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August 17th Jump Off

The final five have been revealed in the Down the Drive Ring of Honor voting. You have until the season opener against Austin Peay to vote.

Also, if you want to receive Down the Drive updates through Facebook, don't forget to like us!

Training Camp Videos + Pictures

Dinner Time at Camp Higher Ground with OL Randy Martinez - Football players eat a lot.

Training Camp 2011: Luallen and Legaux Interview - Munchie may have the name and hair, but Luallen has the goatee.

Training Camp 2011: Mike Bajakian Interview 

Bearcats Practice Photos | August
Scott and the Bearcast Blog lines up the photos taken from training camp by Alex Apyan who is a checking out the action from the sidelines. His twitter is full of pictures like those if you can't get enough of fall camp (like me) and are antsy to see live football (ditto). Anyways, check out some extra pics here.

Bearcats News

Camp: Butch Jones Q&A Day 8
Looks like Pead is getting some rest to heal a sore leg. No worries. Guy's a workhorse and it shouldn't hold him out for too long. This will actually work in UC's favor as Poteat and Teague are getting plenty of reps in his absense. To the other freshman, Coach Jones is raving about those two along with the freshman linebackers Jackson and Temple. Good and bad news- The defense is forcing a TON of turnovers but the offense is giving them up. It's hard to tell if the defense is really that good or if the turnover problems on the offense are persisting. I'll leave that up to you to decide.

Sources: Johnson Heading To Cincinnati - West Virginia Sports News, Scores and Coverage
Looks like another former WVU coach is heading to Cincinnati as tight ends coach Dave Johnson will take the same position at UC. This is very good news for the Bearcats as the tight end position is critical for opening up the middle of the field. We've seen how dangerous TE's like Ben Guidugli can be but it seemed like this position took a hit when Zach Collaros became the starting QB. I think it's due to his height but adding a coach to for the tight ends can only help that position, especially when your starter is a 6'6" monster in Adrien Robinson.

The Big East's best: No. 11 - Big East Blog - ESPN
No surprise here as J.K. Schaffer is poised to have a huge senior season. He's already compiled two years of 100+ tackle-seasons and played heroicly last year with the horrid depth at linebacker. With more players back in there like Greg Blair, Ben Pooler, Nick Temple, Dwight Jackson, and Corey Mason, Schaffer should perform much better in 2011 with added rest.

Bearcats Selected to Finish Third in the BIG EAST - University of Cincinnati Official Athletics Site
Pretty solid preseason ranking for the Bearcats volleyball team who will be attempting to defend their Big East title next year. Stephanie Niemer is gone but coach Reed Sunahara is back and probably has a few new tricks up his sleeve since travelling to China earlier this summer.

Recruiting

High School Football Notebook: Gateway coach kicks LB off team
Well if you're like me and having been dieing for an update on linebacker prospect Jaylen Coleman, here's some news on him. And it's not good. According to this he was kicked off of Gateway High School's football team. For whatever reason, this could be an indication for why we never saw a commitment out of him after he visited UC's campus a few weeks back. He was gushing about Cincinnati's campus and the coaches so it was expected that he would commit right away. Well, if I had to bet, I'm thinking the coaching staff heard rumors of some off-field issues and may have backed off of him a bit. I hope he gets those problems worked out and he winds up with the Bearcats as he's a tremendous recruit.

Around the BEast

Recruits Say Jim Calhoun In It For the Long Haul | ZagsBlog.com
While Jim Calhoun hasn't claimed whether or not he will return to the Huskies to defend their NCAA championship, it looks like his recruits are hearing from him that he'll be there for a long time. I'm not a fan of Calhoun as a person but the man can coach like a the guys in the hall of fame. Although he's losing Kemba Walker, the guy who took the team on his back from the Big East tournament and lead them to a national championship, UConn still returns super frosh Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier. There's plenty of talent there to get to back-to-back championships.

Around the Nation

NCAA looking into booster's claims that Miami players took cash - NCAA Football - CBSSports.com
Al Golden really didn't know what he was getting into when he took over the Hurricanes. His Temple program was known for being professional and disciplined, at least once he got them turned around. I remember reading one story when he first took over that players would get up and walk out in the middle of practice. When Golden got through with them they either walked the straight-and-narrow or were kicked out. That's the kind of business atmosphere he demanded of his team. The guy wore a freakin' suit and tie on the sidelines for goodness sake! Anyways, his Miami team is now in the crosshairs of the NCAA. Not a good start.