Bye Bye Bearcats Seniors: #95 Terrell Hartsfield
By Chris Bains
The second to last senior we’re saying goodbye to on our farewell tour is a senior who seemed to come out of nowhere to make a huge impact in his final season in red and black.
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Terrell Hartsfield came to Cincinnati from Copiah-Lincoln Community College. Coming out of high school, he actually committed to Tommy Tuberville when he was the big man at Texas Tech. But he was forced to go the JUCO route for a couple of years. By the time Tuberville took over at UC, Hartsfield was looking for a new home and he found one with his new/old head coach at Cincinnati.
Hartsfield split time with Brad Harrah at defensive end opposite Silverberry Mouhon his first year at UC. He had a solid first season with the Bearcats, totaling 23 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks as a junior. But no one could have expected the kind of senior season was awaiting Hartsfield in 2014.
Coming into last season, most anticipated it would be Silverberry Mouhon who would be Cincinnati’s menace to opposing quarterbacks. After all, he was coming off a sophomore campaign in which he piled up 9.5 sacks, the most from a UC edge rusher since Connor Barwin in 2008. But it was Hartsfield who terrorized the backfield for UC’s defense.
His 12 tackles for loss and 9 sacks led all Bearcats in 2014, more than double the next defensive lineman. Hartsfield’s performance was so impressive that NFL teams were taking a hard look at him come March and April. The Indianapolis Colts wound up signing him as an undrafted free agent and given his ability to surprise us last season, I wouldn’t put it past him to have a long professional career.