Getting to Know the 2012 Bearcats: Quaterbacks, Receivers and Running Backs

It's the final piece of the Getting to Know the Bearcats puzzle. We are going to cover all of the offensive skill players. I really could have titled the post "Skill players" now that I think about it. We live, we learn. We question our decisions, no matter how trivial sometimes. Just in the last minute, I've questioned the decision of titling this post, and the decision to write all of this. What the players I'm going to talk about can not do, is question their decision making on the field. That's when bad things happen. I think I brought that back around pretty well. 

Previously covered: Offensive Line, Special Teams, Linebackers, Defensive Backs, Defensive Line

Quarterbacks


Munchie Legaux

That's the only picture of Munchie that's saved on the picture uploading thing on the site. That will probably change once the season starts. Legaux is the starting quaterback. He started a few games last season. He played in a couple more. He threw for 749 yards and 5 TDs. He threw 4 INTs and only completed 47% of his passes. The last two numbers are rather worrisome. Munchie ran for 185 yards and 2 TDs. He is a bit of a dual threat. It will be interesting to see if he is allowed to run at will, or if he is told to stay in the pocket more. We will find out. Also, his name is awesome. 

Bennie Coney

Bennie is a freshman from Plant City, Florida. He's number 10. It's rather strange that Jordan Luallen, someone who has played quaterback, is number 10. Coney is probably going to redshirt this season. You won't get the two confused. 

Patrick Coyne

Coyne is a redshirt freshman. He's the third string quarterback. If the back up quarterback is the most popular person in town, what is the 3rd string? Maybe Coyne will find out. The key thing about Patrick is that he went to Badin. I went to Badin. He follows me on twitter. I follow him on twitter. I went to UC. He is going to UC. We have a bond. 

Brendon Kay

Kay is a redshirt senior. He hasn't had a lot of playing time over his career. He saw action in the Austin Peay game last year, running 3 times for 22 yards. He threw a couple passes in 2010. His career high in completions is 3. His high in total offense is 41 That happened way back in 2009. Kay is the back up quaterback. He has had trouble staying healthy, he was injured last season. I hope he gets to see some action. He deserves it. 

Trenton Norvell

Norvell is a freshman from Daytona Beach, Florida. He's number 12. He's the same number as Zach Collaros. I hope that the fanbase doesn't put the pressure of being Zach Collaros on him. Trenton Norvell could be a very good player as a Bearcat. If he is very good and not as good as Zach Collaros, don't be too harsh on him. 

Running Backs


Rob Rice

Rice is a redshirt freshman. He is a walk on. He is number 25. He shares a number with Arryn Chenault. Rice has all the little symbols by his name. Maybe he will get in a game this year. I don't know. 

Anthony King

King is a junior from Chicago. He played a bit last season. He ran for 12 yards on 2 carries against Austin Peay. He had 5 carries for no yards against Akron. He made a tackle during the Akron game. Probably on special teams. He will probably play the same role. Look for 49 tomorrow. 

George Winn

George Winn is the man pictured. He ran 40 times for 219 yards last season. He scored 2 TDs. The first of his career was against Akron. The second came on a 69 yard run against Vanderbilt in the Liberty Bowl. That run is more fondly remembered than the Akron TD run. Winn is listed as the starting running back. It's not known how many carries he will get against Pittsburgh and the rest of the season. He runs very hard. If a UC running back would run over someone like Spike in the Little Giants, it would be Winn. 

Deionte Buckley

Buckley is a freshman from Warren Central. Yes, he's one of the Warren Central 4. Buckley is not listed on the depth chart, but he is expected to see some time this season. All of the Bearcats running backs sound like they are going to get a chance to perform this season. Buckley is a very talented player. If he doesn't get action against Pitt, he probably wiill against Delaware State. Unless he redshirts. 

Ralph David Abernathy IV

RDA IV is a sophomore. He returned kicks last season, busting one for a TD against Vanderbilt. He's going to be returning kicks again this season. He got 14 carries. He ran for 38 yards. He got 26 against AP. The other carries weren't as successful. RDA IV is listed as the 3rd string running back. He is going to get carries against Pitt. I really like what he brings to the table. Abernathy's grandfather was the legendary civil rights leader. This is a fact we've heard in every game of his career. We will hear it the rest of his career too. It's a good tidbit. 

Adam Fearing

Fearing is a senior from Dayton. He ran for 46 yards and a TD last year. 43 of those yards and TD came against AP. The Bearcats did a lot of scoring against AP. So much so that I can say AP and you know who I'm talking about. Fearing will remember that game the rest of his life. It could be the only touchdown he ever scores. When UC was winning big, Fearing returned kickoffs. He took 2 last year. 

Jameel Poteat

Poteat came to UC a 4 star recruit. He had 23 carries for 108 yards and a TD last year. He had 55 of those yards and his TD against Akron. Poteat had 39 kick return yards against Pittsburgh. He is from Pennslyvania, and was looking very forward to that game. Poteat suffered a concussion at some point in practice and missed the rest of the regular season. He played in the bowl game, but had no stats.   

