2022 Cincinnati Bearcats football team explained

The 2022 Cincinnati Bearcats football team represented the University of Cincinnati during the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bearcats, members of the American Athletic Conference, played their home games at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. 2022 was the program's sixth and final season under head coach Luke Fickell.

In September 2021, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF accepted bids to join the Big 12.^[1] On June 10, the American Athletic Conference and the three schools set to depart from the league (Cincinnati, Houston, UCF) announced that they had reached a buyout agreement that allowed those schools to join the Big 12 Conference in 2023.^[2] The 2022 season was the program's last season as a member of the AAC.

Offseason

NFL Draft

See main article: 2022 NFL draft. Nine Bearcats were selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, which was a school record, and was the third most of any school in the draft.^[3]

Sauce Gardner	CB	New York Jets	1	4
Alec Pierce	WR	Indianapolis Colts	2	53
Bryan Cook	S	Kansas City Chiefs	2	62
Desmond Ridder	QB	Atlanta Falcons	3	74
Myjai Sanders	OLB	Arizona Cardinals	3	100
Coby Bryant	CB	Seattle Seahawks	4	109
Jerome Ford	RB	Cleveland Browns	5	156
Darrian Beavers	LB	New York Giants	6	182
Curtis Brooks	DT	Indianapolis Colts	6	216

Coaching changes

On January 1, 2022, offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock who had been the Bearcats offensive coordinator the last five years left the school to take the same role at LSU.^[4] On January 5, 2022, Brian Mason who had been with Cincinnati for the previous 5 seasons, including the last four as special teams coordinator was hired by Notre Dame in the same role.^[5] On January 13, 2022, it was reported that cornerbacks coach Perry Eliano who spent the last two years at Cincinnati had accepted the safeties coaching job at Ohio State.^[6]

On January 17, 2022, The Athletic reported that UC was promoting quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli to Offensive coordinator, and that Wide receivers coach Mike Brown was expected to add the role of passing game coordinator, previously held by Guidugli.^[7] Cincinnati also promoted Safeties coach Colin Hitschler to Co-defensive coordinator.^[8] Also on January 17, 2022 it was announced that Cincinnati was hiring current Central Michigan offensive line coach Mike Cummings in the same role at Cincinnati.^[9]

On January 18, 2022, The Athletic reported that Kerry Coombs was being hired as the new cornerbacks coach and special teams coordinator.^[10] Coombs joins Cincinnati after serving most recently as defensive coordinator at Ohio State the previous two seasons. He also was an assistant coach at Ohio State from 2012 to 2017 where he developed five first-round NFL draft picks. Coombs previously coached at Cincinnati from 2007 to 2011, overseeing defensive backs and special teams. Additionally, he coached with the Tennessee Titans (2017–18) and was head coach at Colerain High School, from 1991 to 2006.^[11]

On January 19, 2022, Cincinnati hired former Bearcats defensive linemen Walter Stewart to coach outside linebackers, Stewart played at Cincinnati 2008–2012. Prior to returning to Cincinnati Stewart coached at defensive line at Arkansas State. From 2019–2021 he was the defensive line coach at Temple, Defensive line at Northern Illinois in 2018. Prior to NIU Stewart was defensive line coach at Eastern Kentucky from 2016 and 2017. In 2015, Stewart coached defensive ends at Florida A&M after being on the Tennessee staff from 2013–14.^[12]

On February 21, 2022, Cincinnati announced it has promoted offensive graduate assistant Nate Letton to tight ends coach.^[13]

On March 3, 2022, it was reported that Greg Scruggs accepted an assistant defensive line coach position with the New York Jets.^[14] After the departure of Scruggs, Walter Stewart was promoted to become the defensive line coach and James Ross III was hired as the outside linebackers coach.^[15]

