Cincinnati Bearcats Release Official Depth Chart For 2015 Season

After a month of me essentially guestimating UC’s depth chart for the 2015 football season based on observations from Fall camp, the Cincinnati Bearcats have released their official two deep.

Starters are listed first, backups are italicized. Take it all in!

Offense

• Quarterback: Gunner Kiel, Hayden Moore
• Running Back: Hosey Williams, Mike Boone -or- 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: Idarius Ray, Garrett Campbell
• Center: Deyshawn Bond, David Niehaus
• Right Guard: Ryan Leahy, Delonte Murray
• Right Tackle: Justin Murray, Chad West

Defense

• Strongside Defensive End: Silverberry Mouhon, Marquise Copeland,  Landon Brazile
• Defensive Tackle: Cortez Broughton, Lyndon Johnson
• Defensive Tackle: Alex Pace, Sione Tongamoa
• Weakside Defensive End: Kimoni Fitz, Mark Wilson, Kevin Mouhon
• Middle Linebacker: Clemente Casseus, Antonio Kinard
• Outside Linebacker: Eric Wilson, Kevin Brown
• Cornerback: Adrian Witty, Alex Thomas
  
• Strong Safety: Andre Jones, Carter Jacobs, Malik Clements
• Free Safety: Zach Edwards, Tyrell Gilbert
  
• Cornerback: Grant Coleman, Linden Stephens
• Nickelback: Leviticus Payne, Chris Murphy

Special Teams

• Place Kicker: Andrew Gantz, Ryan Jones
• Punter: Sam Geraci, Josh Pasley
• Long Snapper: Kirk Willis, Jon Vincent
• Place Holder: Sam Geraci, Hayden Moore
• Kickoff Returner: Shaq Washington, Chris Moore, Johnny Holton, Max Morrison
• Punt Returner: Shaq Washington, Max Morrison

Overall, not a lot has changed from my feeble attempts at putting this together.

On offense, the most notable change is running back Hosey Williams officially earning the starting job over Mike Boone and Tion Green. Boone and Williams were neck and neck in camp but the coaches are apparently going with the veteran. However Boone should get his fair share of reps this season.

The line has also experienced the sizable shifts, literally. Ryan Leahy has moved from left guard to right guard, opening the door for hulking, 6’6″, 312 lbs Idarius Ray to line up to the left of Deyshawn Bond. Garrett Campbell is now his backup with Delonte Murray moving to a backup role behind Leahy.

Defensively, Silverberry Mouhon, to no one’s surprise, is starting at defensive end but his opposite and the second stringers were a mystery. 6’3″, 243 lbs Kimoni Fitz has apparently won the lone starting role and even though true freshman Marquise Copeland got some run with the first team in practice, the coaches thought it best to have him learn behind Mouhon during his first year at UC.

The defensive tackle position continues to remain a rotation of Alex Pace, Cortez Broughton, Lyndon Johnson, and Sione Tongamoa. No change either at linebacker, with Clemente Casseus and Eric Wilson starting and Antonio Kinard and Kevin Brown their backups. Pretty much the same goes with the secondary, although with Leviticus Payne healthy again, he’s assumed his starting role at nickelback with Arkansas transfer Chris Murphy his backup. That role was Mike Tyson’s during camp.

The special teams unit is what we expected; Andrew Gantz kicking, Sam Geraci punting, and Kirk Willis long snapping. It appears Shaq Washington will get some run as a returner, with Chris Moore joining him on kickoffs. But their jobs aren’t as safe as the rest of the special teamers if they don’t improve their production in 2015.