2008 Cincinnati Bearcats
Written July 15, 2008 by Jason Lowry
To get you going on the upcoming football season Jason Lowry is ready to make his 2008 Cincinnati Bearcats football predictions. The Bearcats had a very impressive season last year going 10-3 overall and 4-3 in the Big East. Head coach Brian Kelly took the the Bearcats to their 2nd straight bowl game, and led them to a 31-21 win over Southern Mississippi in the PapaJohns.com Bowl game. This season the Bearcats only bring back 12 starters and will have their work cut out to put together another season like last year. To get a good idea at what the Bearcats will be sending to the field, here is a quick look at both sides of the ball for the upcoming season.
Offense:
The Bearcats bring back 6 starters on the offensive side of things, but they lost a very solid quarterback in Ben Mauk, and now its up to sophomore Demetrius Jones to step in and lead this team in 2008. The team will also need to find a guy at the running back spot, after their top two rushers from last season are no longer with the team. It looks like freshman Isaiah Pead will share the load with junior Jacob Ramsey. Makine things a little easier on the new quarterback is 3 returning starters at the wide receiver spot, including the great young talent in sophomore Marcus Barnett. The team brings back 3 starters on the offensive line, and it looks like junior Jeff Linkenbach is going to just fine at stepping in at the right tackle spot, while sophomore CJ Cobb steps in at the open right guard spot.
Defense:
The Bearcats bring back 6 starters on this side of the ball as well, and this could be a big reason why this team struggles this season. They only bring back two starters on the defensive line in senior defensive tackles Adam Hoppeland Terrill Byrd. While Byrd is a force at his position, the team needs to see solid performances out of seniors Lamonte Nelms and Connor Barwin at the end spots. The team brings back 2 more senior starters at the linebacker position and both Corey Smith and Ryan Manalac are the teams two returning leading tacklers coming back from last season. Junior Andre Revels is likely going to be the new guy in the mix. The secondary keeps the trend going with more senior talent here, as the team brings back arguable the best two corners in the conference in seniors DeAngelo Smith and Mike Mickens. It looks like senior Cedric Tolbert and junior Brad Jones will be the take over at the two safety spots.
Prediction: 6th in the Big East
The defense could easily be better than it was a year ago, but with 9 seniors expected to start this season, the future could be in trouble. If Jones can come in and play well at quarterback the offense should be good enough to win games this season. We just think they are a little below the rest of the league, and will likely win right around 7 games this season.
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