Remember to submit your choices for the Down the Drive Ring of Honor! You can submit up to 3 players who you think should join the Bearcats elite. You have until July 10th to submit your nominees.
Also, if you want to receive Down the Drive updates through Facebook, don't forget to like us!
Alright, enough with the shameless plugs. Let's get to the Jump Off.
Bearcat News
Sean Kilpatrick's Documentary Scene 1 (via seankilpatrick23)
First of all, I have to give tons of credit to Bearcats Blog for posting these as I would have never seen them without checking out his blog. Kilpatrick has been quite the videographer ever since he came to Clifton and its really refreshing to have such an inside look at one of the Bearcats' lives while on campus. If he doesn't make it to the NBA, he could sure make a living as a youtube sensation! Here's parts two, three, and four.
Top 5 football Bearcats to watch in 2011 - Sports - The News Record - University of Cincinnati
I agree with everyone on this list except I would have to swap Anthony McClung at #5 for either Derek Wolfe or Kenbrell Thompkins. Why? Well, not to take anything away from McClung (I would scream his name at bars everytime he touched the ball), but he's a slot receiver. D.J. Woods owns that position for the Bearcats next season so McClung will likely see the field in a back-up role or as a 4th Wideout. Kenbrell Thompkins is going to be X reciever with either Damon Julian or Dyjuan Lewis at the Z. Also, you can't discount Derek Wolfe on the D-Line as a senior leader of the defense. With improved talent around him, he should be as explosive as the other 4 players on this guy's list.
All Three Bearcats Leave NCAAs with All-America Honors - University of Cincinnati Official Athletics Site
Big honors for the 3 Bearcats competiting in the NCAA Track and Field Championships this weekend. Eric Finan, Terrence Somerville, and Kathy Klump all received All-American honors. By far the most disappointing athlete of the 3 has to be Somerville. A la the track scene in Cool Runnings, Texas Tech senior Omo Osaghae tripped over his hurdle and into Somerville's lane, throwing off his concentration enough to send him toppling into the 7th hurdle, thus disqualifying him. Somerville's an extremely talented kid and deserved a better ending than that. Thankfully, he can come back next year as a senior and try to bring home a national championship.
Recruiting
Elder offensive lineman TC Klusman commits to Louisville | High School Sports Blog
Klusman never had an offer from UC but the timing of his commitment to Louisville raises some question. He may have camped at UC on Sunday June 12th but gave his verbal to Coach Strong's staff at UofL that evening. I'm wondering if he got an indication from the staff that UC's staff wasn't going to extend a scholly to him (which they still haven't) so he called Louisville and gave them his commitment. What this could suggest is that Coach Jones and the staff feel confident in their current commitments from Bond and Williamson and may feel good about their offers to Derek Edinburgh, Pat Elflein, and Terry Davis. This is purely speculative but Klusman is a talented lineman and if UC passed on him, they could be close to more O-Lineman commitments soon.
Around the BEast
Louisville soccer coming soon : U of L Card Game
Those clever bastards down at Louisville are literally printing money. So much so that they are building a brand new soccer stadium to be situated next to Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. It helps that their soccer team is pretty good but Tom Jurich has done a great job with sponsorship deals to get a lot of money in the hands of the athletic department so they are able make investments like this.
Must-win nonconference games - Big East Blog - ESPN
Andrea at the Big East blog takes a look at some very important out of conference games next season. Of her list, I think the Big East goes 3-3 with West Virginia beating LSU, USF beating Notre Dame, and USF beating Miami. Pitt loses to Notre Dame because, let's face it, Todd Graham isn't known for his defense and BK should shred them. Tennessee is just too much for Cincinnati but I think it will be closer than some think (and UC will win the other 4 OOC games). Finally, Syracuse loses to USC. The Orange lost a lot of seniors last season and USC returns Matt Barkley and is, well, USC.
Around the Nation
Michigan, Notre Dame ‘retro’ uniforms are finally unveiled - Dr. Saturday - NCAAF Blog - Yahoo! Sports
Bo Shembechler and Rudy Ruettigerare probably turning over in their graves with the release of these hideous uni's. The thing that gets me are the straight, blocky lines on the shoulder pads of each jersey. For Michigan, the small, blocky 'M' in the middle of the jersey just screams hit-me-here-as-hard-as-you-can. For Notre Dame, the four-leaf clover on the helmet is just plain tacky. They might as well have had the mascot doing an Irish jig on the side of the helmet. Fail.