Chad Brendel: This Is a Healthier Locker Room at Cincinnati in Year 2 Under Scott Satterfield

Brendan Sorby Cincinnati Bearcat Scott saterfield wrapping up Spring if we want to know about Cincinnati Chad Brendle bearcatjournal j.com is who we go to and he joins us now on 365 Sports Chad thanks for your time what questions did they absolutely need to answer and which ones did they I think the two main ones were quarterback and I think they did uh I think Brendan sorby the the transfer from Indiana Tech boy so uh you know you guys have some love for for Brendan sorby but he came in and looked really good consistently throughout the spring he throws a consistent ball he's good in the pocket he's got some maneuverability he can push it down the field but more importantly for this Cincinnati offense he can make throws in the intermediate and short range he was really good this spring on leading guys on swing passes and uh screens and and things out in the flat where they just couldn't get any productivity there last year um so I think you know offensively sorsby was was definitely the Revelation look you can't be good in college football if you're bad at quarterback Cincinnati was bad at quarterback last year and the record showed it uh defensively it's it's you know the the conversation is pretty much strictly about this switch essentially to Iowa State's defense they hired Iowa State's longtime linebackers coach Tyson B um they are going to that three safety look that Iowa state has used with great success defensively over the past six seven years it's uh it's an adjustment it's taking some time but it's a really fascinating defense and I've enjoyed getting to kind of learn and understand and and get a grasp on why it's so effective and uh the the safety spot is the key there uh they were bad bad bad at safety last year brought in at six seven new safeties um so that that's a that's a lot of one position in one offseason and uh they they looked much improved they're longer they're more athletic um so those are kind of the two main things last year was I mean two different things one they're going to a new conference and two they have a new head coach so they been good it would have kind of been maybe even nobody would have known why that would have happened uh you of course bringing in Healthier Locker Room emry Jones at quarterback and his third school and all the different changes that that he went through how much more of of a fresh start does this year feel like as opposed to maybe last year which had just so many moving parts to it yeah I think you know you're so desperate to keep everything together and and you don't have the inside knowledge of guys that maybe aren't fits and are fits and who fits where and who are leaders and you know who are energy givers and who are energy takers uh from the previous staff and and I think that kind of played itself out uh pretty aggressively last year this year it feels like there's a lot more established uh you know kind of the the hierarchy of the locker room seems to be a lot healthier a lot more established a lot more uh rowing in the same direction as the coaching staff and that's hard especially when you're replacing a guy like Luke fickle who was such a commanding president such a big personality he leaves guess what there there going to be some people that are still on kind of his side quote unquote if you will and it takes some time to to to work through all that and I think that's uh that's what they've done at this point Chad do you believe Dante corleon will get back to uh his All-American type levels in 2024 I I do um there were some things last year that I think that that staff wanted to accomplish defensively that they maybe didn't have you know Dante wasn't the right Personnel for you have a a mountain of a human at defensive tackle and they used him on a lot of stunts and twists and things that required speed that's not his game his game is win the point of attack and take the guy that's in front of him and shove him seven yards into the back field because because he's stronger than that guy right and you know this defense appears to be a little bit more designed to allow him to pin his ears back and get up field as opposed to playing sideways and and not playing into his strengths so uh did I notice that and and everybody well not everybody but Reunions most programs like to bring the former players back but I saw some shots of some former players coming back was that something emphas even more in year two with saterfield now that they know him a little bit better too uh sure they they also so it was kind of a was a crazy weekend at Cincinnati I don't know if you guys saw or not but yeah Travis and Jason Kelce did their their new heights podcast on Thursday at Fifth Third arena there was a ton of guys that came back for that okay yeah and then and then every year leading into the spring game on Friday they have their alumni golf outing so they had 200 guys back for that and then the morning of the spring game every year they have the champion or the the captain's breakfast which if you've ever been a captain for University of Cincinnati football you get invited to the captain's breakfast so it was kind of a perfect storm of all of these guys were back connected to a couple of these different events and it just turned into kind of the The Who's Who of Cincinnati football I mean you you saw the picture I'm sure that you see tweeted out like Jason Kel standing there talking to S Gardner there's not a lot of places that can put that picture out into the world uh so it is something that is pretty common in terms of with the golf outing and the captain's breakfast there are always a lot of guys back in town for the spring game but when you add in the kelse coming back and everything that goes along with that it was bigger than normal and uh I'm sure Scott saterfield was very happy to not they didn't have to do a whole lot it was just they put the bat signal out and everybody arrived did you I know that you uh are close with Jason right did you get to see him and talk to him we did uh so my daughter is named after Jason y uh she will tell you she's named after Travis because Travis is the hot one but as I tell her she was born in 2010 and Travis sucked in 2010 he was suspended he didn't play football why would I name her after that guy um so yeah I did get to see Jason and chat with him for a little bit uh he is he is every bit as genuine and a good dude as he seems from the outside um he saw my daughter for the first time and Kelsey and gave her a big hug and it's been you know they've been back and forth trying to meet each other for 13 years um he was like that with every fan that came up and looked for an autograph or a picture he's just an awesome awesome human Chad uh now that you know we're getting to the end of the spring Sports here the end of this