TicketsCincinnati football took the field at Sheakley Athletics Complex Saturday morning for its annual spring scrimmage, a chance for a team nearing the end of its practice schedule to work through some live-action scenarios.
As family members and gathered media looked on, quarterbacks Ben Bryant and Evan Prater flashed their arm strength, throwing touchdown passes to wide receiver Tyler Scott and tight end Chamon Metayer.
The man presiding over the action was head coach Luke Fickell, the latest winner of the Dodd Trophy—presented annually to the head coach whose program embodies scholarship, leadership and integrity.
Members of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation's Board of Directors were on hand to present the trophy after the scrimmage. Fickell, always quick to emphasize that individual success only comes from team success, quickly handed off the prize to onlooking alums Desmond Ridder and Ahmad Gardner before introducing someone special to his team.
Now 95 years old, Homer Rice (pictured above, far right) is a member of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation's Board of Directors. He was Cincinnati's head coach from 1967-68, back on campus for the first time since he left. "I don't recognize anything," he quipped.
While Rice said the Bearcats' current stature—a College Football Playoff appearance and a pending move to the Big 12—is more than he could've imagined for the program at the time, two things about his days in Clifton are still fresh in his mind: Quarterback Greg Cook and the miraculous comeback over Miami (OH) in 1968.
"I had perfected the onside kick. We were behind and used an onside kick to get the ball back," Rice recalled. "Greg Cook was my quarterback. He was an All-American. Tom Rossley caught a pass and got out of bounds with three seconds to play."
"Jim O'Brien kicked the winning field goal to win the game. Bo Schembechler had the film burned. They burned the film. There's no record, as if the game had never been played."
The Bearcats and RedHawks have faced one another 125 times, and that meeting may still be the greatest in the history of the rivalry. The 23-21 Cincinnati victory in the season finale served as an inflection point for the two programs. Schembechler left Miami to become the head coach at Michigan, while Rice left Cincinnati to become the athletic director at North Carolina.
Rice returned to Cincinnati to coach the Bengals in 1978 and 1979, one of many connections the two football teams share. And in a run of success that's featured several full-circle moments for Bearcats football, Rice's return to present a trophy to one of his successors was another improbable one.
As family members and gathered media looked on, quarterbacks Ben Bryant and Evan Prater flashed their arm strength, throwing touchdown passes to wide receiver Tyler Scott and tight end Chamon Metayer.
The man presiding over the action was head coach Luke Fickell, the latest winner of the Dodd Trophy—presented annually to the head coach whose program embodies scholarship, leadership and integrity.
Members of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation's Board of Directors were on hand to present the trophy after the scrimmage. Fickell, always quick to emphasize that individual success only comes from team success, quickly handed off the prize to onlooking alums Desmond Ridder and Ahmad Gardner before introducing someone special to his team.
Now 95 years old, Homer Rice (pictured above, far right) is a member of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation's Board of Directors. He was Cincinnati's head coach from 1967-68, back on campus for the first time since he left. "I don't recognize anything," he quipped.
While Rice said the Bearcats' current stature—a College Football Playoff appearance and a pending move to the Big 12—is more than he could've imagined for the program at the time, two things about his days in Clifton are still fresh in his mind: Quarterback Greg Cook and the miraculous comeback over Miami (OH) in 1968.
"I had perfected the onside kick. We were behind and used an onside kick to get the ball back," Rice recalled. "Greg Cook was my quarterback. He was an All-American. Tom Rossley caught a pass and got out of bounds with three seconds to play."
"Jim O'Brien kicked the winning field goal to win the game. Bo Schembechler had the film burned. They burned the film. There's no record, as if the game had never been played."
The Bearcats and RedHawks have faced one another 125 times, and that meeting may still be the greatest in the history of the rivalry. The 23-21 Cincinnati victory in the season finale served as an inflection point for the two programs. Schembechler left Miami to become the head coach at Michigan, while Rice left Cincinnati to become the athletic director at North Carolina.
Rice returned to Cincinnati to coach the Bengals in 1978 and 1979, one of many connections the two football teams share. And in a run of success that's featured several full-circle moments for Bearcats football, Rice's return to present a trophy to one of his successors was another improbable one.