It was a busy weekend for the Bearcats recruiting staff. Since Saturday, January 6th, Cincinnati has landed an impressive seven transfers from the portal to its rebuilding roster. The commitments came one after another and left Cincinnati fans with some excitement as the college football season came to an end. Here’s a recap of the busy weekend in Clifton and initial information on the new additions to Scott Satterfield‘s squad.
A Hometown Hero Returns
A significant number of the key contributors to the great Bearcats’ teams in the past half-decade were native to the Cincinnati area. Recruiting locally was something Luke Fickell and even Marcus Freeman leaned on. There’s a lot of talent in the area, and tight-end transfer Joe Royer is a prime example. Royer spent the last few seasons at Ohio State. He committed to the Buckeyes out of Elder High School in Cincinnati as the nation’s 11th-rated tight end in the 2020 class. He spent three seasons of play in Columbus and should have two years left. Even though he did not receive many opportunities for the Buckeyes, he did record two of his four career catches in the College Football Playoff semi-finals a year ago against Georgia.
Royer likely steps in as an instant starter for this Cincinnati offense in a position room that’s been depleted. Further, it is one where the lack of depth was exploited a year ago. Royer will likely be a go-to 6’5″, 255-pound weapon for whoever is taking snaps at quarterback for UC next season.
Defensive Back Room Gets Major Boost
It’s safe to say that the secondary was what ailed Cincinnati the most in 2023. Cornerbacks and safeties need to be re-evaluated this offseason in a big way. It looks like Satterfield and defensive back coach Kerry Coombs had an idea of how and who to go after in the portal. Further, who they wanted to remain on the team. With Bryon Threats and Deshawn Pace both transferring out to play for a conference rival UCF, along with some other exits, bringing guys into this room was crucial.
Safety Logan Wilson also committed to Cincinnati through the transfer portal. The 5’10”, 170-pound Dallas, TX native spent the last two seasons at North Texas. He has 112 career tackles. In addition, the safety has three interceptions and three forced fumbles.
Another addition to Coombs’ secondary is Virginia Tech transfer Derrick Canteen. Canteen spent three years at Georgia Southern before going to Virginia Tech. He had a breakout freshman season in 2020 with six interceptions. In his career, he has 160 total tackles and eight interceptions. He is a very experienced player who will certainly be in the mix for an outside cornerback spot next season.
The third defensive back addition of the weekend was safety Mehki Miller out of New Mexico State. Miller spent his first three years of college ball at Miami University (OH), where he played sparingly. He formed a good role for himself on an impressive NMSU team the past two seasons. In his career, Miller has 87 tackles, two interceptions, and nine pass break-ups.
Wilson, Canteen, and Miller join Ohio State transfer Kye Stokes and Idaho transfer Ormanie Arnold in a secondary that will likely look a lot different in 2024. Hats off to Coombs, Satterfield, and the recruiting staff. They recognized a weakness from the season, went out aggressively, and made a good attempt at fixing the problem.
Additions For the Defensive Front Seven
Two more of the early January weekend commitments came from Power-5 line-of-scrimmage defenders. The first is Wisconsin transfer Darian Varner. Varner played three years at Temple, where he earned first-team All-AAC honors in 2022 with seven-and-a-half sacks. He transferred to Madison for only one year and now heads to Cincinnati through the portal. He has one year of eligibility remaining. Varner brings some inside/outside versatility and has a chance to slot well into Jowon Briggs’/Malik Vann’s role.
West Virginia transfer Jared Bartlett is next. Bartlett played a ‘Bandit’ position at WVU, somewhat of a hybrid role. He comes in at 6’2″, 225 pounds. It will be interesting to see what kind of role he brings to the Cincinnati defense. He’s a veteran player with one year of eligibility left. In his career, Bartlett has 135 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, and 14 sacks. It shouldn’t be a surprise to see him carve out a decent role in next year’s Cincinnati defense.
New Pieces at Running Back
The seventh portal commitment is running back Chance Williams out of Grambling St. Willaims is a younger guy and has played just two years in college. As a freshman, he ran for over 220 yards and a couple of touchdowns. Last season, as a true sophomore, Williams posted almost 900 yards and six touchdowns. In addition, he has 15 receptions for 135 yards.
Williams is a smaller back and could step into the Myles Montgomery role, who also transferred out to UCF, joining Threats and Pace. Williams should pair nicely with incumbent Corey Kiner. He will likely see good competition with Ohio State transfer Evan Pryor as the go-to number two back.
All-in-All
Cincinnati lost a lot in this year’s transfer portal, but it has also done a good job of replacing players. Satterfield needed some time to get things in order. But now he has to build his system and his culture through his vision. This transfer class is a huge part of that. Likely, Cincinnati isn’t completely done in the portal. However, the Bearcats have done a pretty solid job thus far.