Offseason departures

+ class="nowrap"	2022 Cincinnati offseason departures
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
	0	LB	6' 4"	255	Graduate Student		Graduated
	1	CB	6' 3"	200	Junior		Declared for NFL draft[16]
	6	S	6' 1"	210	Senior	Cincinnati, OH	Graduated
	7	CB	6' 1"	198	Graduate Student		Graduated
Michael Young Jr.	8	WR	5' 10"	195	Graduate Student		Graduated
	9	QB	6' 4"	215	Senior		Graduated
	12	WR	6' 3"	213	Senior		Graduated
Cole Smith	17	K	5' 11"	193	Senior		Graduated
	21	DL	6' 5"	258	Senior		Graduated
	24	RB	5’ 11”	220	Junior		Declared for NFL Draft[17]
Michael Kopaygorodsky	30	RB	6' 0"	215	Senior		Graduated
Casey Kirk	31	CB	5' 10"	190	Senior		Graduated
Ryan Royer	35	LB	5' 11"	218	Senior		Graduated
	41	LB	6' 3"	240	Graduate Student		Graduated
Vincent McConnell	77	OL	6' 5"	300	Senior		Graduated
Noah Davis	82	TE	6' 4"	244	Graduate Student	Cincinnati, OH	Graduated
Miles Manigault	91	DL	6' 2"	280	Senior	Cincinnati, OH	Graduated
	92	DL	6' 2"	285	Graduate Student		Graduated
Marcus Brown	99	DL	6' 2"	297	Graduate Student		Graduated

Transfers

Outgoing

Name	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	New School
De'Arre McDonald	S	6' 1"	205	Sophomore	Murfreesboro, TN	Middle Tennessee
Marquez Bell	WR	6' 0"	160	Freshman	Lake City, FL	Old Dominion
Marcelo Mendiola	OL	6' 5"	285	Sophomore	Chicago, IL	Bowling Green
Zeiqui Lawton	DE	6' 3"	240	Freshman	Charleston, WV	West Virginia
Joey Groeber	OL	6' 3"	330	Senior	Williamsburg, OH	Youngstown State
Mychal Keys	DL	6' 4"	246	Junior	Columbus, OH
Jordan Jones	WR	6' 2"	190	Senior	Smackover, AR	Missouri State
Jack Perry	QB	6' 1"	201	Senior	Mountain View, CA	Western Illinois
Alex Bales	K	6' 0"	168	Junior	Westfield, IN	Oregon
Jalen Monrrow	DE	6' 4"	258	Sophomore	Lafayette, IN	Illinois State
Sterling Miles	DE	6' 5"	220	Freshman	West Bloomfield, MI	Eastern Michigan
Iesa Jarmon	CB	6' 0"	175	Freshman	Cincinnati, OH	Buffalo

Incoming

Name	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Prev. School
Ryan Coe	K	6' 3"	225	Senior	McDonald, PA	Delaware
Ivan Pace Jr.	LB	6' 0"	239	Senior	Cincinnati, OH	Miami (OH)
Ben Bryant	QB	6' 3"	214	Graduate Student	LaGrange, IL	Eastern Michigan
Nick Mardner	WR	6' 6"	190	Senior	Mississauga, Canada	Hawaii
Dartanyan Tinsley	OL	6' 5"	315	Senior	Owensboro, KY	Kentucky Christian
Corey Kiner	RB	5' 10"	213	Sophomore	Cincinnati, OH	LSU
Noah Potter	DL	6' 5"	250	Sophomore	Mentor, OH	Ohio State

Recruiting

See also: American football positions, Glossary of American football and College recruiting.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Dodd Trophy[18]		HC
Biletnikoff Award[19]	Nick Mardner	WR	Sr.
John Mackey Award[20]		TE	Sr.
	Leonard Taylor	TE	Sr.
Butkus Award[21]	Deshawn Pace	LB	Jr.
		LB	Sr.
Outland Trophy[22]	Dylan O'Quinn	OL	Sr.
	Jake Renfro	OL	Jr.
Bronko Nagurski Trophy[23]	Deshawn Pace	LB	Jr.
	Ivan Pace Jr.	LB	Sr.
Lou Groza Award[24]	Ryan Coe	K	Sr.
Wuerffel Trophy[25]	Wilson Huber	LB	Sr.
Allstate AFCA Good Works Team[26]
Paul Hornung Award[27]	Ryan Montgomery	RB	Sr.
Chuck Bednarik Award[28] [29]	Deshawn Pace	LB	Jr.
	Ivan Pace Jr.	LB	Sr.
Lombardi Award[30]	Lorenz Metz	OL	Sr.

American Athletic Conference preseason media poll

The American Athletic Conference preseason media poll was released at AAC Media Day on July 28, 2022.^[31] Cincinnati, the defending champions, were narrowly pipped by Houston to be preseason favorites, while obtaining 3 more votes for No.1.

