Idarius Ray Down To Cincinnati and Louisville

The player in question is Idarius Ray, a 6'7" 310 pound offensive tackle from Van Nuys, Califronia by way of Los Angeles Valley College. Ray will be making his decision on JUCO national signing day tomorrow, and will be chooising between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Louisville Cardinals.

Ray had his official visit to the Cardinals on the 6th of December and was originally slated to visit the Arizona State Sun Devils last week. He came and visited the Bearcats officially instead. By all accounts Ray had an excellent visit with the Bearcats, good enough to remove Arizona State from consideration.

If Tommy Tuberville and his staff manage to land Ray it will go a long way to shoring up one of the few concerns for next year's offense, depth along the offensive line. UC will be bringing back four players with at least four starts to their name, and some with way more than four starts,* but there isn't much in the way of proven depth beyond Eihnger, Justin Murray, Ryan Leahy and Deyshawn Bond.

*Looking at you future record holder for most starts in UC history Parker Ehinger

There is a lot of young talent that I like. Jamerez Bowen is a beast and could contribute next year as a red shirt freshman now that he is fully settled at offensive guard after flipping between DT and guard in camp. I really like the Interior linemen in the 2015 class, Evan Mallory in particular, but it would be asking a lot to expect them to join the rotation as freshmen. That is why it is vital for the Bearcats to get some help from the JUCO ranks in this class.

UC really cut down on the rotation that Darren Hiller favors as the year went on. Then again that wasn't really a choice for Hiller, season ending injuries to Cory Keebler and Kevin Schloemer forced him to cut the 8 or 9 man rotation down to six. A six or seven man rotation is probably close to ideal going forward into next year. If Ray chooses to be a Bearcat tomorrow you can go ahead and pencil him into that spot.