Cincinnati Bearcats College Football Pregame Quote, 12/28/2021

Please provide us with an opening statement about the excitement of playing in the College Football Playoff.

I’ll say this is a dream come true for me, for this program, and for the city of Cincinnati.

Just take us through this journey of coming in as a transfer, trying to find your way in this program, trying to find what position best fit you, where you fit in this defense, to now be one of the leaders of a team that’s playing for a championship.

It’s a crazy journey. I feel like I’ve been through a lot. Obviously, coming out of high school wasn’t highly recruited. Went to UConn, trying to find a role there. Obviously, that team was going through some things and decided to transfer for multiple reasons that really truly blessed me in the end. I feel like ever since I’ve been here, all the things I’ve gone through, has helped me become the player I became today. So the crazy journey worked out in the end.

You almost sat out last year. How close did you come to sitting out? And take me through that decision to go ahead and play last year and take the COVID year this year.

Yeah, I feel like it was more about I knew that I needed another year to become the best I can be in my college career. So I wanted to maybe play my four years – play my four games and redshirt. I knew I had a redshirt year still since I played as a true freshman at UConn. So I wanted to maybe play four games, four important games or something like that, and try to redshirt and just work on my body.

I knew the potential that I had and the visions that Coach Brady [Collins] saw in me in the weight room. And I knew I could become a better player on the field. So I just wanted to take an opportunity to, just like I said, sit out a year, just focus on my body, and try to become the best player I can.

I feel like COVID ‚Äì having a COVID year kind of just fit in perfectly with what I wanted. And I had the chance to play the whole season and come back another year like I wanted to. And I feel like, just as I said, it’s been a blessing.

You guys all year have been in kind of ‘prove it’ mode. You’ve been asked to win and when you win it’s got to be by a lot. And then now you’re asked to kind of fly the flag for the whole Group of Five. I guess my question is: Have you allowed yourself at all to live in the moment and kind of savor what you’ve done so far? And if so, when was that and how?

I think it’s ‚Äì I think it’s both. I feel like you have to look and see what you’ve done and see what you accomplished but also try to stay focused on the next game and your next opponent. So I think it’s a little bit of both. So I know since I’ve been down here in Dallas, it’s more about just focusing on the next opponent, the next game. There’s not really much to see what we’ve done for the Group of Five teams, but it’s more just focusing on Alabama.

You’re obviously a local kid and a lot has been made about the Cincinnati players or Ohio players on this roster. From kind of a personal standpoint, whether with you or maybe family, back in Cincinnati, what has this journey really the past couple of years meant from that perspective being someone from Cincinnati and seeing the program rise to this level?

It’s been a blessing. Like I said, I grew up here. I have ‘Cincinnati’ tattooed right here on my arm. So Cincinnati is in my blood. And I feel like the recognition that this city has gotten from this football team has been extraordinary. And I feel like it’s put the program on the map. It’s put the players on the map. We deserve our recognition, too.

And I feel like, like I had said, put the whole city on the map, that everyone is starting to turn to Cincinnati. And it’s just been a blessing.

There are a lot of people outside this program who would probably say Cincinnati doesn’t have a shot in this game. What is your response the people who don’t believe in Cincinnati?

I don’t really get into that. It’s more, like I said, we just focus on Alabama. We’re going to give it our best shot.

And the best team ‚Äì the team that wins is the best team that plays. And we feel like we have a good shot obviously because we’re preparing to play the best. So they’re the champs, and we give all the recognition to them and stuff like that.

So we’ve got to come into the game hungry and stay humble, also, and like I said, just prepare the best we can. And hopefully the outcome comes in our favor.

How do you feel you guys match up with Alabama’s offense?

Like I said, I feel like we’re good. We’re all confident in every level of this defense. And like I said, we just have to prepare like this is Alabama.

I mean, we’ve got to prepare like it’s our last game or we’re playing for a national championship. That’s the hunger we need to have during this game. And I feel like the last couple of practices we’ve shown that. And I feel like if we keep preparing physically and mentally, we’ll be good for the game.

