The enigmatic one is in full effect. Jacob Rodgers split opinion pretty evenly for most of his career. He was wildly inconsistent as a Freshman famously, or infamously, missing the first two PAT's of his career as a Freshman against Southeast Missouri State in 2007 and for the first three games he hit on just 50 per cent of his field goal attempts.

The watershed moment was against Oregon State in that 2007 season. It was only a week after his disastrous start against the SEMO Redhawks. But Rodgers put that behind him and had arguably his best game as a Bearcat hitting all four extra points and going two for two on Field Goals including a career long 55 yard bomb. Rodgers became a steady and reliable kicker and when he hung up his boots it was as the all time career leader in points scored.

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One of the more difficult things about putting together this list is figuring out the right context for the most recent Bearcats. The last five years are without question the golden age of Cincinnati Bearcat Football and thus the players from this era having a little something extra in their ledger. At the same time there is a tendency to overrate the present at the extent of the past.

I really struggled on those issues placing John Hughes on this list. As half of the best Defensive Tackle duo in the history of the program Hughes deserves a spot. But at the same time Hughes individual production was not that great for his career.

Hughes played a ton of Football for UC, 50 games with 26 starts and yet he doesn't rank in the top 10 of UC history in either sacks or tackles for loss which are the principal determinants of a Defensive Tackle's worth and ability. Still Hughes deserves a spot on the list because of how well the DLine played last year with him as the anchor.

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How does a guy who played in 12 games with only 2 starts get a spot on the list of the 125 best slash most important players in the history of the Cincinnati program? Simple, you cause this to happen. Nick Davila only started two games for the Bearcats, but he sure made the most of his chances.

He was told only minutes before the game that he would be starting against the #7 ranked Scarket Knights of Rutgers in front of a national audience on Senior Night. Davila took the field, promptly fumbled his first snap ever as a collegiate starter and was effectively flawless for the duration of the game.

On that night Davila was 11 of 15 for 277 yards, that's a whopping average of 18.5 yards per attempt. Davila ran in the first score of the night and effectively put the game to bed with his pass on Brent Celek's epic rumble. Davila belongs on this list because of his role in the game that effectively put the Bearcats on the map for Football of all sports.

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Bob Hynes found his way onto this list for one reason. Well two reasons. In the long history of Bearcats Football (125 years in case you aren't paying attention) Hynes set two single game records that have yet to be bettered.

Hynes only played one season for the Bearcats, 1923. UC went 6-3 in that year, a record that proved to be the high water mark of the five year tenure of George W. McClaren. But Hynes was the unquestioned star of those teams. He excelled as a back on both sides of the ball.

On November 10th the Bearcats played host to Ohio Northern. It was a harrowing 15-7 win over the Polar Bears, Hynes 4 Interceptions play a massive role in the win. Seven days later (November the 17th) Case Institute of Technology came to Cincinnati for what became a ritual slaughter of a game, UC winning 69-0. That day Hynes ran for 306 yards and had another 106 between passing and the return game, but it is the rushing record that still stands. In the course of a week Hynes set two records that have stood for 89 years without being broken or tied. Imagine what might have happened if he played for two years.

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JK Schaffer has been named Mr. Bearcat a fitting end to his illustrious career. J.K. is the first athlete to be named Mr. Bearcat in 20 years.

"I'm honored to be the 2012 Mr. Bearcat award winner," Schaffer said. "I am a Cincinnati guy who always dreamed of playing for the University of Cincinnati. I love being in this city and just doing what I can to make the city proud and the university proud. UC will forever be a part of my life and my families' lives. This is very special to me because I know of so many deserving men on this campus who could have very easily received this award, and I will forever be proud of being Mr. Bearcat."

I think we can all agree that this was a richly deserved award

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This is a refrain that will be repeated with some regularity as this list rolls on but Danny Barrett was a bright spot during a very dark era of Cincinnati Football. He joined the Bearcats in 1979 under coach Ralph Staub out of Boynton Beach, Florida. UC went 2-9 in 1979 and again in 1980. Staub was promptly fired and replaced with Mike Gottfried for the 1981 season.

Barrett was the starter as a Sophomore in Staub's last year. But he was inconsistent for most of his career. He threw for decent yardage in each of his first two seasons (2074 yards in total), but the decision making wasn't there. In those two seasons he threw just 8 TD's but 22 INT's.

He put it all together as a Senior. His completion percentage went up to 55 percent and his TD/INT ratio jumped to 17/12. He put on a master class against Louisville throwing for 311 yards with 4 TD's in a route of the Cardinals. At the end of his senior year Barrett was named honorable mention All America by the AP.

Barrett went on to have a long career in the CFL and transitioned to coaching. He is currently the Running Backs coach for Central Florida.

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