Bearcats Ready To Takeaway

All camp long at Higher Ground, Associate Head Coach, Kerry Coombs was preaching turnovers do the defense. Last season, the Bearcats did not do much of that. Bearcat defensive players were only able to takeaway eight interceptions from opposing quarterbacks last season.

Safties, Drew Frey and Wesley Richardson led the Bearcats last season as they both intercepted two passes. Cornerbacks, Reuben Johnson and Camerron Cheatham picked off a pass each while J.K. Schaffer and Pat Lambert also intercepted one pass. Two interceptions will not be the focus for a leading INT getter this season for the Bearcats. "We have a strong competition there with that," said Richardson. "I say myself. I have a number in my head that I am going to keep in my head. With that number I am going to say myself."

A statistic the Bearcats hope to grown on Saturday against Austin Peay is five straight games with an interception dating back to last October against Syracuse. "You like to think that your safeties are typically in a position to make the most picks," said DB Coach Kerry Coombs. "Corners are oftentimes isolated or in a man situation. Safeties have better vision for the field. Drew and Wes got a couple each last year. I know they are eager to raise their numbers."

Coach Coombs even hinted that defensive captain and linebacker, J.K. Schaffer could end up leading the Bearcats in interceptions. Ironic as it is, Schaffer is tied in career INT's of the active Bearcats with Drew Frey. They both have four interceptions each. For the defense as a whole, knocking down passes, catching passes, disrupting routes all continue to be a focus for the Bearcats.

Fumbles are also a weak point for the Bearcats. The defense recovered just six fumbles last season. This has become a major focal point in practice as well. A fumble simply flips the field, usually with good field position and can fire up the entire team.

"We practice that everyday," said Schaffer. "It is mostly comes with team defense. The first guy there has to secure the tackle. The second and third guy usually causes the fumble. They come up and they try to rip the ball out. That is what we have been working on."

Wesley Richardson, just like Schaffer gets to watch and read the play right in front of him. "Turnovers are created by everybody running to the ball, creating what we call 'cat piles,'" said Richardson. "That is eleven hats on the ball. When one guy has him held up we are just trying to get as many strip attempts as possible."

The coaches at UC have came up with an incentive for their defensive players making plays. "We have been trying to work on turnovers," said Coach Coombs. "The staff tried to think of things to do combining with the strip. So the staff came up with the strip steak. So the guy who has the most strip attempts in camp will get a strip steak dinner while the rest of the team is eating whatever they are eating."

Chris Williams was flashy as ever touting his strong performance on the field as he came off. "I just got three strip attempts," said Williams. "I am going to get that steak."

We are just a couple days away from seeing the 2011 Bearcats defense take the field for the first time against Austin Peay at Nippert Stadium on Saturday. Butch Jones made the point of adding another solid corner to the starting line-up as Sophomore, Deven Drane will be on the field to start the game. Drane is one of the most improved Bearcats from last season and it should be exciting to see this defense on Saturday.

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Will we see Latwan Anderson at UC?

Anderson at Glenville HS

In 2010, Latwan Anderson of Glenville HS in Cleveland was ranked as the #1 free saftey in the country and the #15 player in the entire nation. A five-star recruit with NFL sights in front of him, backed out of a commitment to the West Virginia Mountaineers and later committed to University of Miami on track scholarship and an walk-on with the Hurricane football team.

After seeing the debacle of the football program at The U, Anderson left the University of Miami and for good reason. Heading into the 2011 season the 'Canes must sit out eight players to start the season due to inproper benefits. Your probaly wondering, what does this have to do with the University of Cincinnati? Well, that answer is quite simple. The Bearcats recruited Anderson heavily out of Glenville and was one of his top five choices heading into signing day.

Latwan tweeted early in the A.M. using his Twitter alias @LatwanAnderson1 that he had committed to the University of Cincinnati. "I am #officially committed to the #UniversityOfCincinnati s/o to my bros @shaqwash7 (Shaq Washington) & @JGraves94 (Jeremy Graves) #TakeOver Coming Soon to a stadium near u!" said, Anderson. Now this has not been made official by the University of Cincinnati and it won't happen seeing Latwan in an Bearcat uniform in 2011. Anderson is looking forward to enrolling at UC in December after attending a private prep school to get his grades in order.

We here at BNFB tweeted Latwan today and asked him if he could make it official that he would be a Bearcat. "From what Im told nope not till january." Latwan told us. We quickly responded telling him that We all look forward to seeing him leading the Big East in INT's. That tweet from BNFB was re-tweeted by Latwan to his Twitter account.