Tion Green

Green is a running back from Sanford, Florida. He is the only Bearcats running back listed as 6 feet tall. At 211 pounds, he is the second heaviest running back. King weighs 222 pounds. Tion Green could have a bright future as a Bearcat. The future probably isn't now. 


Tight Ends


DJ Dowdy

Dowdy is a freshman from Akron. He is number 81. At 6-4, he is the second shortest tight end on the roster. He weights 233 pounds. That's normally quite a bit, but he is the smallest tight end the Bearcats have. He is one of two true freshmen to play tight end for the Bearcats this year. 

Travis Kelce

The senior is the starting tight end. Travis caught 13 passes for 150 yards and 2 TDs a season ago. He played in 11 games and still led the tight ends in receptions. He caught a TD from Munchie Legaux last season. Maybe he can be a safety valve in the red zone for Munchie this season. A very long time ago, Kelce ran the wildcat. He scored a couple of touchdowns against Rutgers. That has nothing to do with anything happening this year, but it's part of Kelce's legacy. 

Demetrius Richardson

Richardson is a senior. He is a walk on who played in 4 games last season. The first 4 games of last season to be exact. Byt he first 3 sentences of this post, you wouldn't expect the next one to be that Demetrius Richardson is the back up tight end. But that is exactly the case. He is the back up tight end. As we just saw with Kelce, the back up tight end could have more catches than the starting tight end. One never knows. I suppose Munchie Legaux and the other quarterbacks know because they could make sure the back up tight end never gets the ball. That would seem really unfair to Demetrius. 

Jared Golden

Golden is a freshman from Gallipolis, Ohio. I have no idea where that is. Apparently it is near West Virginia. Bob Evans from Bob Evans is from Gallipolis. I wonder if people from Gallipolis take a great deal of pride when they go to a Bob Evans. The reality is that most of them probably don't know and if they do know, they don't care. I'm not sure if I would care that Bob Evans was from my town. Golden wears 46. He's the one who isn't Blake Annen wearing 46. 

Josh Russ

Russ is a redshirt sophomore. He was a 3 star recruit according to his profile. He wears the same number as Dylan Coombs. It appears that tight ends drew the short straw on the same number deal. If Russ is talking to a girl, he has to say "Look for me, I'm 35. But not the small 35, the big one." The girl probably wouldn't believe him and Russ would be disappointed. 

Matt Staubach

Matt is a redshirt freshman. He went to McNick high. He was the Enquier's D III player of the year. He was a rusher in high school. He utlized his talent to walk on to UC. Apparently he as a sister named Hannaf. I'm not sure that is a real name. I demand Hannaf Staubach drop me a line on twitter or email. 

Blake Annen

Annen is a junior tight end. He caught a pair of passes last season for 33 yards. 27 of those yards came against UConn. He has never caught more than 1 pass in a game. He is not listed on the depth chart, but I think he could see some action. Chances of him catching multiple passes are low since that has never happened. 

Wide Receivers


Jordan Luallen

Luallen played quarterback last season. He was 2-4, 10 yards as a passer. As a runner though, Luallen had 25 carries for 135 yards and a TD. He had a very memorable 77 yard rushing performance against Syracuse. After that, he had 4 runs the rest of the season. Luallen has been moved to receiver to make the most out of his talents. It doesn't immediately have appeared to pay off since he's not one of the 9 receivers listed on the depth chart. But Luallen will see the field. They wouldn't have moved him to not play him. 

Jacob Giltrow

Ok this is pretty weird. In the game notes, Giltrow is only listed on the alphabetical roster. That's all for him. He's not on the numerical roster. He is listed as 87, but that's the same number as Jeremy Graves. They could never play together because you can't have two of the same number on the field at the same time. I don't know if that will be much of a problem since someone doesn't think of a lot of Giltrow's status. It's hard out there for a redshirt freshman. 

Braxton Lane

Lane is a freshman from Tyrone, Georgia. He was added to the roster over the summer. The other guys named to the roster over the summer, Jeff Luc and Elijah Shuler, were a transfer and a JUCO. Braxton wears #3 so I expect him to be a fast slot receiver. That could not be true, but it's the expectations of the number. I also expect him to drop a lot of passes and fumble at key times. Yes, that was a dig at DJ Woods for no reason. 

Max Morrison

Morrison sounds like a bad movie villain. I'm sure when he was redshirting last season that he and his friends made bad movies where Max was the villain. Max has a history with Cincinnati. His grandfater played at UC in the 1950's. Morrison caught 289 passes for 4,147 yards and 56 TDs in high school according to the game notes. That's not enough to get him listed on the depth chart. If you see 82 on the field, be ready for some catches. 

Jeremy Graves

Graves is a freshman from Cleveland. He is best friends with Shaq Washington, I believe. Graves is one of the tallest UC receivers at 6-2. He's listed as the third receiver at the spot held down by Kenbrell Thompkins. Only 4 true freshmen are listed on the depth chart. 2 of them are at receiver. 

