AAC Media Day 2022: Luke Fickell, Cincinnati Bearcats eye third straight conference crown
UC picked to finish 2nd in AAC in preseason media poll
As Luke Fickell and members of the University of Cincinnati football team sat down for their portion of Thursday's virtual American Athletic Conference Media Day, the Bearcats exuded the same confidence that propelled them to winning the conference's last two championships.
But the conference's media members weren't buying it.
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Though Cincinnati received the most first-place votes (10) of the 11 AAC programs, the Bearcats were picked to finish second behind their fellow soon-to-be Big 12 Conference member Houston in the preseason AAC media poll released Thursday morning.
Houston is projected to be the 2022 AAC champion even though the Bearcats defeated the Cougars in last season's conference title game en route to earning a spot in the College Football Playoff.
"Of course it's fuel to the fire," Cincinnati graduate defensive tackle Jabari Taylor said. "I mean, we don't really pay attention to stuff like that. But any fuel we can get, we're going to take."
Fickell, the three-time AAC Coach of the Year (2018, '20 and '21), said he was informed of the poll just before he sat down for his team's media day session. Fickell said he would've picked Houston (12-2, 8-0 AAC last season) to finish first too. But he also said he doesn't put a lot of stock in preseason polls.
"We have one goal and a bunch of objectives every year. They're not going to change based on what the polls come out to be," said Fickell, who is entering his sixth season at the helm of the UC program. "But we'll use it. We kind of like to play from that position a little bit more. But I don't think it's something that we're going to talk about, disrespect or anything like that. It's just the reality.
"I think our guys are far enough along, and we've got enough of the leaders and the older guys that understand the realities behind whatever those things mean. It obviously can be motivating, and for me, for sure."
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Fickell and the Bearcats begin fall camp Wednesday needing to replace more than 30 seniors from last year's 13-1 (8-0 AAC) team and a program-record nine players who were selected in the 2022 NFL Draft. One of those players is four-year starting quarterback Desmond Ridder, the 2020 and 2021 AAC Offensive Player of the Year.
"Whatever you want to say about Desmond Ridder, he's obviously a phenomenal quarterback and was phenomenal for us," Fickell said of Ridder, who was a third-round pick of the Atlanta Falcons in April. "I think the beautiful thing is he's going to become an even better NFL quarterback, and it's not just because of the game he played or how many games he played, it's because he's a constant competitor. He's always striving to get better. And I think that his future is really bright. He's in a great position right now, and when a guy's put in a position where he can compete, I think it just makes him that much better."
Sophomore quarterback Evan Prater and senior quarterback Ben Bryant are expected to battle through fall camp for the opportunity to replace Ridder as the Bearcats' starter when they open the season Sept. 3 at Arkansas (3:30 p.m. on ESPN).
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Fickell said he will do everything he can over the next five weeks to put both Prater and Bryant in the best position to succeed.
"It will be as much of a battle as it can possibly be," Fickell said. "You can't go live. You can't put quarterbacks live. It's just not something you do now. But knowing we've got five returning starters up front on the offensive line and a defensive line that's going to be the anchors to what it is that we do, we'll have an opportunity to really challenge the rest. Challenge the quarterbacks, challenge the back end of our defense, because there's a lot of new guys. It's not that it's going to be different, but I think we can try to script it and put those guys in some positions where hopefully we can do a better job of truly evaluating them and what they can do for the entire team."
Senior wide receiver Tre Tucker, Cincinnati's leading returning pass-catcher from last season (34 catches, 426 yards and two touchdowns), said it doesn't matter to him or the team who wins the starting job.
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"Evan Prater and Ben Bryant are both great people, both have tremendous, great leadership," he said. "So, whoever will be the starter, we'll be in good hands. I'm a receiver, so the best thing for us is whoever's out there, we make them look good."