Early Cincinnati Bearcats 2015 Fall Depth Chart
By Chris Bains
When I visited UC for their first two practices my plan was to get a sense of the Bearcats’ depth chart at this very early stage of the 2015 football season. You know, who would be back filling Jeff Luc and Nick Temple at linebacker as well as Eric Lefeld and Kevin Schloemer along the offensive line.
I was equally curious as to what unit Mike Boone would be playing in after his remarkable 2014 campaign. Would he run with the twos like last year or would Eddie Gran promote him to the ones? And who among the new players would see significant reps with the first and second teams?
Those questions and more I hoped to answer by spending a little time at Cincinnati’s first two practices of the Fall. By doing so, I think I put together a decent guestimate of where UC’s depth chart stands right now.
Starters are listed first with backups italicized. All of this is of course subject to change over the next few weeks.
Offense
- Quarterback: Gunner Kiel, Hayden Moore, Luke Wright
- Running Back: Mike Boone -or- Hosey Williams, Tion Green
- X-Wide Receiver: Chris Moore, Johnny Holton
- Y-Wide Receiver: Shaq Washington, Nate Cole
- Z-Wide Receiver: Mekale McKay, Alex Chisum
- Fourth Wide Receiver: Max Morrison, Tshumbi Johnson
- Tight End: DJ Dowdy, Tyler Cogswell*
- Left Tackle: Parker Ehinger, Korey Cunningham
- Left Guard: Ryan Leahy, Idarius Ray
- Center: Deyshawn Bond, David Niehaus
- Right Guard: Delonte Murray, Will Steur
- Right Tackle: Justin Murray, Chad West
Defense
- Strongside Defensive End: Silverberry Mouhon, Mason Antoun
- Defensive Tackle: Cortez Broughton, Hakeem Allonce
- Defensive Tackle: Chris Burton, Sione Tongamoa
- Weakside Defensive End: Mike Wilson, Kimoni Fitz
- Middle Linebacker: Clemente Casseus, Jaylyin Minor*
- Weakside Linebacker: Eric Wilson, Kevin Hyland*
- Cornerback: Adrian Witty, Alex Thomas/Linden Stephens*
- Strong Safety: Carter Jacobs, Tyrell Gilbert*
- Free Safety: Zach Edwards, Andre Jones
- Cornerback: Grant Coleman, Jarred Evans
- Nickelback: Leviticus Payne, Davon Witherspoon
Special Teams
- Place Kicker: Andrew Gantz
- Punter: Sam Geraci
- Long Snapper: Kirk Willis
- Place Holder: Sam Geraci*
- Kickoff Returner: Max Morrison*, Frank Labady*
- Punt Returner: Shaq Washington, Max Morrison, Frank Labady, Brayden Beard
*Denotes player who I’m fairly confident but am not 100% certain is playing that role.
Let’s start, naturally, with the offense. There’s not much to say about the quarterback position or wide receiver corps. Gunner Kiel is your starting signal caller with Hayden Moore his backup and since UC returns every major pass catcher from last season, there aren’t a lot of changes to speak of.
After his impressive freshman performance, Mike Boone earned reps with the first team offense in practices last week. But senior Hosey Williams also got reps there. So you can basically tab them as co-starters at this point, if that makes sense, with Tion Green their backup.
There’s been quite a bit of moving and shaking along the offensive line. Captain Parker Ehinger is now protecting Kiel’s blindside with Ryan Leahy to his immediate right. No change at center with Deyshawn Bond anchoring that position and David Neihaus his new backup. Interestingly the coaches are giving JUCO transfer Delonte Murray starting reps at right guard and Idarius Ray is backing up Leahy at left guard. Converted defensive ends Korey Cunningham and Chad West are the backup tackles.
Defensively there’s been quite a bit of changes along the defensive line, which lost quite a bit to graduation after last season. Mark Wilson has replaced Terrell Hartsfield at the defensive end position opposite Silverberry Mouhon. The defensive tackle rotation is Cortez Broughton and Chris Burton, who got their feet wet in 2014, in addition to transfers Sione Tongamoa and Hakeem Allonce.
At linebacker Northwestern transfer Eric Wilson and Clemente Casseus are your replacements for Jeff Luc and Nick Temple. I’m pretty sure JUCO Jaylyin Minor and Kevin Hyland are their backups but, as mentioned above, I’m not 100% sure.
The secondary is fairly unchanged from last season. The most notable change is the addition of Jarred Evans as the second team cornerback behind Grant Coleman on the depth chart. I believe Alex Thomas was backing up Adrian Witty at the opposite cornerback spot but it could very well have been Linden Stephens. I probably should have been paying better attention.
Zach Edwards and one of Tommy Tuberville’s favorite freshman Carter Jacobs are you starting safeties right now. Andre Jones is backing up Edwards at free safety and Princeton product Tyrell Gilbert is at strong safety. Interestingly, redshirt freshman Davon Witherspoon got a ton of reps at nickelback in practices and it looks to be a strong contender for that role this Fall. Although he’ll have to jump senior Leviticus Payne to earn the starting job.
There appears to be returner-by-committee occurring with Shaq Washington, Max Morrison, Frank Labady, and Brayden Beard all getting reps in both roles. Sam Geraci and Andrew Gantz are again Cincinnati’s punter and kicker.