TicketsBy Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
WEST HARRISON, Ind. – After Luke Fickell finished answering questions from reporters following Friday's practice, the last one during during the University of Cincinnati Bearcats' two-week stay at the Higher Ground Conference & Retreat Center, tight end Tyler Cogswell and linebacker Jaylyin Minor doused him with ice water while wishing him a happy 44th birthday.
Fickell tried to run but there was no escape and he rolled on the ground as they poured the water over him. It was a nice moment at the end of what Fickell says has been a productive two weeks of camp for the Bearcats, who open their season in 13 days against Austin Peay on Aug. 31 at Nippert Stadium.
"This is definitely a benefit to us," Fickell said of their time at Higher Ground. "We couldn't get all this work done on campus, not just football-wise, but building the connection and the bonds that you've got to build. I mean that not just between players, but between players and coaches, coaches and coaches, and units together."
What that will mean, if anything, as the season unfolds remains a mystery. Fickell, in his first year at UC and his first year as a head coach except for the one season he spent as the interim head coach at Ohio State in 2011, doesn't know what to expect when the bell rings.
"That's part of being new at this a little bit," he said. "How far along are we and where will we be when the 31st hits and the bullets start flying? There's some things that I worry about, but I think we've gotten everything out of these guys that we could ask. We've pushed them and pushed them and now we've got to see what they're going to be made of.
"After Saturday's scrimmage, as we go into Monday, there'll be a lot of decisions made on how we'll move forward. That's not just at the quarterback position. I'm not saying that guys are gonna be put on the back shelf, but they've had 17 or so practices to prove what they've got and what they can do and how much we can count on them."
The practice regimen will change after the Bearcats have returned to campus to begin fall semester classes Monday. They'll spend what's left of the preseason trying to develop chemistry and focusing on their opponents for the first few weeks of the season. After the Austin Peay game, they'll travel to Ann Arbor to face Michigan on Sept. 9. Then they'll bus up U.S. 27 to face long-time rival Miami (Ohio) in the Battle for the Victory Bell, which UC has owned for the past 11 years.
Fickell, who was sporting a beard of several days of growth Friday, said earlier in the week that he hopes to settle on either junior Hayden Moore or sophomore Ross Trail as the starting quarterback perhaps as early as Monday.
Trail played well in last Saturday's scrimmage, but was limited in practice later this week with a strained muscle. It's a bit of bad timing for Trail as decision time nears after Moore missed the second half of last Saturday's scrimmage due to an injury.
"Hopefully it's just a minor setback," Fickell said of Trails' strain. "Some of those things you've got to be able to handle. You've got to be able to fight through. Hayden had (an injury) in the scrimmage and you thought maybe he'd miss most of this week and he comes out here on Monday and he's able to gut through it and go."
As for whether Fickell has a good feel for what to expect against Austin Peay and beyond, the UC coach conceded that he really didn't.
"I wish I knew," he said. "I was talking to my buddy back and forth a little bit. He's in the NFL. I said to him, 'I'm not sure exactly where we are and what we've got and how they'll react and respond. And he said, 'I've been doing this for awhile and we don't know either.' When you've been in one place (Ohio State) for such a long time you have a good idea of how guys are gonna handle things. I don't know. It keeps me motivated. It keeps me pushing. It keeps you on edge a little bit. I like where we are. I like our guys and all the sacrifices and things they've done. But until we go out there and do it we've still got a lot of proving to do."
More than eight months have passed since UC announced on Dec. 10 that Fickell had been hired to replace Tommy Tuberville, who coached the Bearcats to a 4-8 record last fall during his fourth and final season as the Bearcats' head coach.
"I can't believe it's been (eight) months already," Fickell said. "If you take a deep breath and think of all the things we've done in the last six or seven months, there's a lot. You just keep pushing on."
Fickell was sure of one thing: Now that camp is over, the beard will come off.
"It's just a camp thing," he said.
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January, 2015.
