Hey all, just wanted to post all the confirmed visitors this weekend. A TON are official. Not a complete list and will be adding to it, but to give you an idea of who is on campus this weekend:

Let's start with the high school recruits:
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College players in the portal:
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Now that the media has had a chance to attend a bowl practice, I’m interested to hear who is going to be UC’s OC and DC. I hope someone asked that question.

I’d expect Mike Cummings to be UC’s OC. He was an OC at UConn.

The DC is a bigger question for me. Because the staff is so short handed and Kerry is serving as the interim HC, I’m not sure he’d want to also take the DC duties. Even though Walt has never done it, I think he would be the next most likely candidate.

On the other side of the field, will Coach Brohm sacrifice recruiting by putting one of his Purdue in-comers as a coordinator? I seriously doubt he’d do that. Recruiting is more important than the bowl game. That would leave only TE coach Josh Stepp to call the plays.

Defensively, I’d think Mark Ivey (DL) would take the task of DC (assuming he doesn’t follow CSS to UC).

Game planning for Louisville has to be a real chore with only three assistant coaches and grad assistants.

From the Crosstown Shootout. Brutal first half got UC too behind to come back all the way.

Still technically committed to UC, but seems like zero connection to new staff and is taking official visit to Oklahoma.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dec. 9, 2022

CONTACT: Zach Stipe, Associate AD/Communications (865-244-6119/stipezd@ucmail.uc.edu)

WEB LINK: https://gobearcats.com/news/2022/12/9/kerry-coombs-to-return-to-cincinnati-football-staff.aspx



Kerry Coombs to Return to Cincinnati Football Staff Longtime NFL, college and Cincinnati high school coach will serve as Scott Satterfield’s secondary coach and special teams coordinator



CINCINNATI – Cincinnati football head coach Scott Satterfield announced on Friday that Kerry Coombs will remain on the Bearcats coaching staff.



Coombs signed a new three-year deal. He will serve as UC’s secondary coach and special teams coordinator.



Coombs was named interim head coach last month following Luke Fickell’s departure. He will lead the Bearcats into the Fenway Bowl on Dec. 17.



“We’re excited to keep Coach Coombs on our staff,” Satterfield said. “His energy is contagious. He’s an excellent motivator and developer of young men on and off the field. His resume here in Cincinnati, but also in the NFL and at Ohio State, speaks for itself. He’s respected throughout the country. Interacting with him this past week and watching him serve as the interim head coach, I’ve been very impressed, and I know he will be a perfect fit for what we are building here.”



The Cincinnati native’s 40-year coaching career has been highlighted by stints in the NFL as the secondary coach for the Tennessee Titans, two separate tenures as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator at Ohio State as well as two stops as an assistant at UC. Prior to collegiate coaching, he served as the head coach at Colerain High School in Cincinnati, where he went to 10 state playoffs and five state semifinals over 16 years, including an undefeated state championship season in 2004.



Coombs rejoined the Bearcats in February 2022 following a two-year stint as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator from 2020 to 2021.



Tasked with replacing a pair of All-American cornerbacks and NFL draft picks at both cornerback spots, Coombs developed first-year starter Ja’Quan Sheppard into an All-AAC First Team selection and moved nickel back Arquon Bush to cornerback where he also earned all-conference honors.



Coombs also oversaw one of the nation’s top special teams units. Sophomore Mason Fletcher proved to be one of the nation’s top punters. He was named a finalist for the prestigious Ray Guy Award and collected All-AAC Special Teams Player of the Year accolades.



Additionally, UC ranked second nationally in net punting (44.69), 14th in kick return defense (16.9), No. 17 in punt return defense (3.5) and No. 21 in punt return average (11.4).



Coombs coached the Buckeyes from 2020 to 21 and from 2012 to 2017 with a two-year stint with the Titans from 2018 to 2019.



