TicketsIt's no secret that Cincinnati had one of the top defenses in college football last year, finishing in the Top 15 in five categories including 8th in points allowed at 16.8.
What's not as well known is that the Bearcats offense posted similarly impressive stats. UC ranked 17th in scoring at 37.5 points per game, and finished in the Top 25 in total offense, rushing yards, and passing efficiency with quarterback Desmond Ridder earning AAC Offensive Player of the Year honors.
This week I discussed spring football with offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock.
DH: In all seriousness, how hard is it to practice against that defense every day?
It looks very challenging a lot of the time, but I think the advantage obviously that it gives us is going against a defense of that caliber. When we do have success it's obviously a confidence builder and I think all of the guys on offense understand how talented we are on that side of the ball. It gives them a challenge that we can really dig into and I think we are a lot closer than we were two years ago at being able to hold our own – even on the practice field – and working against a defense like that has translated into us being more prepared when it comes time to really go play.
DH: On game day is it easy in a sense?
There's no question about it. Not all of the schemes that we go against are as aggressive as our defense is either, so all of those things play into it. But as hard as it is to watch sometimes, the training and the teaching and the adjustments that our guys have to make against our own defense leads to game planning being so much better and easier for them to understand and grasp. They get trained in it every day and get a chance to get coached on it and we get a chance as a staff to make the adjustments necessary. When we come out of fall camp we are fully prepared for a season. I can tell you that much.
DH: Physically and the way that he's carrying himself, Desmond Ridder looks like a grown man. Is he at a different level?
MD: I think of that skinny little kid that we stuck in there in 2018 in the Rose Bowl and what a different there is in his demeanor, his body, his mind – every piece has improved an incredible amount. A lot of credit goes to him for digging into the details, not only in the weight room but in the film room. You're right. He is in total command of what we're doing offensively and that's been the goal since we started putting him on the field and slowly but surely, he's grown by leaps and bounds every year. He's 10 miles farther down the road than he was even a year ago at this time. That's exciting for us offensively because it's going to allow us to put more of the decision-making in his hands and let him go play the game.
DH: With only two scholarship quarterbacks here right now, Evan Prater is getting a ton of work. Is that the best-case scenario for his development?
MD: To get in there and play football, fail, succeed, have adversity, and fight through it as a young quarterback, there's no better teacher. He's fortunate to not only have Des Ridder to lean on, but (quarterbacks coach) Gino Guidugli as well. They're going to figure it out. He shows improvement in little areas every day I think, and it's because of the great help he's got in that quarterback room number one, and number two, he's got such a competitive nature that doing well is important to him and he's going to make sure that happens.
DH: Is the offensive line in general and the tackles in particular the biggest thing you have to get resolved this camp?
MD: Definitely throughout spring here and headed into the fall, that's really where our questions are. I don't think it's a matter of having enough guys with ability to do it. I think it's having those guys get some cohesiveness to them. Getting tough and hardened against a defensive line that's pretty darned good, and then just continuing to make sure that we get the right guys in the right spots, get them settled, and then let those guys gel together and grow.
DH: We've seen receiver Michael Young Jr. in the slot this spring. Is the goal to use him as a movable piece this year?
MD: Yeah, it's exciting to get him in there and give him those opportunities. As much as it's nice to have him as our field receiver in some of the things we were able to do a year ago, he's just such a versatile route runner and has that ability that you see in slot receivers to break guys down in space and win some one-on-one coverage battles and maybe against a little bit more off coverage. All of those things make it exciting because he's a pretty dynamic kid.
You have some talented young receivers and it looks like Tyler Scott has moved to the top of the totem pole. Is that fair to say?
MD: He's definitely come a long way since the start of last season. I think there were flashes in fall camp and then, like a lot of young guys, there were times during the season where he disappeared a little bit. Whether that was the length of the season or all of the things that we obviously had to go through as a football team. But you could see him maturing and kind of going, 'You know what, I do belong here and I can do this.' That confidence just began to climb and climb and climb, and he's playing with a great deal of confidence right now and we love what we're seeing from him.
