Very BIG return for UC’s defense. Vann back for sixth season:
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Full presser from this afternoon:

Originally from Princeton HS, spent last two seasons at North Carolina A&T:

Spent four seasons at Miami, medically redshirted last season at Louisville:
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This guy was a machine in the red zone. Only had 282 yards over four seasons at WKU, but had 10 touchdowns, including one last month in the New Orleans Bowl:

Two more stories coming, but here's the first transfer pickup this morning, Corey Bullock from NC Central:

Via our Auburn site:

The third one from Arizona State:

Hearing Kerry Coombs will be staying at UC and joining Scott Satterfield’s staff. That is a big recruiting win for Satterfield.

I still feel it is likely Walt Stewart will be returning, but hearing that hasn’t been finalized yet.

Hey all, just a heads up, UC football and its new coaches will be meeting with the media tomorrow, as well as coach Wes Miller. We'll have video available from the presser:

Tentative Schedule

Noon – Scott Satterfield introduces Offensive and Defensive Coordinator, answers questions
12:15 p.m. – Defensive Coordinator Bryan Brown
12:30 p.m. – Offensive Coordinator Tom Manning
12:45 p.m. – Senior DT Jowon Briggs
1:15 p.m. – Wes Miller meets with media

Release from UC, but the Bearcats have their offensive coordinator:


Cincinnati football head coach Scott Satterfield announced on Monday the hire of Tom Manning as offensive coordinator and tight ends coach as well as four recruiting and personnel staff additions.

Manning led some of Iowa State’s most prolific offenses in school history as the offensive coordinator during two separate stints - from 2016 to 2017 and from 2019 to 2022.

A three-time Broyles Award semifinalist, he coached seven NFL Draft Picks for the Cyclones and helped lead ISU to four bowl games, including the team’s first-ever New Year’s Six berth – a victory in the 2020 Fiesta Bowl.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Tom and his family to Cincinnati,” Satterfield said. “Tom is a tremendous coach who I have known for more than a decade when he was a graduate assistant for us during my time at Toledo. He’s had success in the Big 12, developed several NFL draft picks and coached every offensive position during his career. He’s been an NFL tight ends coach, which is the same position he will coach here, and he knows the state of Ohio as well as anybody, which will be huge advantage for us on the recruiting trail.”

Among the many offense successes under Manning, Iowa State broke the school record for total offense (444.3) and had the third-best scoring offense (32.2) in school history in 2019 and followed it up with the second-best scoring offense (32.9) and third-best total offense (436.3) totals in Cyclone history in 2020.

In between his leadership of the Cyclones’ offense, Manning coached tight ends for the Indianapolis Colts in 2018, helping lead the Colts to the playoffs and coaching tight end Eric Ebron to a Pro Bowl selection after he caught 66 passes for 750 yards.

He also served as the offensive line coach at Toledo from 2012 to 2015, earning FootballScoop.com National Offensive Line Coach of the Year honors in 2015 and helping lead the Rockets to three bowls.

Current NFL stars coached by Manning include wide receiver Allen Lazard, running backs David Montgomery and Breece Hall, tight end Charlie Kolar and quarterback Brock Purdy.

Hall and Montgomery were both First Team All-Americans, while Kolar was a two-time Mackey Award finalist – among several accolades. Purdy set nearly every passing record at ISU and was a two-time First Team All-Big 12 selection.

Manning also played, graduated and coached at NCAA Division III powerhouse Mount Union and worked as an offensive graduate assistant at Toledo in 2009, working with Satterfield, who was the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Rockets that season.

Grant Named UC’s First GM, Leads Personnel Hires

Joining the Cincinnati staff are:

• Zach Grant, General Manager
• Jack Griffith, Director of Player Personnel
• Cass Simmons, Directory of Recruiting Strategy
• Caroline Tart, Director of Recruiting

The four new staff members, join Carter Wilson (Director of Scouting), who was announced last month, and Ashley Hecimovich (Director of On-Campus Recruiting), who joined prior to the 2022 football season.

“Recruiting is the lifeblood for any football team and I’m confident we have assembled one of the nation’s top recruiting staffs in the country,” Satterfield said. “In the changing landscape of college football, player evaluation and retention, and finding the best fits for your program will be more important than ever.

“We’ve grown our recruiting and personnel department to be the biggest it has ever been here at the University of Cincinnati. The track records of success for our new staff members speak for themselves. They’ve all been at winning programs, and we are excited to have them hit the ground running her at UC.”

Zach Grant

Grant is one of the top up-and-coming personnel directors in college football, having collected FootballScoop.com Player Personnel Director of the Year in 2021.