Adding a player like Latwan Anderson who runs close to a 4.0 40-yard dash cannot in anyway hurt the Bearcats defensively in 2012. If, Anderson does indeed enroll at the University of Cincinnati you can expect the people at ESPNU to jump all over the fact that a Big East school landed the once highly regarded saftey and will be licking their chops to select your University of Cincinnati Bearcats the 2012 Big East Champions.

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Bearcat commit Buckley shines on ESPNU, commits looking solid

Buckley ran for 4 TD's

The tv cameras came on in Indianapolis over the weekend and UC commit 3-star RB, Deionte Buckley shined for his Warren Central HS Warriors in an 27-24 win over Cathedral on Saturday. Buckley took 36 carries for 165 yards and 4 touchdowns. All in the victory Buckley had plenty of blocking in front of him by fellow UC commit 3-star Deyshawn Bond.

Elsewhere, in Colerain on ESPNU another UC commit was making noise. Saftey, Andre Jones caught a 36 yard pass on a fake punt from Michigan commit Joe Bolden and also had a nice 11 yard punt return for the Cardinals in a 17-7 victory over Cocoa, FL.

Maple Heights WR and UC commit 3-star Jeremy Graves ran in a 4 yard TD for the Mustangs in a victory.

3-star UC commit, Marcus Foster ran 75 yards on 13 carries for 1 touchdown and intercepted a pass for the Troy Trojans in a win.

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Legaux named back-up to Collaros

Tonight at the UC Bearcats welcome party hosted by Dave & Busters head coach, Butch Jones made it official naming Sophomore, Munchie Legaux the #2 QB on the depth chart behind Senior Zach Collaros. Munchie was able to beat out transfer Jordan Luallen and Brendan Kay for the spot. Legaux should see playing time Saturday when the Bearcats host Austin Peay at Nippert Stadium.

Legaux was a surprise signing on the final day of the 2010 recruiting class. The three-star QB from New Orleans, LA was ranked as the 12th dual-threat QB and 16th best player in the state of Louisiana. While at Edna Karr, Munchie threw for 5,250 yards and 65 touchdowns while running for over 2,000 with 20 rushing touchdowns. Legaux was named district MVP as a Junior and Senior while at Edna Karr

Big East Preview

Coming into the 2011 Big East Conference season there is only one team ranked in the AP Top 25. That is West Virginia at #23. There is a lack of respect outside the Big East from critics and voters alike. That is mostly due to teams from the Big East failing to win BCS bowl games and fairly just games against BCS schools period. We took at look at ESPN writer and blogger, Andrea Adelson and her predictions for the Big East in 2011. Below are what she says the conference will looks like come season end.

1. West Virginia (Champion)
2. Pitt
3. South Florida
4. CINCINNATI
5. Louisville
6. Syracuse
7. UConn
8. Rutgers

After looking over what Adelson had to say about the Big East and the rankings we got in-depth to the recruits being brought in to every program, the seniors lost and returning starters. More than anything that has to be taken into account in the Big East more than any other it seems, new head coaches. Below we have listed the BNFB rankings for the 2011-12 season along with reasons why we believe the conference will play out like this at season end.

1. CINCINNATI (10-2)
Returning 11 starters on defense and 7 on the offensive side of the ball the Bearcats come into 2011 one of the youngest yet, most experienced teams in the Big East. Returning 3 year-starter at QB Zach Collaros will cut down on his INT's and could potentially throw for over 3,000 yards this season. Adding onto Collaros throwing for over 3,000 is the wide recieving core. Led by Senior, DJ Woods who will be complemented by a bevy of wide-outs including transfer Kenbrell Thompkins, Sophomore Anthony McClung, redshirt Freshman Dyjuan Lewis and incoming freshman Alex Chisum and Shaq Washington. Wondering if we are forgetting someone on the offensive side of the football? Isaiah Pead. The Senior back will have the best season of his Bearcat career if he stays healthy and could be in the running for the Doak Walker award even in Butch Jones spread offense due to the fact Pead can catch the football out of the backfield and makes him a serious threat every play.
Losses: @USF, @Syracuse

2. South Florida (9-3)
The South Florida Bulls this season will no doubt surprise some people. The Bulls in our opinion stand a very good chance of opening the season in South Bend against the Irish of Notre Dame with a victory. The rest of the non-conference schedule for USF following that are pancakes. B.J. Daniels could be poised for an very good break out year and be one of the most surprising players this season in the Big East.

