Jones eyes first season at UC

The 2010-11 season will have a different look for the University of Cincinnati football team, but that isn’t going to stop first-year head coach Butch Jones from trying to capture the team’s third-straight Big East championship.

“It’s hard to replace the production,” Jones said. “I’m excited we have individuals capable of stepping up. We have to play to the strengths of our personel and we have viable candidates to step up.”

Starting quarterback, Zach Collaros, is coming off a season where he completed 75 percent of his passes for 1,434 yards and 10 touchdowns.

“Zach’s game has started to show and he is making great decisions,” Jones said. “He has started to apply the classroom to the field. He is as competitive as I’ve seen and his production as a starter speaks for itself.”

Junior Isaiah Pead will start the season at running back, but both senior veteran John Goebel and redshirt sophomore Darrin Williams should see their fair share
of carries.

Without Mardy Gilyard, juniors Armon Binns and D.J. Woods, along with University of Southern California transfer senior Vidal Hazelton, will anchor the Bearcats’ deep receiving core.

“We are very talented at wide receiver,” Jones said. “We need to have individuals step up and to develop a second unit.”

With what could be the strongest Big East in years, the Cats’ toughest challenge could be on the defensive side of the ball after the departure of five former starters. With a shift back to a 4-3 defense, the Bearcats must find depth at defensive line.

“That is our biggest thing, developing depth,” Jones said. We need individuals to step in that haven’t done so before.”

The Bearcats kick off the 2010-11 season Saturday, Sept. 4, at Fresno State University.

The schedule includes seven home games, including a much-anticipated rematch with Oklahoma University at Paul Brown Stadium.
 

Other home games include Miami (OH), the University of South Florida, Pittsburgh
and Rutgers.

Two of Cincinnati’s toughest games will be on the road at the University of Connecticut — who returns 18 starters — and the always-tough West Virginia University.

With the Cats looking to secure the Big East’s first threepeat since the Miami Hurricanes won four straight from 2000 to 2003, Jones likes what he has seen so far from
his team.

“Our players know [how to win] and expect to win. I love their mentality,” Jones said. “We are working to be a top-five or top-10 football team year in and year out and that means you have to do things differently. Our team has a little big of swagger to them and I like that in them.”