Once again former Bearcat tackling machine DeJuan Gossett sat down with me and took some of my questions. He didn’t sit down with me in the same room, I emailed him the questions, but that’s neither here nor there. Things we covered this week were, what should UC fans be worried about, looking back on the UC upset of Wisconsin, what’s up with the secondary, and a little pep talk. Let’s turn it over to DeJuan. My questions are in bold.
Again, UC had quite a few breakdowns in the secondary. This is a two parter, was there anything major you noticed on the scores? And is it scheme or players getting lost?
The one thing that I noticed was that there are not many play makers in the secondary right now. They have a potential sparkplug in #5 (Reuben Johnson), but they need someone that is either going to be a threat to intercept some balls or someone that will knock your block off. Watching the game I just see guys out there and when you dont have a advantage in the talent department then you better be 100% sound in technique, reads, and tackling.
I honestly dont think its the scheme as much as it is lack of pass rush and the guys out there need to make plays when the opportunity presents itself. They need swagger in the secondary but if you arent confident in yourself or what you are doing its tough. They need to get on a run with making plays and getting the confidence up as a group and build from that.
What should Bearcat fans be more concerned with right now, the offense or the defense?
If I were a Bearcat fan I would be more concerned with the offense. This team is built to bend but dont break on defense and the offense is built to score. If you arent going to score points then you need to build yourself a top ten defense through coaching and recruiting. They dont have those players right now. All your stars are on offense and right now they arent holding their end of the bargain. Too many three and outs for the offense that they have and no toughness in the trenches. Too many negative plays and no rhythm. The offense and coaches have to be searching because all offseason they were the big cheese and have pretty much come out and not performed consistently for three weeks. If they dont get it together we dont have a chance.
The Bearcats are big underdogs to Oklahoma. As someone who unfortunately was a big home dog, what was the mindset going into the game? Is it as simple as us against the world?
This one is tough because my teams were never top 25 and we had success but not as much as these guys, so it was a true David vs Goliath situation. We played like we had nothing to lose because nobody gave us a shot. I think this teams mindset is trying to regain respect and get back on top of the mountain. The only way you do it is beat Oklahoma. If they lose they are thrown away and left for dead, but if they win then the thought will be that that maybe Butch has found his groove. I think they are going into this game fighting for their life to not start the season 1-3 and to silence some of the doubters.
You were part of a Bearcats team that had a huge early season upset against a highly ranked Wisconsin team. I know I’ve asked you about that before, but for the new readers, can you give some memories about that experience?
For one…It was the most electric the stadium had been at that time and I honestly dont think that more than a handful of people thought we had a chance to win that day. They probably just came to see Ron Dayne. As the game went on and we kept it close and we made a couple of plays you could feel the energy grow and we really fed off that.
My favorite highlights were stopping Dayne on the goalline twice with Bobby Fuller and Jeff Burrow causing and recovering that fumble that pretty much won us the game.
The last play right before the fans stormed the crowd was huge. The campus partied for days after that win. It felt like we had won the BCS…lol.
Some Bearcat fans are freaking out a little. What would you say to get their spirits back up?
Its early in the Butch Jones era. Even Kelly needed a year to acclimate and he didnt start with the brutal opening schedule that these guys have had. Coaching will get better, players will get better and they will be back on track. Its tough for any coach to come in without a early setback. Give him a year atleast and then we can assess from there. Its been hard watching those first couple of games and I’m hoping that Saturday isnt ugly, but these are our guys and they bleed, sweat, and sacrifice all year to go out there and represent the University. They want to win and do well and represent the C and we gotta stay with them through this process.
Thanks once again to DeJuan Gossett. He makes a couple good points. Keeping it close and getting big plays is going to be huge Saturday night. About CBJones, if UC had a 1-3 stretch at the end of the season, I doubt people would be freaking out as much as they are right now. I’ve been quoted twice on SB Nation saying Kragthropian things myself. The first time was true. The second time was taken a little out of context. I was saying to put the Krag thoughts out of your head before they plant. I didn’t do a good job of getting that across obviously. There will be a preview for Oklahoma tomorrow. I might do a cover it live blog for the game. It could be fun. Once again, thanks to DeJuan, thanks to you for reading, and thanks for the volleyball team for following me on twitter.
Last note, if you have a blog that you want me to link to on my blog roll that someone at Bloguin helped me with, drop a message or comment and I’ll get you on it.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