GoBEARCATS.com
WEST HARRISON, Ind. – After Luke Fickell finished answering questions from reporters following Friday's practice, the last one during during the University of Cincinnati Bearcats' two-week stay at the Higher Ground Conference & Retreat Center, tight end Tyler Cogswell and linebacker Jaylyin Minor doused him with ice water while wishing him a happy 44th birthday.
Fickell tried to run but there was no escape and he rolled on the ground as they poured the water over him. It was a nice moment at the end of what Fickell says has been a productive two weeks of camp for the Bearcats, who open their season in 13 days against Austin Peay on Aug. 31 at Nippert Stadium.
"This is definitely a benefit to us," Fickell said of their time at Higher Ground. "We couldn't get all this work done on campus, not just football-wise, but building the connection and the bonds that you've got to build. I mean that not just between players, but between players and coaches, coaches and coaches, and units together."
What that will mean, if anything, as the season unfolds remains a mystery. Fickell, in his first year at UC and his first year as a head coach except for the one season he spent as the interim head coach at Ohio State in 2011, doesn't know what to expect when the bell rings.
"That's part of being new at this a little bit," he said. "How far along are we and where will we be when the 31st hits and the bullets start flying? There's some things that I worry about, but I think we've gotten everything out of these guys that we could ask. We've pushed them and pushed them and now we've got to see what they're going to be made of.
"After Saturday's scrimmage, as we go into Monday, there'll be a lot of decisions made on how we'll move forward. That's not just at the quarterback position. I'm not saying that guys are gonna be put on the back shelf, but they've had 17 or so practices to prove what they've got and what they can do and how much we can count on them."
The practice regimen will change after the Bearcats have returned to campus to begin fall semester classes Monday. They'll spend what's left of the preseason trying to develop chemistry and focusing on their opponents for the first few weeks of the season. After the Austin Peay game, they'll travel to Ann Arbor to face Michigan on Sept. 9. Then they'll bus up U.S. 27 to face long-time rival Miami (Ohio) in the Battle for the Victory Bell, which UC has owned for the past 11 years.
Fickell, who was sporting a beard of several days of growth Friday, said earlier in the week that he hopes to settle on either junior Hayden Moore or sophomore Ross Trail as the starting quarterback perhaps as early as Monday.
Trail played well in last Saturday's scrimmage, but was limited in practice later this week with a strained muscle. It's a bit of bad timing for Trail as decision time nears after Moore missed the second half of last Saturday's scrimmage due to an injury.
"Hopefully it's just a minor setback," Fickell said of Trails' strain. "Some of those things you've got to be able to handle. You've got to be able to fight through. Hayden had (an injury) in the scrimmage and you thought maybe he'd miss most of this week and he comes out here on Monday and he's able to gut through it and go."
As for whether Fickell has a good feel for what to expect against Austin Peay and beyond, the UC coach conceded that he really didn't.
"I wish I knew," he said. "I was talking to my buddy back and forth a little bit. He's in the NFL. I said to him, 'I'm not sure exactly where we are and what we've got and how they'll react and respond. And he said, 'I've been doing this for awhile and we don't know either.' When you've been in one place (Ohio State) for such a long time you have a good idea of how guys are gonna handle things. I don't know. It keeps me motivated. It keeps me pushing. It keeps you on edge a little bit. I like where we are. I like our guys and all the sacrifices and things they've done. But until we go out there and do it we've still got a lot of proving to do."
More than eight months have passed since UC announced on Dec. 10 that Fickell had been hired to replace Tommy Tuberville, who coached the Bearcats to a 4-8 record last fall during his fourth and final season as the Bearcats' head coach.
"I can't believe it's been (eight) months already," Fickell said. "If you take a deep breath and think of all the things we've done in the last six or seven months, there's a lot. You just keep pushing on."
Fickell was sure of one thing: Now that camp is over, the beard will come off.
"It's just a camp thing," he said.
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January, 2015.