UC not concerned with American preseason poll
Tuberville: "I would think we'd be up there but I don't know"
Jul. 29, 2013
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Tuberville golfs at Newport National: UC football coach hits the links during American Athletic Conference media days
Written by
Tom Groeschen
NEWPORT, R.I. – Tommy Tuberville has been through a few Media Days in 17 previous years as a head football coach, but the new University of Cincinnati boss is not quite sure what to expect at Tuesday's inaugural American Athletic Conference event here.
The preseason league poll will be announced and UC is expected to be ranked second or third, based on various magazine projections. Louisville, led by standout quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, generally is seen as the favorite.
“People will ask what I think about the league, and the obvious answer is I don’t know because I haven’t played them,” Tuberville said.
League members are UC, Central Florida, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, SMU, South Florida and Temple.
Festivities began today with a golf outing and clambake near the beach in Newport, site of the former Big East office. For now, that is where things stay as the new league – including several former Big East members such as UC -- enters its first season.
Along with Tuberville, UC players attending Media Day will be OG Austen Bujnoch, QB Brendon Kay, LB Greg Blair and NT Jordan Stepp.
Kay is expected to start at quarterback when the season opens against Purdue at Nippert Stadium on Aug. 31 (noon). Last season, former starter Munchie Legaux was 6-2 as starter and Kay went 4-1 after taking over.
Kay generally outplayed Legaux in spring ball. While Tuberville is not yet ready to announce who starts, he said after spring drills that Kay was “a step ahead of everybody else.”
Wherever UC lands in The American preseason poll, Tuberville and most coaches tend to ignore such forecasts.
“I would think we’d be up there but I don’t know,” Tuberville said. “The year at Auburn that we were undefeated (2004), we were ranked like 18th or 19th to start the year and we ran the table. It’s all about good leadership, and that usually comes from your seniors.”
ALMOST HERE: UC players report for preseason drills Sunday (Aug. 4) and begin practice Monday (Aug. 5).
SON TRANSFERS: Tuberville’s son Tucker, a redshirt freshman quarterback who transferred from Texas Tech to UC with his father last December, has transferred again to Auburn.
“It wasn’t football related at all,” Tommy Tuberville said. “It all goes back to him wanting to be with his friends. That’s fine with me.”
Tucker attended school in Auburn (Ala.) while his father was head coach there from 1999-2008.
TRIAL UPDATE: Tommy Tuberville is involved in a civil lawsuit in Alabama, concerning investors seeking to recover money lost in business deals. The trial was to start next Monday (Aug. 5) but has been postponed to an undetermined date -- probably after the 2013 football season ends, Tuberville said.
The lawsuit alleges that a hedge fund Tuberville helped manage defrauded clients of more than $1.7 million. Attorneys for Tuberville and his former business partner, John David Stroud, have denied the allegations.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130...eason-poll
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UC not concerned with American preseason poll