At Ohio State, Coombs served as the defensive coordinator (2020-21) and the cornerbacks coach/special teams coordinator (2013-2017), adding assistant defensive coordinator duties in 2017. In his six-year tenure, every starting cornerback he had coached made it to the NFL. Ohio State won the national title in 2014.



Coombs began in college coaching on Brian Kelly’s Cincinnati staff in 2007 as defensive backs coach. He was promoted to associate head coach/defensive backs coach/special teams in 2009 and stayed in that role until 2011.



Starting in 1991, he compiled a 161-36 record as the head coach at Colerain, his alma mater.



Coombs and his wife Holly are the parents of three grown children. They have a son Brayden, a daughter Cortney and son Dylan, who is a former cornerback for UC and was in the Lindner Honors Plus business program.

Hey all, following up my last INsider, full story on Luke Kandra transferring to UC. All happened quickly and he loves Satterfield and the coaches he's brought with him to the Bearcats:

Cincinnati's new staff has reached out asking for a mid-week OV. Update on Rivals:

Good details about UC and others with Rivals' national writer Travis Graf:

One of the biggest mistakes Tommy Tuberville made during his time in Cincinnati was not prioritizing the recruitment of the Cincinnati area. I firmly believe it is ten times harder to succeed at UC if you don’t prioritize the Queen City area. There’s plenty of good talent locally, and that talent has grown up seeing very good football played at Nippert Stadium.

UC football has really succeeded since 2006, and that means every local kid in high school has viewed the Bearcat program as a winner. That wasn’t always the case, but Nippert Stadium has basically sold out for two straight seasons, and locals have seen the home school achieve something no one else had accomplished when UC made the CFP last season as a member of the G5. Heading into a P5 league next season and having the playoffs soon expanded to 12 teams means the Bearcats have a very clear path to the playoffs every year. All that should only help.

Here’s the problem as I see it. Scott Satterfield has never really recruited this area, or at least, he hasn’t recruited it very well. Former UC coach Tim Hinton (one-time ace recruiter) once told me that people outside this area don’t understand that recruiting Cincy is unlike anywhere else. Hinton would know because he spent a lot of time in Ohio as a high school coach and then recruited this area for Wilmington, Ohio, UC, Notre Dame and Ohio State. When asked what makes recruiting Cincinnati so difficult, it’s hard to get a clear, concise answer, but Hinton swore to me that Tubs was doing it wrong. He suggested local high school coaches need someone they know and trust. They need to see those coaches at their schools often, and they want their players to get local attention. I personally know in my decade of covering recruiting here that Cincinnati high school coaches will even go to bat to promote a Cincinnati kid at another school.

I remember when Coach Coombs moved from Colerain to UC. One of his first goals was to visit every Cincinnati area high school. Keeping Kerry Coombs at UC might be one of Satterfield’s most important recruiting jobs. It also would be a good idea to recruit Walt Stewart as well. A person close to Walt told me several years ago that he really wanted to return to Cincinnati, and Walt won‘t want to leave after being here for only one year. But the availability of the coaching assignments might play a big role in getting either or both. Reports are Louisville’s Bryan Brown (DC) will be joining UC, and he also coaches cornerbacks, and DL coach Mark Ivey appears to have done a good job with the Cards’ defensive front and might be Brown’s choice to assume the same job at UC. However, with staffs now being permitted to have ten assistant coaches, staffs have some flexibility on position assignments.

Please do not copy/paste or summarize any portion of this post to other Web sites or message boards, as it is a direct violation of copyright laws and could result in the termination of your Rivals.com subscription per our terms of service. Thank you.

Hey guys, I talked a little earlier with OL Luke Kandra, who announced today he'll transfer from Louisville to UC.
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Kandra was originally a member of the 2020 class, when he was a three-star out of nearby Elder (OH). The last staff did offer him at UC, but he decided on the Cardinals.

