UC's Gunner Kiel, Mike Tyson to play in all-star games
Tom Groeschen , tgroeschen@enquirer.com 3:17 p.m. ET Jan. 20, 2017


Two former University of Cincinnati football players will be participating in postseason All-Star games on Saturday.

Quarterback Gunner Kiel will play in the East-West Shrine Game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida (3 p.m., NFL Network). Kiel will be on the West team.

Defensive back Mike Tyson will play in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl at StubHub Center on the campus of California State University Dominguez Hills (4:15 p.m., FS1). Tyson will play for the American team, in a National-American pairing.

Kiel (Columbus, Indiana) was the UC starting quarterback for most of his sophomore and junior years. In his senior year in 2016, Kiel lost his job to start the season. Kiel finished 2016 with three starts and six appearances, throwing for 804 yards with six TDs and two interceptions.

Kiel threw for 6,835 career yards and 56 touchdowns, both totals ranking No. 2 in UC history behind Gino Guidugli (11,453 yards and 78 TD passes from 2001-04). With 56 TD passes and 26 career interceptions, Kiel's plus-30 margin tied Guidugli (78-48) for No. 1 in UC history.

Tyson (Norfolk, Va.) led UC with five interceptions as a senior in 2016. For his career, Tyson had seven interceptions and 137 tackles.


Tyson is no relation to former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. Tyson once told The Enquirer that the name has passed down through his family.

"It was my dad's name and his dad's name," Tyson said. "We all have different middle names, so we're not juniors or the second or the third."

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/c.../96839808/

Heads up that it's gametime for the Shrine Game. It's on NFL network.

BTW, here's a nice piece on Gunner. Still has a great attitude it appears:

Cincinnati QB Gunner Kiel learns from time at the top, then the bottom

Gunner hasn't done much in a couple series but did complete two passes to Ken Griffey's son Trey.

4/7 for 57 yards.

(01-21-2017 08:36 PM)BearcatnKY Wrote:  4/7 for 57 yards.

Doesn't sound like he exactly lit it up. Hopefully he showed the scouts and coaches something during the week of practice.

(01-21-2017 09:17 PM)JackieTreehorn Wrote:  

(01-21-2017 08:36 PM)BearcatnKY Wrote:  4/7 for 57 yards.

Doesn't sound like he exactly lit it up. Hopefully he showed the scouts and coaches something during the week of practice.

The West won 10-3 so no one really dazzled. I think 6 QB's saw action.

I thought Lunt looked better. I am afraid that Gunner is not comfortable under center. In addition, he locked onto Griffey and did not hit some wide open receivers.

gunner seems to have a long way to go hope he can get on a practice squad so he can get the coaching he needs

What he did in the game has little to do with NFL aspirations. Its what he did with the coaches evaluating him all week long in the meeting rooms and on drills. Here's hoping he impressed a few. Football all star games are a painful mess to watch.

As has been said a million times, "you only have to impress one".

Hope I'm wrong but aside from the first month of his sophomore year he never struck me as a future pro. He's had turnover issues, injury issues, a rumored off field issue as a junior, and when he played as a senior was just unproductive.

He's always had a good attitude though especially through this season's soap opera so I'll be pulling for him to potentially make a living in football.

Was driving through Ontario earlier today listening to Toronto sports talk radio.

The were analyzing the NFL draft and said they didn't like any quarterbacks other than the ones from North Carolina and Clemson.

However, their "expert" said the other quarterback he is watching is Gunner Kiel. Said he talked to a UC assistant coach and found out he was not benched for performance issues but for "other stuff" (and that the coach used a few choice words he could not repeat when asked what he thought of that decision).

Expert said he is watching how Gunner does in the interview process to see if his head is on straight. If so, is interested to see how high Kiel rises in the draft.