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!

Bearcat News

Football's Road Game At Miami (OH) To Kick Off At 1 p.m. - University of Cincinnati Official Athletics Site
UC will play my Alma Mater (shut up) at 1 p.m. on October 1st. What's more important is that this game will be will be aired exclusively on ESPN 3. Well, it's important to me as I don't live inside the Cincinnati market anymore. Anyways, even though my Redhawks have been on the short side of this series ever since that pompous ass Ben Roethlisberger graduated, I love this series. Since moving to the BCS, Cincinnati is bringing in a whole other level of players that the Redhawks probably won't be able to match. Therefore, Miami will maybe, MAYBE, win 1 out of every 10 games they play against UC but I still want to keep this series.

Binns waiting, hoping for the best | UC Athletics Blog
Can't believe I'm clipping a Koch article but Binns needs to get some attention, even if it is from the Enquirer 'writer'. I was really surprised to not see him drafted back in April and this NFL lockout is really hurting him. The later it drags out, the less and less chance Binns will have to show off his strengths to NFL teams. Part of me feels bad that Binns is slowly losing his shot at the NFL so I want the lockout to end. But, the other part loves the fact that without the NFL, the entire city of Cincinnati can rally around the Bearcats next season.

Recruiting

Twitter / @MikeDyer: La Salle WR Rodriguez Cole ...
Good news on the recruiting front as Rod Coleman will apparently make it to UC and join the rest of the 2011 class after all. It seems like for the moment he has been cleared by the NCAA but that could all change if he gets the Dyjuan Lewis treatment. Coleman was the only real threat to not join this class so it looks like, barring any changes, the entire 2011 class will report to campus. This is fantastic news considering the amount of attrition this team had undergone during the Brian Kelly era (~30%).

Memphis Defensive Back Alex Dale Commits to the Bearcats - Down The Drive#storyjump#storyjump
Can't help but be impressed by his game tape. You can check out the entirety of Matt's breakdown of him on the link so I won't go too much into it. To me, he looks very similar to Marcus Foster, also of UC's 2012 class, and what's interesting is that he wasn't recruited by Coombs or one of the defensive coordinators, but by Tight Ends coach Mark Elder! Also, he seems to have a very good sense of humor. Just check out this tweet:

@Alex5Dale Alex Dale

It's official: I'm taking my talents to the University of Cincinnati. #GoBearcats

I already like him.

Around the BEast

Big East title chances: USF - Big East Blog - ESPN
South Florida is up next in Andrea Adelson's countdown. The key's next year for the Bulls will be will be the play of B.J. Daniels. UC fans saw last year what he can do to defenses if he's on his game, but he's been wildly inconsistent over the course of his college career. Luckily the Bulls have their defense going for them, which year-in and year-out always seem to be near the top of the Big East. Add to the fact that Skip Holtz's message really seemed to sink in during the second half of the season (more specifically, during the UC game and beyond) and there's good reason to have USF as a Big East title contender next season.

WVU football: Holgorsen goes skydiving  - WVU Sports - Charleston Daily Mail - West Virginia News and Sports -
What would you do if you just got the head coaching gig at a BCS school? Just as I thought. Not skydiving. At least Holgorsen can now add 'insane' to his resume of amazing offensive genius and addicted gambler. Oliver Luck might want to add a clause against this kind of stuff in his contract to make sure they don't have to start a head coaching search all over again.

Around the Nation

Just watch this:

greedy broad steals foul ball (via cajetfan)

This might be the worst video I've seen of someone taking a ball from a kid. The girl has the ball in her hands and this bitch literally rips it from her, walks away, and celebrates her victory to her 'friends', who are all accessories in this as they cheer her on. I sure hope she gets run over by bus. At least she joins a long legacy of people being douchebags to kids, like this guy and this guy.

Best Franchises in Sports by ESPN The Magazine | ESPN MediaZone
I post this because I love rankings like these, especially when the Green Bay Packers, the only publicly owned team in the NFL, tops the list. Rounding out the list are the Cincinnati Bengals at 122nd. See why I call them a semi-pro franchise? I'm sure Mike Brown and his mom-and-pop shop operation would tell you that they are just a few players away from moving up to 121st. Somehow that Tampa Bay Lightning (2nd) were ranked higher than my Detroit Red Wings (16th), who win a Stanley Cup just about every 4 or 5 years. Sorry, ESPN, but that's bullshit.