DeJuan Gossett on the Bearcats

Former Cincinnati tackling machine DeJuan Gossett took the time to answer some of my questions this week. Gossett is in the top 10 in tackles in UC history, and has one of the best solo tackling seasons of all time. I asked him about what it’s like to get burned in coverage, how to fix the UC secondary, the best chewing out he’s heard from a coach (and man is it loco), and what players do on bye weeks. So let’s down to it. Once again, many many thanks to DeJuan Gossett for being the man.

BB: What do players do on bye weeks? Is it going through the motions like you are playing, or is it concentrating on getting healthy?

DG: We used the bye week to get some players healthy, but its also a time to reintroduce fundamentals and do the small things that you haven’t done in a while with having the pressure and time constraints of a game. Unfortunately our coaches thought it was a awesome time to work conditioning, but it really did give us a boost going into the second half of the season.

BB: Obviously UC has some issues in pass coverage. Do you see anything that stands out that could be changed? Or is it just rolling with who you have and hoping for the best?

DG: Man..This is a tough one. I think the one thing that I noticed and I have said all year is that they have to get better talent wise on defense. Thats not a knock on the guys playing because they play hard but you can see that they are out manned in the secondary. I feel that some of the kids have stepped up and given some energy but there are too many broken coverages, not enough people playing the ball in the air, and no toughness back there. Any good defense has to have a guy in the secondary that you have to worry about knocking your block off and they don’t have it in my opinion. A good pass rush would probably be the best thing to help a slumping secondary and that’s not looking good either.

BB: I’m sure you never were burned in coverage, but what do the coaches say to the players coming off the field there? Is it more about how they suck, or about what to do better?

DG: I didn’t get burned often but there were a couple of times when I gave up touchdowns and they didn’t have to say much because my face said it all. I was going to make up for next series and someone was going to pay. We had some guys that needed a pep talk and just the coach to tell them to forget it and go to the next play. Most of our guys which was a really good thing had edges about them and coach would give words and they would strap it up and go. you have to have a short memory BUT you can’t make the same mistake twice. But to be totally honest we were playing for Coach Tomlin, Rick Smith, Rex Ryan. It you were toasted too many times you would be sitting the bench and probably running Monday.

BB: What’s the best coach lashing out at a player story you remember? For the sake of the story, the blog is rated R.

DG: Wow….Rick Minter was the best at that. He Called players slapdi$’s. But the best was a morning run after a tough weekend where a couple of our players had been arrested at a party. Coach Minter had this thing where he would say…If every Bearcat were like me, they would be ………….whatever he could think of. This time it was my buddy Robert Cooper…..and he said if every Bearcats were like me “We would be in Jail” and we didnt know if we should laugh but he was pissed then he called him a couple slapdicks before he started going around to others.

BB:The Syracuse loss was embarrassing in terms of score, and just by the way UC played. Do you see any good coming from this loss?

DG: No good comes from getting blown out on homecoming. I think that if they weren’t humbled before then they should be humbled now. I just hope that the coaches still have the players attention and they haven’t tuned them out. Hopefully recruits are looking and saying if I come I can play right away.

BB: Do you think that UC can run the table and get bowl eligible?

DG: No….not the team that I have seen play this year. I just don’t know if that they can put that many complete games in a row.

BB: Finally, what’s up with the Bengals? Who needs to go first, Carson, or Brat?

DG: Both at the same time……….I think they singlehandedly destroy the rhythm of the team as a whole. Different coordinator and different qb I swear they are sitting at 1 loss right now. The defense is surprisingly not horrible considering they have the worst pass rush in football but they just get worn out with the offensive 3 and outs and they lack playmakers at the defensive line and linebackers. They have potential to win every game but its not going to happen. Hopefully theyt dont draft another Andre Smith this year.