It wasn’t necessarily odd to see the University of Cincinnati Bearcats football team at Nippert Stadium Aug. 5, as that’s the longtime playing field.
However, for the past 27 seasons, the start of UC training camp has been held at Camp Higher Ground in West Harrison, Indiana, as it was seen as a place for bonding and solitude back in the Rick Minter days. Now, with a $134 million Sheakley Indoor Practice Facility and Athletics Performance Center that has all of the top technology, the days of packing buses and moving vans to cross state lines has ended.
Much like the Cincinnati Bengals, who used to train at Kentucky’s Georgetown College, the Bearcats are staying home in August.
Wednesday, Aug. 5, was the first day and The Enquirer was present to record the takeaways as head coach Scott Satterfield heads into Year 4 of Big 12 competition.
5 takeaways from Cincinnati Bearcats training camp, Day 1, Aug. 5
1. Day 1 or not, UC Bearcats head coach Scott Satterfield wasn’t entirely pleased
With the players constantly training in the building where the coaches are working, the first day of practice isn’t exactly the first day the players have worked together. While Satterfield admitted there might be butterflies, he has less than a month to get his men on the same page before they face Boston College on Sept. 5 at Nippert Stadium.
“I was disappointed in some of the stuff we did today,” Satterfield said. “We didn’t finish plays. Very vanilla Day 1 on both sides of the ball. I thought defense was solid today. Good thing it was Day 1, right? We’ll come out tomorrow and get better. It’s a long ways before we play our first game. Anxiety’s a little bit higher on the first day.”
Satterfield isn’t one to vent too much around the players, but he made his dissatisfaction known.
“When I do speak, it’s, ‘You better pay attention to this right here.'” Satterfield said. “That will be addressed from our position coaches down to our leaders on the team. You have to finish plays. We’ll come back tomorrow and see how they react to it.”
2. UC’s offensive line is its biggest selling point
Evan Tengesdahl, Taran Tyo and Joe Cotton are UC’s returning starters on the O-line and are basking in the glory of a pancake promotion, which will see them serving up pancakes on and off the field on Saturday, Aug. 8 at an open practice at Nippert Stadium.
“It’s great that they’re shining light on the O-line and all the work we’ve put in under (offensive line coach Nic) Cardwell,” Tengesdahl said. “Cardwell’s done a great job to shine a light on all the work we’ve put in over the years.”
Tengesdahl (who could go early), Tyo and Cotton could all hear their names called in the NFL draft like last year’s teammate and leader Gavin Gerhardt.
“That’s always the goal, to be a draft pick,” Tyo said. “Even being an undrafted free agent making a team is a really big accomplishment. Hopefully, we can do something like that this year.”
Said Cotton, “There’s a lot of guys on the team that have been calling us the ‘Pancake Trio,’ so that’s pretty funny. We’re very honored, very blessed. At first, we thought it was pretty corny, but as we started doing all the media stuff, we had a whole bunch of fun with it.”
Quarterback JC French IV says he feels safe with this offensive line. Last season it only allowed eight sacks, while French was sacked 29 times last season at Georgia Southern. He also says Cotton is the best cook, but Tyo disagrees wholeheartedly with that assessment.
When it comes to pancakes, Tengesdahl is a blueberry with blueberry syrup guy, Tyo prefers plain with a lot of butter and Cotton goes for chocolate chip. All three go for leveling defenders on the field.
3. Antwan Peek Jr. could be UC’s peak performer
The son of the James P. Kelly UC Athletics Hall of Famer and NFL player Antwan Peek has grown tremendously since coming to UC as a walk-on from Indian Hill. Moving from defensive back to an outside linebacker, he mentioned that he weighed in at a career-high 228 pounds before practice but has maintained a 21.7 mph speed on the Catapult measuring system. That is considered elite level among college and pro athletes.
“Coach Niko (Palazeti, director of football performance) is doing a really good job with the entire team,” Peek said. “We’re maintaining our body weight and our speed as well.”
Peek admits to admiring his chiseled frame in front of the mirror on occasion, comparing his size to his father. Antwan Peek Sr. originally came to UC as a wide receiver and made it to the NFL as a rush lineman, so changing a frame is nothing new to his family.
4. You likely will see multiple UC running backs used
Sophomore Zion Johnson returns with the most UC experience, having played last year when there were injuries to Evan Pryor. On the first day, Stanford transfer Cole Tabb broke a big run. He could be a factor after being injured in the spring. Zylan Perry came from Louisiana and was among the Bearcats (along with Johnson) getting looks in the punt return game.
La Salle’s Gi’Bran Payne, who transferred from Notre Dame, continues to catch Satterfield’s eye.
“Obviously, Notre Dame’s a great program, and he sat behind two first-round draft picks,” Satterfield said. “That’s a good example of what it takes to get there. He’s had a really good summer. He’s excited to go out and play. He wants to prove he belongs and he does that every single day.”
5. Kicker Stephen Rusnak leads UC’s golfers
Rusnak says there are 15 Bearcats on a text chain to golf, including French. He also noted that he defeats French with regularity. Rusnak says some of the offensive linemen have joined in and that Madeira’s Grant Edgington has the best swing of the big boys.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What we learned as Cincinnati Bearcats football opens training camp
Reporting by Scott Springer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Scott Springer, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
