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Cincinnati Bearcats Football Recruiting

Shakim Alonzo Update: Charges Could Be Filed, Alonzo Tells His Side Of The Story

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The latest news is that criminal charges could be coming.

Chief Downey, who had three officers at the game and two outside of the university's Convocation Center, said Mr. Pritz's family indicated to one of his officers that they would like to pursue charges.

As the saga around Shakim Alonzo emerged everyone around the incident has had their say.

His coach Mike Decker

"What I saw was a guy out of control and I'm going to leave it at that," Woodland Hills coach Mike Decker said. "I'm completely embarrassed by the situation. That's not the way I coach and that's not the image I want my team to portray."

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Cincinnati Bearcat Football Recruit Shakim Alonzo Sparks On Court Fight

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Cincinnati Bearcats Wide Receiver recruit Shakim Alonzo was involved in an on court altercation playing Basketball for Woodland Hills today in which he punched an opposing player. That resulted in the game being called with around three minutes to play in the game.

In the fourth quarter, Woodland Hills' Shakim Alonzo was ejected for punching (Gabe) Pritz in the side of the head. Alonzo had been called for an intentional foul moments moments earlier, which led to the on-court melee that was broken up by security along with Cal and WPIAL officials. Alonzo is a University of Cincinnati recruit.

As of this moment the details surrounding this are trickling out. What exactly transpired is becoming clearer, but is still somewhat murky. But there are still rumors swirling that Alonzo came off the bench to punch Pritz and that he was arrested as well. I have no idea what will happen in regards to his scholarship or his future with UC. There is always a clause in the Letter of Intent and Grant In Aide papers that gives the school an out from their obligation. That clause that could be applied in this situation if Butch Jones chooses to do that. Stay tuned to Down The Drive as the details emerge.

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Kenneth Bynum Decides For Vols Over Bearcats

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Well the long wait is officially over. Kenneth Bynum will be spending the the next four (five) years in Knoxville wearing that god awful Orange rather than the Red and Black of the Bearcats with his his school teammate Ey'Shawn McClain

And that is seems is that. Losing out on Bynum sucks but doesn't effect that overall quality of this class in a negative way to the same degree that Dennis Norfleet's defection to Michigan on signing day eve did. The biggest effect of this will be on next year's class. Linebacker won't be a huge need next year, but the Bearcats will need to get one or two in the 2014 class.

Best of luck to Kenneth in the future.

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Kenneth Bynum Decision Coming At 5 PM Tonight.

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This is according to multiple outlets who have reported the same thing.


With Bynum's decision the 2012 class will officially be in the books. Not that it isn't already, the staff has certainly moved on to the class of 2013.

To be sure this has been a weird case. If you recall Bynum was a UC commitment for months before getting an offer from the Vols on the day before signing day. That led to Bynum pushing back his signing to take a visit to Knoxville which he apparently liked quite a bit.

But it has been two weeks since signing day and no decision has been made. The speculation surrounding this all has been flowing fast. The dominant narrative, one that I have heard from three different people in the past week, is that the Bynum's disagree on which school to attend. Keep in mind that a players parents/guardians do have to sign off on the decision. Literally. Their signatures are required on the both the Letter of Intent and the Grant in Aid papers. I have no idea who's on which sides of the issue, I have heard it both ways. I have no idea where he signs. My guess is that it's 50/50.

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Football Recruiting In Ohio, Another Semi Scientific Breakdown

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Back for a second time, even though you might not want it. Football has a long and storied tradition in the state of Ohio. The state also has a well deserved reputation for producing top notch Football players for colleges across the nation. The state is generally considered one of the 5 or 6 best in the country when ti comes to producing players. The state can't begin to touch the big three of Florida, Texas and California. Not a big enough population and urban areas that are quaint in comparison. But Ohio is generally lumped in with Georgia, and Pennsylvania because two of those three generally round out the top 5 in a given year. The class of 2012 in Ohio produced 84 AQ signees which is up 9 from the class of 2011.

Recruiting By Conference

With that kind of talent Ohio is frequently a battleground state for AQ conference teams looking to supplement the offerings in their own states. 24 different schools signed players from Ohio in the class of 2012. As per usual the Big 10/11/12 lead the way. 11 of the 12 Big 10 schools signed a player in the 2012 class. The only school that didn't? The Reigning Big 10 Champions Wisconsin. Here is the complete run down of all the schools active in the state this year.

Big 10 Big East SEC ACC PAC 12 Big 12 Independent
Ohio State Cincinnati Tennessee Boston College Oregon Kansas Notre Dame
Michigan Pitt Kentucky Duke
Michigan State West Virginia Missouri
Illinois
Louisville
Northwestern Syracuse
Indiana
Iowa
Nebraska
Minnesota
Penn State
Purdue

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Trend Spotting In The Bearcats Class of 2012

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Today the Monty Madris saga came to the expected conclusion, he signed with Michigan State. And that, it seems is that with the class of 2012. There is still the matter of Kenneth Bynum as nascent Cincinnati commitment who received a last minute offer from Tennessee and is taking a visit to Knoxville this weekend. But that is the only piece of the puzzle that has not fallen for the Bearcats. Time of a (belated) overview of the class of 2012.

Meeting Needs

Since Butch Jones has taken over the Bearcats program that biggest issue has been a general lack of depth in the roster. No where has that lack of depth and talent been more acute than on the defense. In the secondary and among the linebackers. Last years class started to address the issue, but this years group of recruits goes a long way to solving it.

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Cincinnati Bearcats Signing Day 2012 | Defensive Backs

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One of the needs that was circled on the board in the Bearcats war room for this class was the Secondary. The defensive depth in general still needed to be addressed in a big way with this class, and it has been, but the biggest need of all might be in the secondary still where the talent level is still down compared to where it was three or four years ago. Jones has done a good job going after defensive backs in this class

Leviticus Payne - 5'9" 176 - DB - Detroit

Payne is bound to be a corner from day one. He has good size to be a field corner which is where UC will most likely wind up playing him. He is good on the jam against receivers has pretty good ball skills and has a general knack for making plays in coverage, be it man to man or in a zone. As an added bonus for a corner back he is willing and able to make tackles in the open field. Like all of these guys he will probably take a red shirt this coming season.


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Cincinnati Bearcats Signing Day 2012 | Linebackers

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For the past two years one of the thinnest areas on the team has been at linebacker. This was an area that Brian Kelly never recruited particularly well. Kelly did land J.K. Schaffer and Maalik Bomar, but he also missed on a lot of guys. Some never panned out academically, some didn't work out on the field and one linebacker had to retire due to injury. As a result Jones has really loaded up on linebackers in the last two classes. Jones will have signed 8 linebackers, including 4 in this class alone. The only looming question mark with the linebackers is Ken Bynum who received an offer from Tennessee yesterday and doesn't anticipate signing today.

Joey Jones - 6'0" 190 - LB - Miami

Jones weighs in a little light at 190 but he makes up for that by playing with a ton of speed and aggression. The most impressive thing about Jones to me is the way in which he reads plays developing. His recognition is excellent and that allows him to pick his way through the trash and attack the ball carrier in rapid succession. You want to see a linebacker be able to avoid that stuff and make plays. Jones does. He was named third team all Miami and third team all state.


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