This afternoon the Bearcats saw quite a few announcements as offensive lineman Luke Kandra, Gavin Gerhardt, John Williams, Dartanyan Tinsley and Deondre Buford announce they will all return for the 2024 season.
This is a huge news as the Bearcats offensive line core produced one of the nation’s top rushing attacks in 2023 despite only being in their first year as a core. The offensive line rallied together and was a huge part of the Bearcats success in the 2023 season as the Bearcats averaged nearly 210 rushing yard per game.
The offensive line paved the way for Corey Kiner to rush for 1,047 yards in his junior season, becoming just the 13th Bearcat to achieve that honor, and third in the last 10 seasons to go for over 1,000 yards. Kiner announced his plans to return for the 2024 season on Wednesday, and the rest of the dominoes fell into place shortly after.
Bearcats offensive line coach Nic Cardwell has to be fired up as he returns his whole starting five from a season ago. Two of those members received All Big 12 honors as Luke Kandra was an All-Big 12 Second team selection, while Gavin Gerhardt earned Big 12 Honorable Mention. However, safe to say the Bearcats just solidified their starting line for the upcoming season and has been a bright side of this team so far.
The Bearcats now head into the 2024 season with not only a whole starting line set to return, but with one of their key offensive pieces in Corey Kiner also set to return. This is massive news for Scott Satterfield and the Bearcats just because the Bearcats are only getting started up front in the trenches and we saw major strides throughout the season. However, the last few games of the season the Bearcats were able to pour it on opposing teams in the run games and wear down opposing teams with their high-powered rushing attack.
There is still a lot to be said about the 2024 season after 20 players have now entered the transfer portal but for Scott Satterfield and company this news is something that was not only expected but something that can be a huge momentum changer heading into the 2024 season. However, the Bearcats now walk into their season with a whole offensive line set to return is something that will solve a lot of problems heading into the offseason.
Now that the Bearcats offensive line has announced their return for the 2024 season, Bearcats fans have a lot to be excited about as Corey Kiner, who’s expected to be the lead back heading into the 2024 season is set for a huge senior season behind a veteran group of guys up front with a lot of experience over their college career.
