Cincinnati Bearcat Link Jump Off | April 11th

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Bill Koch has come back out from hibernation and has published articles on back to back days. I know I am just as shocked by the fact as you are. The main thrust of this is that Butch Jones anticipates going to a committee at running back. That isn't a big revelation, certainly not as big a one as the front paged nature of the article would indicate.

Think about this from the perspective of the coaches. They have three backs, one of whom is a Senior, the other two are Sophomores. The Senior is capable of producing in a way that makes the offense functional. But he has limited experience and has never been the guy before. The sophomores have arguably more talent than the Senior, but fewer games between them. That lack of experience will certainly result in errors (read: turnovers) on occasion. So the question becomes how do you use the players on hand to get the rushing production you need this year while at the same time preparing the position for the future? The answer; you split the carries three ways getting each guy the ball in a position where they will have the highest likelihood of success.

That's how it will start anyway. The best case scenario, and the one that seems sort of likely to play out, is that you start with a committee but over the course of the year one of the young backs establishes himself as the guy so that the running back position is sorted heading into 2013. Putting a gun to my head between Ralph Abernathy IV and Jameel Poteat I would anticipate Poteat to get a handle on the spot at the end of the year-

Speaking of getting ready for 2013 the Bearcats already have their quarterback set for that year. Or they do pending injury or a meltdown. But Munchie Legaux seems to be in complete control of the starting job, the offense, the locker room and probably a few other things as well. My reading of the situation is that this job is not Munchie Legaux's to lose. It's just his job.

Now there has been a fair amount of fretting among UC fans about Munchie based on last year's performances. That's fine. He was inconsistent, inaccurate and at times downright bad. But there are a couple of caveats. 1) the offense that UC used last season won't be the 2012 offense. This year's offense will be built around the strengths of Munchie, his height in the pocket, his big arm, and most of all his freakish athletic ability. He was asked to step into Zach Collaros's offense and execute it as Zach would. Zach has an altogether different set of strengths and weaknesses. His arm isn't big, but it is accurate, he wasn't big but he was tough and he wasn't a freak, but he was athletic enough. The short way of saying that is that the ideal Zach offense isn't the ideal Munchie offense. 2) despite the bad fit, Munchie still helped his team win games. Isn't that the goal for QB's anyway?

Video(s) of Interest

Et Cetera

Bearcat Bowl VI primer get there at 4...Munchie Legaux with the interview...Baseball dropped a game to Wright State and the baseball season is going really well (sarcasm)...Inside the Bearcats podcast with Paul Dehner hosting his boss, Whit Babcock...A rundown of the NBA's worst tattoo's Kenyon Martin's flaming lips didn't make the cut for some reason...shockingly Arkansas has fired Bobby Petrino for acting like Bobby Petrino...sad end to the Willie Williams story not that it was ever exceedingly likely to end well...Half of all American's are single this takes a stab at the obvious question why?