Talking about having local guys on this team, you come from the unique experience of being on a defense that has three players from the same high school. What is it about Colerain and what you guys learned there that translates to playing together on this level and having this kind of success at the College Football Playoff?

Yeah, I give a lot of credit to Colerain. I feel like they prepare their players well for the next level. The workouts, the intensity in practice, the competition we play in Cincinnati, I feel like all those factors factor in to how we perform at the next level in college.

And I love playing with people that I’ve played with before. Makes you very comfortable. You know how to talk to them. You know their personalities and stuff like. So I feel like playing with people you’ve played with before really helps out.

To follow up, is there a toughness level that comes with being a Colerain football player that translates?

Yeah, like I said, our workouts, they’re really intense, they’re really tough, our practices. Like I said, the competition that we play, all that’s all pretty high level and high tier.

So I feel like we play good competition, which helps us perform better. We practice against each other. We play with high intensity. I mean, all the factors that Colerain has really helps the players perform good at the next level.

You talk about the next level from high school to college. Next level from college is the pros. And obviously there’s a lot of next-level guys on the Cincinnati team. What do you think the success of this program this year and last has done for the NFL draft prospects of guys like yourself and others?

This is why – this is one of the major reasons we came back. We saw the vision that this team had. We had a bad taste in our mouth about the last game. We just had a vision that this team could do better than last year.

And obviously team success brings individual success. So we knew that we would get a better opportunity for the players, too, all the people that came back. And I feel like it’s been a blessing, all the recognition that I’ve got, and all the other players got, all the rewards that are given out and stuff like that, it’s just been a blessing that we all decided to come back. And it’s been crazy.

You guys have gained a lot of attention obviously as a team. Do you think, though, that people that have not really paid attention are going to be very surprised on NFL draft day on how many Bearcats get called out?

Yeah, I feel like it’s going to surprise a lot of people. I mean, we have really, really good players here. And I feel that will be showcased during the game and then showcased, like I said, on NFL draft or any senior bowls that people go to or the Combine and stuff like that, that people are going to start recognizing the Cincinnati Bearcats have really good NFL talent here.

You talked earlier about your journey to get here. I know Ahmad ‘Sauce’ Gardner was a 150-pound wide receiver in high school. I guess on that note, how important is development at the college level? And do you think maybe with this team that maybe it’s a testament to what development can do against a blue chip program kind of like Alabama?

Yeah, I think development is one of the major keys in any program success. When I came out of high school, I was like 190. I played safety. And then I went to UConn and I kind of ‚Äì the weight room wasn’t the weight room like it was here. I gained maybe 20 pounds or something just from eating a lot and stuff like that.

When I got here, that’s when I saw my body really transform. So I gave all my development to Brady Collins. You can see all the stories, like you said, Ahmad, and then, all the guys that come here that might be undersized, they blossom up and become really good football players. So I feel like development here at Cincinnati makes it ‚Äì makes this program the way it is.

Do you think maybe also time is kind of important with that? Like, it takes time for players to develop a little bit?

Yeah, it definitely takes time. It’s not going to happen overnight. But I feel like certain places take longer than others. I feel like here it’s shorter. I feel like the way that we work out, the way that we attack in the weight room, on the practice field, and in the study rooms, I feel like it’s all, I mean, just so well done here. It’s really improved my game and everyone’s game here.

Obviously, the transfer portal has been a big discussion across college sports just these past few years. And with you and just looking at Jerome Ford, you guys have made the most of it. And for people who are skeptical of that portal, why does it work and why do you think especially you two have had success? And look where you are playing in the Semifinal here.

Yeah, I don’t know if I would be here right now if it wasn’t for the transfer portal. So I feel like it’s been a blessing for me.

I just needed a new opportunity. I feel like the program where I was at, just the players there weren’t bought in. And it kind of drove me crazy that we try to figure out ways to win and just people weren’t buying in. So I needed a new opportunity to just, I guess, grow and play football, play real football.

And the opportunity to go to Cincinnati came up. And obviously that’s my hometown and a lot of other factors factored into that. And I feel like the transfer portal saved my football career.

I had an opportunity to go in the transfer portal and go to Cincinnati, and look where I’m at now. It’s just been crazy.