Media poll
1	Houston	243 (7)
2	Cincinnati	242 (10)
3	UCF	225 (7)
4	SMU	187
5	Memphis	162
6	East Carolina	157
7	Tulane	115
8	Tulsa	93
9	South Florida	71
10	Navy	61
11	Temple	28

Schedule

The Bearcats' 2022 schedule consists of six home games, five away games, and one neutral site game. Cincinnati will host two of its four non-conference games; against Kennesaw State (FCS) and Indiana. The Bearcats will travel to Arkansas to open the season in a one-game non-conference matchup, and also have play a neutral site matchup vs Miami (OH) at Paycor Stadium in the annual battle for the Victory Bell rivalry game.

^{[32] [33] [34]}

Game summaries

At No. 19 Arkansas

No. 18 (FCS) Kennesaw State

Vs. Miami (OH)

Indiana

At Tulsa

South Florida

At SMU

At UCF

Navy

East Carolina

At Temple

No. 19 Tulane

Vs. Louisville – Fenway Bowl

Personnel

Roster and staff

After the season

Awards and AAC honors

Weekly Awards

Player	Award	Date Awarded	Ref.
Mason Fletcher	Special Teams Player of the Week	September 19, 2022	[35]
Ivan Pace Jr.	Defensive Player of the Week	September 26, 2022	[36]
Tyler Scott	Offensive Player of the Week	September 26, 2022
Mason Fletcher (2)	Special Teams Player of the Week	October 24, 2022	[37]
Ryan Coe	Special Teams Player of the Week	November 21, 2022	[38]

American Athletic Conference Individual Awards

Player	Award	Ref.
Ivan Pace Jr.	AAC Defensive Player of the Year	[39]
Mason Fletcher	AAC Special Teams Player of the Year

All-AAC

Player	Position	Team
	DL	1
	DL	1
	P	1
	LB	1
	CB	1
	TE	1
	K	2
	S	2
	WR	2
	OT	2
	OT	data-sort-value="4"	Hon.
	OG	data-sort-value="4"	Hon.
Reference:[40] * Denotes Unanimous Selection

All-Americans

NCAA Recognized All-American Honors

Ivan Pace Jr.	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	Consensus
The NCAA recognizes a selection to all five of the AP, AFCA, FWAA, TSN and WCFF first teams for unanimous selections and three of five for consensus selections.

Other All-American Honors

Ivan Pace Jr.

