You have gotten your ****** kicked by UC the last 3 years by an average of 19 points (42-26, 40-3, and, I believe, 24-19 was the score of the last game with UC taking a knee on ECU's 2 yard line) and you're talking about domination? We've beaten you twice on your home field including wrapping up a conference title on it and taking a knee on your 2 yard line this year to stop from running up the score and you're talking about dominating? You're looking at the series, I'm looking at what is important, the last 3 years. The Cincinnati program is on the upswing, and ECU is what? But, to make you feel better, a little recruiting news for the ECU fans who are still convinced that ECU is a national "power" and "own" Cincinnati. And, keep this in mind, Coach Dantonio, who has a national championship and recruiting ties in the Big East, Big Ten, Pac-10 and Big 12 recruiting areas is just getting started. In his first year he is 7-5 with a bowl win and a road win against a Top 25 program. Oh, but ECU beat Cincinnati 4 years ago. Ok. LOL! Read the article like a good little ECU fan and move on! :D



A happy end to the recruiting trail
UC coach Dantonio has hauled in talented class with Ohio flavor

By Bill Koch
Enquirer staff writer

With a week to go before the national signing date, University of Cincinnati football coach Mark Dantonio and his staff have virtually wrapped up recruiting for this year's class.

And indications are that the Bearcats' move to the Big East next season is already paying dividends.

Coming off a 7-5 season and a victory in the Fort Worth Bowl in Dantonio's first season, the Bearcats have landed a class that's heavy on Ohio talent and features 12 players who are either defensive linemen or linebackers.

There are also three quarterbacks, including one from junior college, who will compete to succeed career passing leader Gino Guidugli.

UC also picked up four local players, including Colerain defensive lineman Terrill Byrd, the Enquirer's Player of the Year, and quarterback Dominick Goodman and linebacker Andre Revels, his teammates on the Division I state champions.

The other local player is Elder quarterback Craig Carey.

"I think it's a pretty good class," said Max Emfinger of the National Blue Chips Recruiting Service. "I'd probably rate it somewhere in the top 50. I think it's a big step in the right direction for them."

"This is a very competitive class," said Tom Lemming of ESPN.com, "the first one they've had for a while. It's a very good group.

"The old staff wasn't a great recruiting staff. This one might be."

Dantonio, prohibited by NCAA rules from talking about players until they sign letters of intent, did talk about his approach to recruiting and what he was looking for as he attempts to bolster a roster that loses 25 seniors from last season.

He said he expects to sign 25 or 26 players, beginning next Wednesday, which is national letter-of-intent day. Fourteen of those players are from Ohio.

"We will always start with the Cincinnati area," Dantonio said, "and then move outside of that to the Ohio area and then outside the state. We want to do the very best we can in this area. The high school football is good and very well supported. If we can be successful with those people, we'll have a very good football team."

Recruiting classes don't prove their mettle until they show what they can do on the field, so it's premature to place too much stock in what the analysts say.

But the Bearcats appear to be competing more successfully with schools from other Bowl Championship Series conferences.

Among the top players are:

• Kazeem Alli, a 6-4, 225-pound tight end from the St. Louis area who chose UC over Illinois, Missouri, Michigan State and Georgia Tech. "He's an outstanding tight end," Lemming said, "a great catch for them. I really like him a lot."

• Carey, the Elder quarterback who chose UC over Pitt. "He's got a very strong arm and played for a really good program," Emfinger said.

• Leighton Morgan, a junior-college linebacker who runs a 4.6 40.

• Cedric Tober, a running back from Xenia who runs a 4.4 40.

• Patrick Mimms, a 6-2, 260-pound defensive end from Maryland. "He's a steal," Emfinger said.

• Brad Jones, a cornerback from Canton with 4.4 speed. "He's an outstanding catch," Lemming said.

• Curtis Smith, a 6-2, 241-pound defensive end from Cleveland who had an offer from Michigan State.

"I think there's a big awareness that we're in the Big East," Dantonio said. "We've become a BCS school. That puts us at another level. Then they've come down and seen the facilities that are being built."

For the first time in years, UC has kept its entire coaching staff intact, a major accomplishment for a program that went through 55 assistants in 10 years under Rick Minter, the previous head coach.

And unlike last year, when Dantonio and his staff had only a few weeks to recruit after getting the UC job Dec. 23, this class reflects the labor of a year of recruiting.


I know exactly how ECU fans felt after reading that article!