Doug Bates Is Officially A Bearcat

NLI #8 of the day coming in from @doug_bate of Cincinnati's Moeller High School! #Bearcats #NSD2015 pic.twitter.com/bK1rgFmpQS

— Cincy FB Recruiting (@UC_Recruiting) February 4, 2015

Vitals

• 6'4" 230
• Tight End / H-Back
• Moeller High School

Video

Quick Take

Doug Bates is a really good fit for the Bearcats offense for a couple of reasons. The first is basic continuity. With the offense that the Bearcats run there isn't really a need for a true tight end. That doesn't mean that the Bearcats offense will always be this way, after all the Bearcats will be starting over at receiver after this coming season. In the meantime UC has gone to an inside zone scheme that utilizes the wham block that Travis Kelce got so good at. UC used Jake Golic and D.J. Dowdy in much the same way this year. Moeller also made liberal use of the concept with their typical two tight end offense.

While he isn't a tremendous athlete for the position, he is functional and a reliable receiver. He is athletic enough to create separation with linebackers on seam routes, he also knows how to sit down* once he beats the linebacker to create a window between the linebacker and safety levels. Similarly Bates has a good feel for finding the soft spot of a zone coverage on crossing routes.

*slow down, throttle down etc. the terminology varries

Whatever your personal feelings about him, John Rodenberg is a very good coach, and his guys are generally pretty advanced in terms of understanding the game.. That all bodes well for Doug in the long term, but he is probably heading for a red shirt, possibly a greyshirt. As much for the Bearcats deep depth chart at the spot with Dowdy and Tyler Cogswell on the roster as for the serious leg injury he picked up in the Crusaders state semi final loss to Huber Heights Wayne.

Welcome to Bearcat Nation Doug