Bruce Horner

Horner started off his career on defense if I remember correctly. He plays special teams. He made 4 tackles last season. He played in every game. Horner should play in every game this year. He made 6 tackles in 2010. You can never have too many good special teams players. 

Chris Moore

Moore is a redshirt freshman from Tampa. The redshirt season has done him some good because he is listed as the back up to Kenbrell Thompkins. Chris Moore is almost all but assured to get playing time this season. He is number 15. 

Shakin Alonzo

Alonzo is a freshman from Pittsburgh. He was involved in a basketball fight that had some questioning if he would come to UC. Come to UC he did. He is 6-4, the tallest of the Bearcat receivers. He is the second heaviest at 207 pounds. Since he is a freshman and not on the depth chart, it's probably smart to assume he is redshirted. 

Nate Cole

Cole is a freshman from Memphis. He is listed as the 3rd receiver behind Alex Chisum. Cole is the 4th and final freshman listed on the depth chart. He is kind of small, 6-1, 183 pounds, and seems like he would be  slot receiver. Then again, UC has a 5-6 receiver on their roster. Maybe Cole will line up on the edge and go up for jump balls every down. 

Kenbrell Thompkins

The amount of times I've hit control N instead of control B to turn off bold is staggeringly high. Thompkins had a nice season last year with 44 receptions for 536 yards and 2 TDs. He had 2 TDs in the first 4 games and that was all for TDs. His best game came against USF, where he caught 6 passes for 114 yards. He had a huge play late in that game. His worst game would be the last 2, where he didn't do anything. Thompkins has been up front about how he was disappointed with his numbers last year. He went as far to change his number from 1 to 7. He seems poised to have a nice year. 

Shaq Washington

Washington had an odd freshman season. He started the season opener. He caught 3 passes for 14 yards, 2-13 against Akron, before leaving the team. He redshirted and is back this season. He is listed at 3rd string behind Anthony McClung's spot. He is also the 3rd string kick returner. A lot of people thought Washington could have an impact as a freshman, maybe he can make that impact in his second try as a freshman. 

Alex Chisum

Chisum is a starting receiver this season. He nearly out performed one of the starters last season, DJ Woods. Woods had 18 more catches, but only 148 more yards. Chisum had 19 grabs for 302 yards and 2 TDs. His TD total matched Woods. In the last 4 games of the season, Chisum had 6 catches for 99 yards and a TD. Woods had 4 catches for 53 yards. Legaux and Chisum had a nice rapport. Chisum had his best game of the year against USF, when he had 73 receiving yards and a spectaular TD grab. People, like me, call him Skinny Binns because he's number 80 and well, skinny. I think Chisum will be the second leading receiver this year. 

Chris Burrell

Burrell is a transfer from Temple. He is a walk on. Burrell is the smallest Bearcat receiver. Hell, he is the smallest player on the roster at 5-6, 162. He is a mighty mite. I don't know if he's able to play this season. If he is able to play, I don't know how much he will. I hope he does since he is so short. 

Danny Milligan

Milligan is the spring game hero. It seems in every spring game, he has a spectacular amount of catches and is the MVP. They didn't have the spring game this year, which is sad because Milligan will never play in another one. Milligan is listed as the back up to Anthony McClung. That seems like a bit of a surprise. Milligan caught 1 pass for 15 yards last year. He dabbled in punt returns, 6 for 74 yards. He was barely more effective than the totally inept DJ Woods. Hey, 6.5 yards a punt return is inept. Milligan will finally get a chance to put his practice into real games. I'm happy for him that he's getting a shot. 

Damon Julian

Julian is a junior college transfer who played 3 games last year. Those games were AP, Akron and Miami. He had no stats in those games. This season, he has some expectations. He is listed as the back up to Chisum. As you can tell, there is a lot of unproven talent behind the starting wideouts. Julian had over 1,000 yards his last JUCO season. 

Dyjuan Lewis

Lewis played in 10 games last year. He was one of the guys on the kick return team. I am pretty sure he fumbled a return chance against Tennessee. He did fumble a return against Tennesse. Lewis had a 22 yard return against Akron. He spent the rest of the season blocking. Unless he just stood there and pretended if he didn't get the ball. Lewis isn't on the depth chart at all this season. He has some talent, I hope he gets a shot. 

Anthony McClung

McClung is the last Bearcat to get to know. He was the leading receiver last year. He is the man in the receiver photo up top. He caught 49 passes for 683 yards and 6 TDs last year. No other Bearcat receiver had over 550 yards. No other Bearcat receiver had more than 3 TDs. McClung broke out in a big way. He's a starter for the second year. He is expected to get closer to 1,000 yards than he did last season. McClung has more expectations on him than almost any other Bearcat. Not only with receiving, but he's listed as the top punt returner. That was a huge achilles heel for UC last year. If Anthony meets expectations, things are going to be good for the passing game this season.