(Wide receiver) Blue Smith has been a forgotten man due to injuries. Is he putting himself back on the map?
MD: He's a big, strong, athletic guy that you just root for. He's had such bad luck since he's been here and hasn't really been able to go through a whole fall camp or a whole spring practice without unfortunately being nicked in one way or another. It's up to him to take advantage of it and I think he's done a nice job of that. He's made some plays for us into the boundary, and we love that big-bodied guy in there. Hopefully he continues to improve.
DH: You've used great depth at running back during your tenure here. Is that the plan this year or is Jerome Ford going to be more of a featured back?
MD: I think we'll see. I think we know what we've got in Jerome. I think he's certainly going to be that guy for us this year. Kind of what you saw from him in the bowl game and at the end of last year. An incredibly dynamic player that fits all of the things we need at that position for sure. But I like what we've seen from Ryan Montgomery – I think he's come a long way as a player. And good lord willing, we're going to get Charles McClelland back who we need desperately too. So we'll see, but I think that Jerome definitely has that type of ability and that type of mindset where he wants to win that job and be that guy. That's exciting because he's dynamic with the football in his hands.
DH: How long did it take you to process the Peach Bowl and the way it ended?
MD: You know, I was just disappointed for the kids more than anything else. All of us who have been doing this for a long period of time have had some real high moments and some real low moments. But the players that worked so hard and battled through so much last year in particular to put us in that position and then to not be able to finish it was obviously disappointing. But if you think about two years ago when we went up to Ohio State and didn't play very well and didn't really look like we belonged as a program, and then you take last year and how we matched up against Georgia and how we played against them and how the kids believed we could win the game – that's the growth in the program that we've been harping on. We're growing our team to try to be ready for those big moments and good lord willing, this year we're going to be in a couple of big moments again and we're going to be a football team that's ready to handle it.
I'd love to hear from you at Dan.Hoard@Bengals.nfl.net
If you're on Twitter, you can follow my tweets at http://twitter.com/Dan_Hoard
What's not as well known is that the Bearcats offense posted similarly impressive stats. UC ranked 17th in scoring at 37.5 points per game, and finished in the Top 25 in total offense, rushing yards, and passing efficiency with quarterback Desmond Ridder earning AAC Offensive Player of the Year honors.
This week I discussed spring football with offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock.
DH: In all seriousness, how hard is it to practice against that defense every day?
It looks very challenging a lot of the time, but I think the advantage obviously that it gives us is going against a defense of that caliber. When we do have success it's obviously a confidence builder and I think all of the guys on offense understand how talented we are on that side of the ball. It gives them a challenge that we can really dig into and I think we are a lot closer than we were two years ago at being able to hold our own – even on the practice field – and working against a defense like that has translated into us being more prepared when it comes time to really go play.
DH: On game day is it easy in a sense?
There's no question about it. Not all of the schemes that we go against are as aggressive as our defense is either, so all of those things play into it. But as hard as it is to watch sometimes, the training and the teaching and the adjustments that our guys have to make against our own defense leads to game planning being so much better and easier for them to understand and grasp. They get trained in it every day and get a chance to get coached on it and we get a chance as a staff to make the adjustments necessary. When we come out of fall camp we are fully prepared for a season. I can tell you that much.
DH: Physically and the way that he's carrying himself, Desmond Ridder looks like a grown man. Is he at a different level?
MD: I think of that skinny little kid that we stuck in there in 2018 in the Rose Bowl and what a different there is in his demeanor, his body, his mind – every piece has improved an incredible amount. A lot of credit goes to him for digging into the details, not only in the weight room but in the film room. You're right. He is in total command of what we're doing offensively and that's been the goal since we started putting him on the field and slowly but surely, he's grown by leaps and bounds every year. He's 10 miles farther down the road than he was even a year ago at this time. That's exciting for us offensively because it's going to allow us to put more of the decision-making in his hands and let him go play the game.
