The season is fast approaching. With now less than three weeks until the Cats take the field against the visiting Eastern Kentucky Colonels on September 2nd in Nippert stadium. Fall camp is in full swing right now and some of the necessary pieces are falling into place within the roster. Scott Satterfield’s team has just returned from their annual stay at Camp Higher Ground out in Indiana and the team is beginning to shape into form.
The theme of this Bearcat team all off-season has undoubtedly been the turnover on the roster. New faces in virtually every position. New quarterback, new linebackers, new defensive backs, and almost all new wide receivers. With all of that change, there is one position that has proved mostly stable and familiar for all Cincinnati fans.
The Running back room returns two of three guys that had at least 60 carries last season. This offense does lose their top back from last year, Charles McClelland. McClelland went for 146 carries, 849 yards rushing, and 7 touchdowns last season. Leading the offense in every category. So it is a decent hit in the rushing game that that amount of production from a single person has gone. However, running back coach Darren Paige certainly has some workhorses to rely on for this season.
Position Group Breakdown: Cincinnati Running Backs
Corey Kiner
Outside of Mclelland, Kiner was the most featured back in last year’s offense. He ended the year with 362 yards on 81 carries and 5 touchdowns. Clearly notable contributions. Kiner has had an interesting college career path thus far. The Roger Bacon High School alumni was a Cincinnati star virtually his entire high school career. He garnished unreal career numbers and was the second player from Cincinnati to win Ohio’s Mr. Football award in 2020. Following Cincinnati Wyoming HS graduate and current UC, now wide receiver, Evan Parter who won it in 2019. Kiner recorded a whopping 7,000 plus rushing yards and 125 all-purpose touchdowns in high school.
These video game numbers led the 5’10, 215 pounds back to be a four-star prospect. He fielded offers from just about everywhere in the country and decided to take his talents to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He did have some success at LSU, charting 79 carries for 324 yards and two scores as a true freshman. But something was calling Kiner back home. He transferred to Cincinnati with last year being his first season.
Kiner will be expected to take on a good bit more carries than he had last year. He is a Cincinnati guy through and through. A seemingly fan-favorite since coming home, Bearcat fans will hope to see a big season out of number 21 for this offense to get rolling.
Ryan Montgomery
A name that Cincinnati fans are very familiar with. Ryan Montgomery is another pretty local guy, coming from Franklin High School. He is undoubtedly a team leader at this point in his career with appearances in 47 games since stepping foot on campus. Montgomery returns for his fifth and final season of eligibility and will likely be relied on more than before. He had a somewhat similar season stat line as Corey Kiner did last season. 63 carries 270 yards, and five touchdowns.
While Montgomery hasn’t been the featured back in the UC offense ever in his career, he has been the man when it comes to punt returns. Being the primary returner since his Freshman season, Montgomery has 69 career punt returns for 672 yards. A return average of nearly 10 yards a chance.
Montgomery has collected a total of 144 carries during his time at Cincy. His workload has steadily increased every season. He’s a reliable back that has an all-purpose aspect to his game. And there are some very positive reports coming out of camp on him. Expect number 22 to be back returning punts this season and to help lead this running back room.
Rounding Out the Running Back Room
Satterfield has been known to use a running back-by-committee approach as a coach. At Big 12 media day, he said he expects a by-committee attack this year. Last year, at Louisville, he had five rushers with over 50 carries. This definitely aligns with what Bearcat fans are familiar with over the past few seasons. McClelland, Jerome Ford, Desmond Ridder, Gerrid Doaks, and Michael Warren II have all had 100+ carry seasons with one another in the same year, over the past four seasons.
While it can be expected that Kiner and Ryan Montgomery get the lion’s share of carries this year, with Emory Jones getting back to his old ways and running with it a lot too, there are a few more guys that will need to contribute.
Senior Ethan Wright is back in the running back position after playing most of last year at safety. He has heard some rave reports from camp so far this August. Wright brings some good experience and depth to the room that could prove to be very valuable for the rushing attack this year.
Breakout Candidate
Myles Montgomery has created some buzz around camp this year. Many Bearcat fans are very excited about his potential to break out this season. He’s just a redshirt sophomore with only 14 carries in his first year of play in 2022. Myles, not related to Ryan, is known as one of the fastest players on the team. Do not be surprised if he is counted on in some way this year. Between Kiner and Ryan Montgomery, they aren’t huge threats out of the backfield. At least they haven’t been thus far. That’s an aspect Myles Montgomery could help out with and find a way to be a crucial factor.
Relying on Rushing
The running back room should provide some stability this season. There will be some hiccups in the offense with new coaches/coordinators, a new quarterback, and a lot of new pass catchers. While the passing game could take some time to get rolling, the rushing attack will be relied on heavily, and there are the guys there to lead the offensive charge throughout the season.