1st

1st

1st

1st

1st

1st

1st

Notes and References

1. Web site: Big 12 Conference Adds Four New Members . Big12Sports.com . Big 12 Conference . September 10, 2021.
2. American Announces Agreements With UCF, Cincinnati and Houston on Departure . American Athletic Conference . June 10, 2022 . June 10, 2022.
3. Web site: Stipe . Zach . NFL Draft Roundup: Record Nine Bearcats Selected . GoBearcats.com . 2 May 2022.
4. Web site: Rittenberg . Adam . LSU football set to hire Cincinnati offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock in same role, sources say. ESPN . January 2022 . 1 January 2022.
5. Web site: Sampson . Pete . Williams . Justin . Notre Dame hiring Cincinnati's Brian Mason as special teams coordinator: Sources . TheAthletic.com . TheAthletic . 13 January 2022 . January 5, 2022.
6. Web site: Griffin . Storm . Cincinnati Cornerbacks coach Perry Eliano Has Reportedly Accepted A Position To Coach In The Ohio State Secondary . ElevenWarriors.com . Eleven Warriors LLC . 13 January 2022.
7. Web site: Williams . Justin . Cincinnati's Gino Guidugli to be promoted to OC, will hire familiar face as O-line coach: Sources . The Athletic . The Athletic . 17 January 2022 . January 17, 2022.
8. Web site: Stipe . Zach . Fickell Announces Promotions of Guidugli, Hitschler and Brown . gobearcats.com . University of Cincinnati Athletics . 3 February 2022 . January 20, 2022.
9. PeteThamel . Pete Thamel . 1483248666353848323 . Sources: Cincinnati is hiring Central Michigan offensive line coach Mike Cummings as the school's new line coach. Cummings is a former OC at UConn and Central Michigan. UC is figuring out a potential role within the program for current coach Ron Crook.. https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1483248666353848323.
10. Web site: Williams . Justin . Cincinnati hiring Kerry Coombs as cornerbacks coach, special teams coordinator: Sources . The Athletic . The Athletic . 18 January 2022.
11. Web site: Stipe . Zach . Bearcats Add Coombs to Coach Special Teams and Cornerbacks . gobearcats.com . University of Cincinnati Athletics . 3 February 2022 . February 1, 2022.
12. Web site: Stipe . Zach . Bearcats Add Assistants Cummings and Stewart . gobearcats.com . University of Cincinnati Athletics . 3 February 2022 . January 24, 2022.
13. Web site: Stipe . Zach . Cincinnati Football Announces Nate Letton as Tight ends coach . gobearcats.com . University of Cincinnati Athletics . 21 February 2022 . February 21, 2022.
14. PeteThamel . Pete Thamel . 1499144955742371842 . Sources: University of Cincinnati defensive line coach Greg Scruggs has accepted a job as an assistant defensive line coach with the New York Jets. He's a five-year NFL veteran who won two Super Bowls as a player.. https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1499144955742371842.
15. Web site: Stipe . Zach . Cincinnati Football Adds James Ross III to Coach Outside linebackers . gobearcats.com . University of Cincinnati Athletics . 10 April 2022 . 6 April 2022.
16. Cornerback Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner Enters NFL Draft. GoBearcats . 11 January 2022 . January 4, 2022.
17. Web site: Brugler . Dane . Williams . Justin . Cincinnati RB Jerome Ford declares for NFL Draft after record season with Bearcats . The Athletic . The Athletic . 11 January 2022 . January 3, 2022.
18. Web site: Stipe . Zach . Fickell Named to 2022 Dodd Trophy Preseason Watch List . GoBearcats.com . 22 July 2022.
19. Web site: Cohen . David . Mardner Named to Biletnikoff Award Watch List . GoBearcats.com . 22 July 2022.
20. Web site: Cohen . David . Taylor, Whyle Both Earn Spots on Mackey Award Watch List . GoBearcats.com . 22 July 2022.
21. Web site: Cohen . David . Pace Brothers Recognized on Butkus Award Watch List . GoBearcats.com . 25 July 2022.
22. Web site: Cohen . David . O'Quinn, Renfro Named to Outland Trophy Watch List . GoBearcats.com . 26 July 2022.
23. Web site: Cohen . David . Pace Duo Lands on Nagurski Trophy Watch List; Second of Preseason . GoBearcats.com . 2 August 2022.
24. Web site: Cohen . David . Coe Garners Spot on Lou Groza Award Watch List . GoBearcats.com . 27 July 2022.
25. Web site: Cohen . David . Huber Featured on Wuerffel Trophy Watch List . GoBearcats.com . 31 July 2022.
26. Web site: Cohen . David . Huber Named to Allstate's AFCA Good Works Preseason Team . GoBearcats.com . 2 August 2022.
27. Web site: Cohen . David . Montgomery Earns Hornung Award Watch List Nod . GoBearcats.com . 31 July 2022.
28. Web site: Cohen . David . Pace Lands on Bednarik Award Watch List; Third of Preseason . GoBearcats.com . 2 August 2022.
29. Web site: Stipe . Zach . Ivan Pace Jr. Added to Bednarik Award Watch List . GoBearcats.com . University of Cincinnati . 13 October 2022.
30. Web site: Cohen . David . Metz Named to Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List . GoBearcats.com . 2 August 2022.
31. Web site: Houston Edges Cincinnati as Favorite in 2022 Preseason Media Poll. theAmerican.org . 28 July 2022.
32. Web site: 2022 Cincinnati Football Schedule . FBSchedules.com.
33. Web site: 2022 Cincinnati Football Schedule . GoBearcats.com.
34. Web site: 'SEC Nation' Kicking Off Season With UC/Arkansas Matchup . Sports Illustrated.
35. Web site: UCF's Plumlee, Tulane's Anderson, Cincinnati's Fletcher Take Weekly Football Honors. September 19, 2022. September 19, 2022. theamerican.org. American Athletic Conference.
36. Web site: Cincinnati's Scott, Pace Join Navy's Davies as Weekly Football Honorees. theAmerican.org. 26 September 2022.
37. Web site: Houston's Tune, ECU's Wilson, Cincinnati's Fletcher Named Football Players of the Week. October 24, 2022. October 24, 2022. theamerican.org. American Athletic Conference.
38. Web site: Tulane's Pratt, Navy's Marshall, Cincinnati's Coe Named Players of the Week. November 21, 2022. November 21, 2022. theamerican.org. American Athletic Conference.
39. Web site: 2022 Postseason Football Honors . theAmerican.org . theamerican.org . 30 November 2022.
40. Web site: American Announces 2021 Football Postseason Honors . TheAmerican.org . American Athletic Conference . 1 December 2021 . December 1, 2021.