Saturday, August 28, 1999
UC: Junior college players to the rescue?
Minter looks for quick fix
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Mario Monds has been treated to several viewings of 1998 Cincinnati Bearcats game films, which is a good bit more graphically gruesome than anything he could have seen in “The Blair Witch Project.”
He watched the UC defensive line repeatedly ransacked, the secondary pillaged, the entire unit haunted by the opposing team's touchdowns, field goals and extra points.
And this was his review of those pictures: “I felt that I could come in and contribute right away.”
Monds will not become a candidate to replace Roger Ebert with such a lack of candor, but he's more concerned with replacing for Bearcats defensive tackle Percy Evans. Monds is a 6-4, 329-pound lineman whom the Bearcats attracted from Hutchinson Community College. He is one of 15 JC recruits who, as a group, will need to make an instant impact for UC to avoid a season similar to last year's 2-9 horror show.
“We recruited them to play,” said Bearcats quarterback Deontey Kenner. “They've got two years to come here, they've got to play. So I know we've got some people that have to show some stuff in a hurry. The faster they do that, the faster we'll grow.”
After watching his Bearcats go through nine consecutive losses to open last season then recover with victories in the final two games, coach Rick Minter endured the winter by focusing on how many players contributed in only their first or second seasons.
“You can get excited about this team,” he said, “simply because you look at it and realize, "Oh my God, these guys are going to be around here for a long time.”
If that were to mean something other than they'd be around long enough to lose a lot of games, the sophomores gathered in UC's fine 1997 recruiting class needed assistance at several positions.
UC as a whole needed more experience and maturity. The Bearcats have fewer returning starters than any team in Conference USA.
“When we recruited this class, certainly it was with some junior college players in mind that could perhaps help us, that could provide quality depth,” Minter said. “We thought it was in our benefit to get older a bit quicker.”
Minter believes there are certain positions at which a football team can be strengthened in less time: wide receiver, running back, defensive line, defensive back.
The Bearcats should be improved in those departments, particularly on the defensive side. They went for more strength up front and more speed in the back.
Monds may be an immediate starter, based on his work in spring practice. He is difficult to move and is strong against the run. There also should be help from safety Aaron Butler and defensive end Greg Lee.
“The opportunity was there for me to come in and start right away,” Monds said. “I did see they needed a little more help, but coming in on my visit and seeing how the team was -- they really treated me like I was already on the team, treated me like I was family. I saw how young they were and there was a lot of talent. I saw it as a chance to help the program out.”
With a new defensive coordinator in Rick Smith, who ran the defense for last year's undefeated Tulane squad that claimed the Conference USA championship, UC is shifting to a 4-3 defense from the blitz-oriented 46 defense it used in recent seasons.
The defensive line had so much trouble holding back offenses last year it didn't matter what scheme was in place. But UC's current group of DBs is not of the type that made Minter comfortable isolating them in the man-to-man coverage required by the 46 scheme.
“I didn't feel like we had those types of players anymore,” Minter said. “And I thought we needed other types of leadership on defense. I think a young team could survive better with a little more zone-oriented concept.
“In zone defense, you might not be quite as aggressive on the quarterback, but there are a lot more eyes on the ball. It may be you might not be as dominating down after down at stopping them in their tracks. But you might average three or four takeaways and get the ball for your team.”
Opportunity was the main thing UC had to sell when it went shopping for recruits last winter. For a junior college player looking to make an immediate impact in an attractive setting, the Bearcats had a definite appeal.
When Butler was at City College of San Francisco, his team played before an audience of about 20,000 in the state championship game. But at most of his team's games there were 400 to 500 people in the audience.
It helps to have a passion for the sport in such a circumstance, just as it does for a team trying to recover from 2-9.
“Playing in front of a lot of people is nice, but I just love playing football. I was born and raised on the sport. But when you're out there on the field, it's pretty much about assignments and what you need to do in order to get the job done.
“I doesn't take that much to win. All it takes is a great will to want to be a champion. We all have that.”
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