Grant spent the 2022 season as the Director of Player of Personnel at Ohio State as the Buckeyes secured the nation’s seventh-ranked recruiting class in the December Early Signing Period and advanced to the College Football Playoff Semifinals. He spent five seasons at Western Kentucky, beginning as the nation’s youngest Director of Player Personnel at age 23 in 2017. He was elevated to GM in 2021. At WKU, he helped engineer the school's top-ranked recruiting class of all-time and recruited Atlanta Falcons third-round pick defensive end DeAngelo Malone and current New England Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe out of the transfer portal. Zappe set the NCAA record for single-season passing yards and touchdowns. During his time at WKU, he had a hand in recruiting 47 all-conference selections. He graduated from Notre Dame in 2016, serving in several undergraduate roles with the football program.

Caroline Tart
Tart spent the last two seasons at Louisville as the Director of On-Campus Recruiting, helping lead UofL’s recruiting efforts to secure one of the ACC’s top recruiting classes. At Louisville, Tart handled all on-campus recruiting activities, including official visits, unofficial visits, junior days, game day programming and other special events.

Prior to her stint at UofL, she was on the recruiting staff at Oklahoma (2017-21) and North Carolina (2017) as the recruiting operations coordinator and on-campus recruiting assistant, respectively. During her time at Oklahoma, she helped land four Top 10 recruiting classes. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a double major in sport administration and history in 2017.

Jack Griffith

Griffith spent this past season in the New York Jets' scouting department following a brief tenure at Ohio State as a program assistant. He also worked for two years at Villanova, while simultaneously in law school. Griffith was a safety at Marist, earning CoSIDA Academic All-District honors.

Cass Simmons
Simmons was an offensive line assistant and later the director of player personnel at Stephen F. Austin for multiple seasons before joining the Ohio State recruiting staff this past year and helping the Buckeyes secure the nation’s seventh-ranked recruiting class, according to 247Sports, in the December Early Signing Period. He got his start in coaching as the running backs coach at Tyler Junior College of East Texas.

Moving from Arizona State to UC, to replace Ryan Coe, who transferred to North Carolina. Brown is originally from Texas.

We all know where UC is with five-star Flory Bidunga, who is a heavy Bearcats lean. His Indy Elite teammates were at the game too:
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More rebounds didn't matter because of 17 turnovers:

Tough loss today. The Bearcats actually had more rebounds, but had way too many turnovers. Gave up a lot of easy baskets late because of the press, too.

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Guys, just a heads up, UC has received another commit, even though it hasn’t been announced yet, via the transfer portal. A VERY trusted source in the Rivals network has told us that Daniel Grzesiak, a DE from Nevada, has committed to UC while on a visit. He apparently canceled his Kansas visit to take this one. More coming when available.
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We’ve known this one for a few weeks now. So not sure the hold up, guessing it was contract related, but Walter Stewart officially back. Release from UC:

Cincinnati football head coach Scott Satterfield announced on Thursday that Walt Stewart will stay on the Bearcats’ staff as a defensive assistant coach.
Stewart coached the defensive line for the Bearcats in 2022.

A 2012 UC graduate, Stewart starred for the Bearcats from 2008 to 2012 as a defensive lineman. He was a team captain and second-team All-BIG EAST selection as a senior in 2012. He played in 43 games, went to four bowls, won four BIG EAST championships and totaled 185 tackles, 34.5 tackles for loss, 17.5 sacks and eight forced fumbles. He ranks ninth in school history in career sacks and tied for second in forced fumbles.
“Walt is an outstanding coach with a knack for connecting with young people,” Satterfield said. “As I have got to know him the last few weeks, I have seen his passion for the University of Cincinnati and that passion is contagious. He cares about this university, this program and these student-athletes, and we are excited to have him continue at Cincinnati with our staff as we look to build on the foundation players like Walt set years ago.”
In 2022, Stewart coached a defensive line that proved to be one of the best in the country and featured two All-AAC First Team nose tackles in senior Jowon Briggs and redshirt freshman Dontay Corleone. Briggs finished with 61 tackles and 4.5 sacks. Corleone totaled 45 tackles, 5.5 TFLs and two forced fumbles. He collected Third Team All-America honors from the Associated Press and was the highest-rated defensive player in the nation with a grade of 93.9 by Pro Football Focus.
Stewart’s defensive line anchored a UC defense that ranked fifth in the nation in yards per play allowed (4.52) and 21st in scoring defense (20.3) at the end of the regular season.
In his 10 years of coaching, he has mentored three All-Americans, two conference defensive players of the year, one conference player of the year and 12 all-conference selections.

Stewart coached the defensive line at Temple from 2019 to 2021. He mentored defensive end Quincy Roche, who was named the 2019 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year after tying the school record with 13.0 sacks before moving on to the NFL.
Prior to his stop at Temple, Stewart served as the defensive line coach at Northern Illinois (2018) and Eastern Kentucky (2016-17), defensive ends coach at Florida A&M (2015) and was a graduate assistant at Tennessee (2013-14).

Story on the Bearcats' latest pickup, an OL from Southeast Missouri State:
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Quincy Burroughs now in the transfer portal:
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Meant to post this already, but former OL coach Mike Cummings is headed to App State.
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