Per GoBearcats:
Cincinnati football leaders Derrick Canteen, Mason Fletcher, Luke Kandra and Corey Kiner will join second-year head coach Scott Satterfield on July 9 at Totino’s Big 12 Media Days in Las Vegas.
The group will spend a full day talking about Bearcats football with reporters and producers on television and radio as well as participating in several marketing and branding activations with the conference.
Canteen, a sixth-year senior defensive back, has proven to be a respected veteran this winter and spring after transferring from Virginia Tech, where he tallied 43 tackles and five pass breakups over 13 games. He spent four seasons at Georgia Southern, earning All-Sun Belt honors in 2020 and 2022. In 2020, he tied the FBS-lead with six interceptions en route to Freshman All-America honors. The Evans, Ga., native is expected to be a leader at safety in new defensive coordinator Tyson Veidt’s defense.
Fletcher enters his senior season as one of the nation’s top punters. Despite battling injuries all season, the Melbourne, Australia native ranked fourth in the Big 12 with a 43.0-yard average and dropped 23 punts inside the 20-yard line with zero touchbacks en route to all-conference honorable mention honors. In 2022, Fletcher was one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award after ranking fourth nationally with a 46.2 average. He grabbed All-America Third Team accolades from the Associated Press and was named the American’s Special Teams player of the Year. Fletcher had an 84-yard punt to set the UC and AAC record against SMU. His 44.3 career average ranks second in Cincinnati history.
Kandra, a redshirt senior right guard, is expected to be among the nation’s top offensive linemen this fall following a 2023 season in which he picked up Walter Camp All-America Second Team and Associated Press Third Team All-America accolades. The Cincinnati native transferred back home to UC from Louisville last season. He led the Bearcats with 79 knockdowns and prove to be amount the most durable players in the country, logging 895 snaps – the third-most of any guard during the regular season. His 81.1 rating from Pro Football Focus last season makes him the highest-graded returning guard in the Power Four.
Kiner, a rising senior running back, authored the 20th 1,000-yard season in Cincinnati history last fall. The Cincinnati native and former Ohio Mr. Football as a prep standout at Roger Bacon High School rushed for 1,047 yards and five touchdowns on 192 carries (5.5 ypc) in 2023. He finished with 100 yards rushing six times and hard a career-high 153 yards in a road win at Pitt. He enters in his final season looking to join Mike Warren II (2019-20) and Isaiah Pead (2010-11) as the only Bearcats to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons in the last 30 years (since 1994).