3. West Virginia (9-3)
The Mountaineers have a tough schedule in 2011 including road games at Maryland, CINCINNATI, South Florida, Syracuse and Rutgers. If the road schedule isn't enough to cause headaches for the Mountaineer faithful, playing host to AP Pre-Season #4 LSU in week 4 should be. Though the Tigers will be without starting QB Jordan Jefferson back up Jarret Lee is no push over.

4. Pittsburgh (8-4)
Not very thrilled about the Pitt Panthers this season. A new head coach twice this past off-season affected the recruiting at Pitt greatly and just don't feel Pitt will be able to hang with some teams this year.

5. Louisville (7-5)
Charlie Strong is building a solid program at Louisville and Freshman quarterback Teddy Bridgewater should be exciting to watch.

6. Rutgers (6-6)

7. Syracuse (6-6)

8. UConn (5-7)

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Butch Jones named Freshman, Tony Miliano starting kicker

Butch Jones announced today on Twitter (@CoachJonesUC) that Freshman kicker, Tony Miliano will be the starting kicker for the 'Cats when they face Austin Peay next Saturday 7:00pm at Nippert Stadium. Miliano walked on to UC as a preferred walk-on in 2009. The RS Freshman was ranked a 2 star by Rivals.com and Scout.com

The Elder standout was named All-Ohio in 2008 and 2009 while kicking for the Panthers. His total 107 points in 2008 as Junior was the second-highest total in Ohio high school history. He is the only Elder Panther to be named All-Ohio twice.

2012 recruit rankings from BNFB

Here at Bearcat Nation Football Blog we have gone in-depth to the 2012 recruiting class head coach, Butch Jones and his staff have put together so far and here according to us here at BNFB are the rankings by stars of those recruits. We hope you enjoy and please feel free to comment on our outlook of this 2012 recruiting class as it stands.

QB- Bennie Coney ****
Coney is by far the top recruit on the offensive side of the ball for the 2012 Bearcats class to date. The 6'2 210 dual-threat from Plant City, FL ranked as the 7th QB by Rivals.com threw for 1,159 yards as a Junior for Plant City HS throwing 12 touchdowns. When you look at Coney, he is a true dual-threat. Adding to those passing statistics he also ran for 360 yards and 5 touchdowns. Bennie has been known to have off the field issues, but coming to a school like Cincinnati where he will have a father like figure head coach in Butch Jones he should succeed very well at UC.
PROJECTION: Coney should see field time as a Sophomore and contend for the starting job as a Junior.

RB- Dennis Norfleet ****
Dennis Norfleet is that diamond in the rough. Standing only 5'7 170 pounds there is no doubt he will have to add 10-15 pounds to his frame to be a 20-25 carries a game back but Norfleet has game breaking ability. The native of Detroit, MI chose the Bearcats over offers from Michigan State and Tennessee. As a Junior at Martin Luther King, Norfleet ran for 1,880 yards and 31 touchdowns.
PROJECTION: Dennis will play as a Freshman and see playing time all four years for the Bearcats.

RB- Deionte Buckley (Indianapolis, IN WARREN CENTRAL) ***

WR- Jeremy Graves (Maple Heights, OH MAPLE HEIGHTS) ***

WR- Vincent Miller (Lexington, KY HENRY CLAY) ***

OL- Kyle Williamson (Cincinnati, OH MADERIA) ***

OL- Deyshawn Bond (Indianapolis, IN WARREN CENTRAL) ***

DL- Ryan Leahy (Cincinnati, OH LaSALLE) ***

DL- Josh Posley (Indianapolis, IN WARREN CENTRAL) ***

DL- Jonathan Burt (Indianapolis, IN WARREN CENTRAL) ***

LB- Lester Liston Jr. (Grand Blanc, MI GRAND BLANC) ***

LB- Errol Clarke (Miami, FL MIAMI CENTRAL) **

DB- Leviticus Payne (Southfield, MI SOUTHFIELD) ***

DB- Andre Jones (Cincinnati, OH COLERAIN) ***

DB- Drake Bruns (Ft.Thomas, KY HIGHLANDS) ***

DB- Alex Dale (Memphis, TN MEMPHIS U SCHOOL) ***

DB- Marcus Foster (Troy, OH TROY) ****

We will continue to update our 2012 Recruit Rankings as the season rolls along but please let us know your opinion of the BNFB rankings!