Bearcat Sports Page

Having lost two in a row the Bearcat basketball team was looking for some help Saturday when they hosted Notre Dame at Fifth Third Arena.   What better way to get some luck against the irish than to bring the UC Football team to be recognized at halftime for their back to back Big East Championships.   Along with the two trophies the team brough along thier new coach, Butch Jones, who introduced himself and his coaching staff to the Bearcat faithful.

Apparently what Coach Jones said worked for the basketball team.  After trailing at half by 7, the cats clawed back and beat the Irish by 2!

There are several former UC Bearcat football players who have taken their game to the next level in the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL). The team is called the Cincinnati Commandos and there are 11 former UC football players on the training camp roster. A few recent notable players are QB’s Ben Mauk and Dustin Grutza, WR Dominick Goodman, RB Greg Moore, OL Khalil El-Amin, and DT Terrill Byrd. March 13, 2010 will be the inaugural season for the Cincinnati Commandos. The team will be playing their home games at The Cincinnati Gardens. When it comes time for the season to start we will find out if the former UC football players still have that Bearcat swagger.

For  more info on the Commandos:  Click Here

The season kicks off March 13 at the Cincinnati Gardens.

The Super Bowl is now just one game away for former UC defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. The first year head coach for the New York Jets is coming off two big playoff wins against the hometown Cincinnati Bengals and the high powered San Diego Chargers, and his team will face off against the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game on January 24th. Only the Colts stand in the way of the Jets and their second Super Bowl appearance ever. Former UC defensive back coach Mike Tomlin won a Super Bowl with Pittsburgh Steelers, will Rex Ryan be the second straight former UC coach to win the big game?

Ryan was the Bearcats Defensive Coordinator for two seasons:  1996-1997

For more on Ryan: Click Here

Former UC defensive back, Mike Mickens,  has been signed  by the Cincinnati Bengals off season roster.   Mickens was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft.  After a brief stop in Tampa Bay the Bengals added the Big East first team selection to their practice squad on November 30th.

In our continuing search we came up with a couple of interviews from the Baltimore Ravens site on Haruki Nakamura.   The Bearcat safety was part of the 2008 NFL rookie class.

Looking back at drafting Haruki: Click here.

On The Spot with Haruki: Click here.

We Sat down with Haruki when he was in town for the spring game.   Keep an eye out for that interview in the up coming weeks.

Here at Bearcat Sports Page we are always on the look out for material with Bearcats in the NFL.  While checking up on this years crop of rookies we stopped by the Eagles site and found a couple of videos with former Bearcat Trent Cole.

One on one Interview: Click Here

Hitting the Weights with Trent Cole: Click here.

There are two former Bearcats with the Eagles, Cole and Brent Celek.

On the Cowboys website there is a recording of an internet call in show they have.  Last week one of the topics was called “Players to Watch”.  Not much said about Mike Mickens and DeAngelo Smith but the folks in Dallas like what they see.   Click on the link.  The brief discussion about the UC players is at  just past the 37 minute mark.

Click Here:  Cowboys: Players to Watch

Ninety nine point nine percent of the time when UC head football coach Brian Kelly is brought in as a guest speaker, football is the topic.  With nineteen years of head coaching experience and several championships under his belt, what else would he talk about?   Monday afternoon the City of Cincinnati brought Coach Kelly in to motivate some of their employees, not to tell Orange Bowl stories.  The City employs over 6,000 people and on Monday afternoon 800 supervisors from every department took part on a workshop put on by the human resources department.  A number of topics were discussed but at the end of the session it was up to Coach Kelly to “motivate” them.  Here are a couple of segments from his presentation.

After even a short speech like this,  it’s easy to see why this man has been so successful where ever he has been.  Bearcat Sports Page would like to thank Assistant City manager Scott Stiles for inviting us to video tape Coach Kelly’s presentation.

Rookie mini camps opened all across the NFL this past weekend.  Here is list of links for articles from teams where former Bearcats are participating;

Cowboys: Mike Mickens and DeAngelo Smith

Packers: Brandon Underwood

Bengals: Kevin Huber

Saturday afternoon the Dallas Cowboys practice facility was hit by a high winds.   When the storm hit the drafted rookies and free agents were working out, including DeAngelo Smith and Mike Mickens.   One of the Cowboys coaches suffered a broken back and at least 10 others were transported to the hospital with injuries.   No list of the injured has been found but we do know that DeAngelo Smith was not among the injured.  In the article below he was singled out as an individual that helped free a trapped victim.   We will keep you posted as more information is made available.

For article:  Click Here