Three days before leading the University of Cincinnati football team into its second straight American Athletic Conference championship game, Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell announced 23 new additions to the program on the first day of the early signing period.
Fickell on Wednesday announced the signings of 13 defensive players, nine offensive players and one player whose responsibilities will be on special teams in 6-foot-7 Australian punter Mason Fletcher, a product of Prokick Australia, the same group who helped develop UC's current All-AAC punter James Smith.
"It's a great day," Fickell said. "Obviously, there's a lot going on. This is kind of unique with having a championship game on Saturday (and) signing day on Wednesday. But, nonetheless, it was much-needed for us because we've got a lot of really good seniors."
The recruiting class is the highest-rated class in the AAC, according to 247Sports.com, and is No. 34 in the Rivals.com listing, besting the No. 39 ranking of the 2020 class.
UC's recruiting department had 17 billboards throughout the city Wednesday with messages welcoming the new recruits.
Seven local high school standouts were a part of the class, including sniper Leroy Bowers (Princeton), offensive tackle Luke Collinsworth (East Central), defensive lineman Dontay Corleone (Colerain), Luke's son, offensive lineman Landon Fickell (Moeller), offensive lineman Mao Glynn II (Walnut Hills), cornerback Iesa Jarmon (La Salle) and linebacker Cameron Junior (Middletown).
Fickell said those seven recruits were huge in piecing together the overall class, particularly with coaches not being able to travel and host players on campus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
"I think it made us be really kind of creative and unique," he said. "I think it was really beneficial to us, as you see with the seven kids that we would call the 'state' of Cincinnati, the seven kids that are from right around here, our ability to build relationships before COVID hit was really big."
Fickell, who is the father of six children -- five sons and one daughter -- including two sets of twin boys, admitted having his oldest son, Landon, be one of UC's top targets and then having him ultimately decide to sign with the program was weird.
"It is definitely unique," he said. "To be honest, had we not had the core nucleus of guys here in the program, I would probably have not sided with him. ... I'm very fortunate to have had Coach Crook (UC offensive line coach Ron Crook), I'm very fortunate to have those guys where I could step away and ask them don't be biased about anything. Had it not been like that, had we not been in Year 4 and built the relationships that we've built even within our program and coaches, it would have probably been really difficult for me to be able to step back and be objective on it."
Other Bearcats news and notes:
Defensive coordinator Freeman named candidate for nation's top assistant: A large reason for the program's success on the recruiting trail has been the efforts of Fickell's assistant and close friend, defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman.
The Frank and Barbara Broyles Foundation announced Tuesday Freeman has been named one of 15 semifinalists for the Broyles Award, presented annually to college football’s top assistant coach.
Freeman, who also coaches Cincinnati's linebackers, has been the orchestrator of a defense that has held seven of eight opponents under 20 points this season.
Cincinnati's defense has allowed 13 touchdowns this year, the fewest by any FBS team that has played at least eight games.
The Bearcats lead the AAC and rank No. 2 nationally in pass efficiency defense (94.74), No. 4 in scoring defense (15.0 points per game) and No. 10 in total defense (308.1).
UC's secondary leads the American with 13 interceptions and 48 passes defended. The Bearcats have forced a turnover in 18 straight games, the longest active streak in the FBS.
UC had a school-record 17 players earn All-AAC honors Tuesday, including first-team defenders in cornerback Coby Bryant, cornerback Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner, defensive end Myjai Sanders, sniper Jarell White and safety James Wiggins.
Ridder named Manning Award finalist: The Allstate Sugar Bowl announced Thursday that junior quarterback Desmond Ridder has been named one of 12 finalists for the 2020 Manning Award, presented annually to the Sugar Bowl committee's top collegiate quarterback.
The 2020 Manning Award finalists also include Notre Dame's Ian Book, Matt Corral at Ole Miss, Ohio State's Justin Fields, UCF's Dillon Gabriel, Sam Howell at North Carolina, Alabama's Mac Jones, Clemson's Trevor Lawrence, Grayson McCall at Coastal Carolina, Iowa State's Brock Purdy, Florida's Kyle Trask and Zach Wilson at BYU.
Ridder, the AAC Offensive Player of the Year, was named one of the Manning Award’s Stars of the Week three times this season.