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Cincinnati wide receiver Malick Mbdoj, who will be a senior for the 2020 season, has entered the transfer portal, according to Justin Williams of The Athletic.
Mbodj caught 23 passes for 249 yards in 2019, both were ranked 4th on the team. Mbobj missed 4 of the first 5 games, but came on strong in the second half of the season. He caught 2 or more passes in 7 of 10 games played.
Mbodj has one career touchdown and that came in the Birmingham Bowl, with Cincinnati already ahead 24-0.
Bearcats running away with it, 24-0, after this 8-yard TD pass from Ridder to Malick Mbodj.
— Julian Benbow (@julianbenbow) January 2, 2020
BC only has 102 yards of total offense. Dennis Grosel’s 3-for-10 passing. David Bailey has 28 yards on eight carries.
The sky’s pretty clear, though, if that counts for anything. pic.twitter.com/rTgFf4Kfsj
In a 46-43 win against ECU, he caught 5 passes on a night where QB Desmond Ridder completed just 12 passes. His season-high was 63 yards receiving, against Memphis in the AAC Championship Game.
As a sophomore in 2018, he caught just 3 passes.
Mbodj would have been in line for a bigger role in 2020, with the departures of senior WRs Rashad Medaris and Thomas Geddis and TE Josiah Deguara. At WR, Cincinnati is left with Alec Pierce, Trent Cloud, Blue Smith, Jayshon Jackson and a handful of young and inexperienced, but high potential players. WR Coach Mike Brown is highly regarded and will have his work cut out for him this spring.
That now means, that departing from the 2019 team is 119 catches out of 208 possible receptions and 1,397 yards our of 2,552. 5 of the team’s top 7 receivers (including Deguara and RB Michael Warren) are gone from a team that struggled throwing the ball in 2019.
The departure of Mbodj is one the Bearcats can certainly overcome, but it will hurt to lose the experience he would have brought to the field and to the locker room.