied 74 tackles, 11.5 TFLs and four sacks in his UC career.
Tucker, a wide receiver and kick returner, was a state track and field champion at CVCA in Akron, Ohio, before joining the Bearcats. Although he is the fastest player in the team, clocking a 4.29 40-yard dash this summer, he has developed into more than just a burner. He finished his junior season with 426 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 34 receptions. For his career, he has 59 receptions for 754 yards and five touchdown receptions.
Still, he is one of the nation’s most dangerous kick returners. He was second team all-league as a specialist in 2020 and had a game-changing 99-yard kick return touchdown at Indiana in 2021. His 1,496 kick return yards rank fourth in UC history, while his 25.36 average ranks third.