DH: With only two scholarship quarterbacks here right now, Evan Prater is getting a ton of work. Is that the best-case scenario for his development?
MD: To get in there and play football, fail, succeed, have adversity, and fight through it as a young quarterback, there's no better teacher. He's fortunate to not only have Des Ridder to lean on, but (quarterbacks coach) Gino Guidugli as well. They're going to figure it out. He shows improvement in little areas every day I think, and it's because of the great help he's got in that quarterback room number one, and number two, he's got such a competitive nature that doing well is important to him and he's going to make sure that happens.
DH: Is the offensive line in general and the tackles in particular the biggest thing you have to get resolved this camp?
MD: Definitely throughout spring here and headed into the fall, that's really where our questions are. I don't think it's a matter of having enough guys with ability to do it. I think it's having those guys get some cohesiveness to them. Getting tough and hardened against a defensive line that's pretty darned good, and then just continuing to make sure that we get the right guys in the right spots, get them settled, and then let those guys gel together and grow.
DH: We've seen receiver Michael Young Jr. in the slot this spring. Is the goal to use him as a movable piece this year?
MD: Yeah, it's exciting to get him in there and give him those opportunities. As much as it's nice to have him as our field receiver in some of the things we were able to do a year ago, he's just such a versatile route runner and has that ability that you see in slot receivers to break guys down in space and win some one-on-one coverage battles and maybe against a little bit more off coverage. All of those things make it exciting because he's a pretty dynamic kid.
You have some talented young receivers and it looks like Tyler Scott has moved to the top of the totem pole. Is that fair to say?
MD: He's definitely come a long way since the start of last season. I think there were flashes in fall camp and then, like a lot of young guys, there were times during the season where he disappeared a little bit. Whether that was the length of the season or all of the things that we obviously had to go through as a football team. But you could see him maturing and kind of going, 'You know what, I do belong here and I can do this.' That confidence just began to climb and climb and climb, and he's playing with a great deal of confidence right now and we love what we're seeing from him.
(Wide receiver) Blue Smith has been a forgotten man due to injuries. Is he putting himself back on the map?
MD: He's a big, strong, athletic guy that you just root for. He's had such bad luck since he's been here and hasn't really been able to go through a whole fall camp or a whole spring practice without unfortunately being nicked in one way or another. It's up to him to take advantage of it and I think he's done a nice job of that. He's made some plays for us into the boundary, and we love that big-bodied guy in there. Hopefully he continues to improve.
DH: You've used great depth at running back during your tenure here. Is that the plan this year or is Jerome Ford going to be more of a featured back?
MD: I think we'll see. I think we know what we've got in Jerome. I think he's certainly going to be that guy for us this year. Kind of what you saw from him in the bowl game and at the end of last year. An incredibly dynamic player that fits all of the things we need at that position for sure. But I like what we've seen from Ryan Montgomery – I think he's come a long way as a player. And good lord willing, we're going to get Charles McClelland back who we need desperately too. So we'll see, but I think that Jerome definitely has that type of ability and that type of mindset where he wants to win that job and be that guy. That's exciting because he's dynamic with the football in his hands.
DH: How long did it take you to process the Peach Bowl and the way it ended?
MD: You know, I was just disappointed for the kids more than anything else. All of us who have been doing this for a long period of time have had some real high moments and some real low moments. But the players that worked so hard and battled through so much last year in particular to put us in that position and then to not be able to finish it was obviously disappointing. But if you think about two years ago when we went up to Ohio State and didn't play very well and didn't really look like we belonged as a program, and then you take last year and how we matched up against Georgia and how we played against them and how the kids believed we could win the game – that's the growth in the program that we've been harping on. We're growing our team to try to be ready for those big moments and good lord willing, this year we're going to be in a couple of big moments again and we're going to be a football team that's ready to handle it.
I'd love to hear from you at Dan.Hoard@Bengals.nfl.net
If you're on Twitter, you can follow my tweets at http://twitter.com/Dan_Hoard