first year in the Big 12 uh what have been your overall thoughts seeing just the Thoughts on Year 1 you know we've had basketball come and go football come and go what have been your impressions of just maybe some of the things that have stood out and maybe what are some of the things that uh you know Cincinnati fans have wrapped their heads around about you know what year two needs to look like how you can get there so on and so forth I I think one there's there's definitely for fans a learning curve of oh man the depth is really what's different um it's it's not that diffic I mean it is but it's not that difficult to have Frontline guys you know six seven eight topof the roster guys that look like all the rest of the guys in the league but I think what the learning curve especially in football was was man every team basically has these guys one through like 60 one through 70 sure there's developmental guys on the back end of the roster but the top two3 of every roster is ready pretty much to contribute in the league I think the other thing that that was learned is there's not a lot of Separation in this league absolutely there's a lot of talent there's a lot of really good coaching but especially now with with Texas and Oklahoma exiting uh I think we're going to see even more of the volatile swings from one year to the next where one year you win your close games and you have a great year next year you lose a couple of those close games and you're hovering around round six and six or seven and five I think that and then basketball my goodness yeah what' you think my it was so awesome like I don't think you guys understand what going through a decade having to cover the American is like because you don't want to watch the games like you know if I've got a night free a Thursday night free do I really want to sit down and watch Tulsa play ECU no do not I don't want to do that right uh and and this year it was like Tuesdays Monday Tuesday Wednesday Saturday and Cincinnati is not playing I am locked in front of my TV watching a big 12 game and being thoroughly entertained 97% of the time um it's just such a competitive fun talented well coached wellplayed basketball league that uh I I can get very used to having this occupy November through March every year for me as opposed to what we had yeah I think most fans like people wouldn't even realize that you Cincinnati goes from the Big East which is like having a a porter house every night uh with lobster surf and turf to uh a meal they don't care about that they can get any time and I'm not I don't want to knock the American but like the Big East great basketball conference in its first Incarnation great basketball conference now but for people who are used to that to go and and have to teams that they just don't care about at all that's got to be tough to just to go through I don't know how great the Big East now Xavier is there so um I am good friends with Danny Hurley though so I I pull for the Huskies did you he's like the biggest Bengals fan on the planet he loves the Cincinnati Bengals every time I text him he texts me back and then ends it with HUD uh but I digress yeah it's it's so it's it's hard because you just don't care I just don't care what tane does in basketball I I don't care and now I do care about every team in the league uh you know there there's something even you look at Oklahoma State like if they could have held that together that was a really young talented roster that I thought could be a lot better next year they they hit the reset button but West Virginia had a ton of talent um so everything is interesting as opposed to in the American the problem was Cincinnati was interesting Houston was interesting Memphis was interesting and after that it was like you get uh we have a root canal scheduled every Sunday and Thursday uh make sure you're there man yeah that that's that's not good and so about men's basketball how how do Transfers they get better I know that they've already maybe dipped in the trans for portal I saw a couple of notes on your timeline can they can they acquire the talent they need to get even better yeah I mean the the nice part is guys they're not far off they're they're looking like they are going to return pretty much their entire core from last year that lost you they they won six games in conference play and had six others that they lost by one or two possessions so they weren't far off last year and they were young uh they just ironically enough know how this stuff works guys like four minutes before I came on with you they got a transfer commitment out of the portal uh Connor Hickman who played for Bradley uh who had a very good year in the Missouri Valley he averaged 14 points uh and shot you know 41 42% from three which is what this team needs they need some guys that can really stretch the floor to help with jizzel James who who really came on at the end of the year and and looks like he's going to be a star uh and Dan skillings who had a you know he was the leading scorer and had a very good year in the Big 12 had a good game against Baylor I think as well um so they've got a core now they need to supplement it they've added Conor Hickman I think they're in pretty good spot for a former top 50 big man uh that just spent his freshman season at USC named Arington pagee um in the transfer portal and then you go out and you and you find kind of the best available uh Talent you can find they have three spots open right now you go find one more guy and and I think you've got a roster that's really I don't know if it's ready to win the league I'm not ready to to take that leap but I think it's ready to be even more competitive in the middle than it was a year ago Chad you just mentioned jizzel James I it's like a pro football hall of fame town now Cincinnati I you got the Kel's there you got s Garder who's obviously got a bright career going on right now then then Edan around to watch his son what's it like having Ed James roll around Cincinnati a little bit the funny thing is he's very quiet very humble like as as big as his personality is or his play on the field is he's not a guy that seeks the spotlight they they don't put him on the the Jumbotron I mean they have a little bit but um he just kind of likes to live his life he's a Florida guy that likes to be out on the water and fishing and uh you know so it's very cool to have him around obviously as many guys like that as you can get you to be around but uh I've been I've been pretty impressed that he's been pretty lowkey he doesn't uh he doesn't buy into his hype machine as much as a lot of guys in that situation too Chad thank you man great to have have you on the show great to see you uh through via Zoom Garrett great job doing that Chad brindle knows Cincinnati Bearcat Athletics uh from Cincinnati of course with bearcatjournal decom love his passion love is not