Kandra told me he didn't consider anyone else. He went in the portal on Wednesday afternoon, got the scholarship offer from coach Scott Satterfield and OL coach Nic Cardwell later that night, slept on it, then decided to accept the offer this morning.

Not a shock, but Kandra was very high on both coaches. "(Satterfield is) easy to talk to, a great coach and I loved how he coaches, how he works," Kandra told me. "Coach Cardwell came in this spring and instantly became my favorite coach I’ve had."

Also not a surprise, but I asked how Kandra thought the transition to the Big 12 would be under Satterfield. Kandra cited Satterfield's success at App State and at least early success at Louisville and told me, "he came in and turned it around, brought life into the program. I think he’ll just catapult into the success Cincinnati’s had and make the transition to Big 12 quite easily."

So, good stuff from Kandra, but I'm interested to hear what every recruit says about Satterfield. We don't know a ton and how he'll translate, so it's interesting hearing how all these transfers, recruits who have been committed to Louisville and others talk about their perception of Satterfield. Giving us more clues about what toe expect.

Full story coming in the morning.

All commits at this point:

Brady Drogosh
Ty Perkins
Evan Tengesdahl
Manny Covey
More coming….

looking at Key match ups and How Cincinnati will defend Freemantle and Nunge? Have to think Davenport and Lahkin will get that assignment.
personally I don't like JD vs Freemantle but I just don't see another alternative unless Cincinnati mixes in some zone concepts with their man to man.
Or a possibility of doubling down of Freemantle because he does have a tendency to turn it over (3.2/gm).
The Arizona game provided a preview of a Traditional 2 man post play and that didn't go well for Cincinnati allowing Tubelis 30pts and Ballo 21pts.

Another key stat in this match up is playing minutes for Viktor Lahkin (averages 19/min) vs Nunge 28 min. Who gets to defend Nunge for 9 minutes? Stand up Ody Oguama! your needed to play your best game of the season. Maybe a good time for Old Dominion Tranfer Kalu Ezikpe to step up?

Davenport (26/min) on the other hand will have his hands full with Freemantle (27/min), The key stat here is Davenport only averages (3.8/reb) a game. Coach Miller spoke in his press conference that Cincinnati has to play Physical and get on the back boards. Unfortunately that doesn't play into Davenports strengths but this is The Crosstown Shootout.

On paper the guard play on both teams are similar when scoring but Xavier's trio of Boum, Jones and Kunkel shoot just under 50% from beyond the arc compared to Cincinnati's DDJ, MAW and Nolley at 38%.

If Cincinnati can defend Xavier's 2 headed monsters inside and match the play on the perimeter this game will be won from the Bench. Which teams bench will provide the winning touch in this years shootout? Currently Xaviers bench scores just under 13 pts a game while Cincinnati's bench scores just under 16 pts a game. Freshmen Daniel Skillings (14pts, 13 boards) and Josh Reed (10pts. 9 boards) had their best games of the year last Sunday in the win vs Bryant.

My pick: Cincinnati in a nail biter

Had to see this one brewing for a while, but Desmond Ridder will start on Sunday for Atlanta:
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Another guy the new coaches recruited at U of L, four-star quarterback Michael Van Buren. Not sure what this means for Drogosh:

Should've posted this when I posted the story this afternoon. But wanted to do this for Johnson, as I have with every other offered HS prospect:
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Two new coaches for UC, Bryan Brown and Derek Nicholson, with three-star Louisville commit Jayden Davis tonight. I'm told he'll be officially visiting the Bearcats this weekend:
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Four-star Louisville pledge from California:

Guys, I won't post the whole thing, since it's on The Athletic, but meant to post the tweet from Justin Williams yesterday. Via a public records request with UC, here's some details from Satterfield's contract. I can tell you the $7.25 million pool for the assistants jumps out the most for me. For perspective, Fickell's Bearcats staff this season had $5.25 million. And at Nebraska, Matt Rhule's staff will get $7 million.

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