Cincinnati Bearcats TOP 10 Football Players for 2024

what's next with the Cincinnati Bearcats Scott saterfield has a lot of work to do with the Bearcats and in the Big 12 and I think that he's realized a couple things that should help this group improve in 2024 we take a look at the top 10 returning players for the Bearcats this year and take a look at what should we expect from this team in the upcoming season now it's been a very interesting year already for Cincinnati it's been uh full of some concerns especially for Dante carleon now things are headed in the Direction obviously he had his health concerns we're not going to dive in that we will leave him to figure those things out on his own hopefully he's able to play if he does play Dante Corleone is one of the best defensive tackles best defensive lineman in college football he is an absolute disruptive Force an absolute unit and the fact that he's still in Cincinnati says a lot about his loyalty to this team and this speaks to the staff's ability to keep him there he could have gone probably anywhere in the country and played anywhere thanks to the transfer portal but he came back now obviously he's dealing with his health issues but it sounds like he's gonna play this year regardless if he plays or not he is the best player on this team he is someone who's an absolute Force he's not going to have the best statistics of anybody on this team but that's the nature of the position as well as how successful he's been he is someone that commands a lot of extra attention when you're as good as he is and people watch film you know exactly what he's capable of doing he brings good power has good explosiv iess and that means that offensive linemen are going to say yeah we're not going to let you beat us we're sending two guys there we're going to tiip you as much as we can we're going to send our extra help your way and we're going to force everyone around you to try and beat us corleon is still going to get his he's still G to find ways to make plays but if someone else can step up that's going to take a lot of pressure off of him it's going to require teams to not put as much help his way and that's going where you're going to see his box score fill up a little bit more he is someone who I hope he's able to play has good size has everything you need in a defensive tackle to be a force and if he is on the field Cincinnati is going to have an absolute stud at the position now everyone knows that the offense needs to take a step forward in 2024 but passing attack is probably the group that needs to elevate the most that being said they have plenty of options Xavier Henderson pretty much flew under the radar for a guy who had almost 800 yards on 58 catches this is someone who probably deserves more love than he's getting but that's what happens when you have a team that struggles as much as Cincinnati did Finding ways to get him the football should be a big priority for the Beats this year he's a a good player who came to Cincinnati from the transfer portal someone who has good size at 63 205 pounds I think that he is going to have a good year it's just a matter of who's going to get him the football who's going to play quarterback because if they find balance on offense this is a team that could surprise people in the Big 12 this rushing attack was surprising last year this is a group that averaged more yards per game than Army did they finished sixth in the country in running the football and I I knew that Corey ker had the talent to be a special back and he finally got to see that in 2023 over a thousand yards and five touchdowns on the ground ker is back for another year another transfer that has done a lot of good things I'm surprised that he's still here but he is back with the Bearcats and is someone who is going to be a special talent even with the offensive struggles this is a group that thrived running the football and if they can do that again this offense should be in good hands and it's just going to come down to if the passing attack can do its part gy ker is a physical Runner who is tough to take down because he keeps turning his legs and this is a team that like I said if they can find balance this offense is going to be in good hands now we mentioned the defensive line earlier if Dante corleon is playing that's great but that being said they need to find someone who can step up and take some attention away from him Jared Bartley comes in from West Virginia and could be that guy the staff really likes what they got in him they think they found a gem with his talent 50 tackles six tackles for loss and four sacks last year he is someone who could take a a a big step forward for this defense a defense that needs to get better as a whole and getting to the quarterback as well as being disruptive in the Run game is one way to do that Bartlett is going to be a fun player to watch he's a special talent and and like I said Corona is going to do a lot of good work if he's healthy and on the field that's going to leave a lot of one-on-one opportunities for Bartley to get on the edge and face the tackle and do his part to make this defense better part of the success offensively was the offensive Line's ability to get pushed to run the football Luke kandra is one of those guys a player who kind of came out of nowhere last year and well not to Cincinnati fans but came out of nowhere for most of the Big 12 in college football and had a very successful season 6'4 3 23 lbs so he has plenty of weight to utilize plenty of size to use to move guys and move players out of their gaps and open things up for the rushing attack now the offensive line does need to find a couple of pieces to step up but kandra is going to be one of those guys that helps him get acclimated and get ready for the season quarterback position obviously plays a huge role for Cincinnati Brandon sorby comes in from Indiana and could be a really fun player to watch for Cincinnati he gives them more of a passing threat than we've seen in the last couple years or I should say last year specifically and a group that finish 89th needs to find some balance they can run the ball really well we've seen that but they need to find a way to get the ball to their Playmakers we talked about Xavier Henderson sorby should have no problem finding the finding him downfield and it's going to be fun to see what he's capable of doing you had 1500 yards last year and 15 touchdowns from him he also can run the football this is someone who has the ability to make moves with his legs and it's going to be fun to see how the staff and saterfield utilize him in this offense linebacker has been such a fun position to watch for Cincinnati over the last few years and I think one of the more slept on people from the thickle era as well as last year is Jack Dingle 6'4 240 pounds someone who's going to have a more prominent role in the defense this year 53 tackles five tackles for loss two fumble recover iies I think that he's a really special player someone who doesn't get the love that he deserves and someone who is ready to take a step forward again this defense needs to take a step forward needs to be better than it was last year because if they're not the offense just doesn't have the Firepower to outscore everyone on every single game but this is a defense that has plenty of talent to make things happen and Dingle is going to be one of the leaders of that group now we talked about the concerns about the passing attack but they have plenty of talent coming back as well coming in from the transport on Johnson comes in from FAU after a year in which he had 41 yards on just 37 catches and four touchdowns I think that he is a good compliment to Xavier Henderson someone who could be more of that short to intermediate guy and open things up for him but Johnson is someone who could take a step forward again this is a passing attack that needs to get better and part of that is having the right guys in place to make that happen part of it is getting players in position to make plays and Tony Johnson is one of those guys that can do that he is someone who's really fun to watch at FAU and now he'll play a more prominent role with his new team Cincinnati has also had some really fun secondaries over the last few years and maybe they'll have that this year Logan Wilson is a fun player for this team someone who's a playmaker knows how to create turnovers and could help this defense tremendously again a defense that needs to take a step forward needs people that are going to step up and make plays Logan Wilson is one of those guys six two tackles last year two Force fumbles one interception he's a natural playmaker has good size for the position and someone who is ready to help this team win more football games Cincinnati has plenty of talent to make life interesting in the Big 12 and again surprise a lot of people there's just certain things that need to happen and certain players that need to step step up and Logan Wilson could be one of those guys that helps them in that regard another safety is McKai Miller 6'1 200 lbs had 59 tackles two interceptions last year another guy that again I like the secondary I think they have some solid pieces it's just a matter of what this that stealing look like this was of the defense I think that defending the pass was the strength of this team and part of that is them getting to the quarterback and the defensive line which they should be doing a lot better this year and part of that is the secondary the secondary returns a couple of big pieces and a couple of consistent pieces and McKai Miller will be part of that that group as well he'll be someone that will contribute and it's just a matter of how high can this group raise their ceiling so that they're more successful than they were last year I think that Scott saterfield has a lot of work to do he's admitted that he tried to just keep doing what fickle did instead of doing his own thing this year he plans on doing his own thing so we will see what that means what that looks like it's going to be tough to win football games in the Big 12 but because the competition is so close it's also going to be easy to surprise people I think since CNA has the talent to be a really interesting team but you have to find ways to steal some wins potentially and part of that is getting guys to elevate their game and play Above expectations and if they can do that it's going to be a really fun year but if not we're going to see more of the same as what we saw in 2023