Jowon Briggs' numbers are staggering: 6-foot-2, 320 pounds, four stars and more than 700 pounds on the squat rack.
They're the same numbers that have University of Cincinnati Football Director of Sports Performance Brady Collins and Bearcats defensive line coach Greg Scruggs drooling as they watch Briggs toss around plates in the weight room and toss aside wannabe blockers in spring practice.
They're also the same numbers that made UC coach Luke Fickell jump at the chance of having Briggs back in Cincinnati and finally in a UC uniform.
"He's been a great addition," Fickell told The Enquirer. "We just gotta find what's his best spot to play because if he's in the right spot, he could dominate."
Two years ago, before guiding the Bearcats to their second straight 11-win season in 2019 and before winning the American Athletic Conference championship and leading Cincinnati to an undefeated regular season and a New Year's Day Peach Bowl appearance in 2020, Fickell missed out on Briggs.
The former Walnut Hills High School standout defensive tackle, who made academics one of his top priorities when selecting a university, chose Virginia over offers from Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Michigan State, Miami University and others.
One of those other offers was from Fickell at Cincinnati.
"Me and Coach Fickell, ever since he got here (UC), we've always been close. We've always gone back and forth, even when I was being recruited," Briggs said.
After a two-year stint at Virginia that included 20 games and a career-high two-sack effort last season against Wake Forest, Briggs entered the transfer portal on Nov. 17, 2020. Eight days later, he made his way to Fickell and Cincinnati.
"There were a lot of things that went into that decision," Briggs told The Enquirer. "One being, of course, I'm close to home. I live 15 minutes down the way. And with COVID and everything going on, there were a lot of different pressures, be it football and or academic. So overall, I just decided it would be better to further myself somewhere closer where I have a close support system and everything to fall back on."
When the coronavirus pandemic stopped everything last spring, Briggs was more than 400 miles away from his family. As he worried about the health and safety of his parents, Dalila and Jowon (both UC graduates), Briggs knew he needed to be closer to them and his brothers and sisters. Briggs said that desire grew stronger last season, his second with the Cavaliers.
"I think it just gave me a chance to actually put things in perspective and really understand where I was at, not only as a football player but as a man, and where I needed to be mentally," he said.
Briggs made the decision to come back home and join an already dominant Cincinnati defensive line that includes senior defensive end Malik Vann, graduate defensive tackle Curtis Brooks, 2020 second-team All-AAC performer Marcus Brown and one of the nation's top pass rushers in 2020 first-team All-AAC defensive end Myjai Sanders, a semifinalist for last season's Chuck Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year).
"I'm just trying to take what I can do and attribute it to the D-line wherever they need me," Briggs said. "I'm not going to say I'm the antithesis to Myjai. I'll say instead of being a speed, finesse guy, I'm more of a power, drive-straight-into-you guy. Of course, being 320, it should be easy to just run into a man, but I think my game is power, explosion, first-step quickness. So I think it's really just a different side of things that I can bring as far as rushing or just playing the run goes."
New Cincinnati defensive coordinator Mike Tressel inherits a Bearcats defense that led the American in rushing defense, scoring defense and total defense last season. UC was fourth in the country in fewest yards per play allowed, third in pass efficiency and had the top touchdown-interception ratio (7-16) in the FBS.
Briggs said he thinks the defensive line will be just as dominant this season even with the departures of versatile lineman Elijah Ponder, who is preparing for next month's NFL draft, and former Cincinnati defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, who took the same position at Notre Dame in January.
"The D-line as a unit, honestly, I feel like we have the opportunity to be the best D-line in the nation," said Briggs, who can play both defensive end and defensive tackle. "We have so much talent, so much depth, it really shouldn't be any drop-off."
The Bearcats are scheduled to kick off their 2021 season at home Sept. 4 against in-state rival Miami. Four weeks later, Cincinnati will head to South Bend to face the Fighting Irish, a team and program Briggs knows all too well.
"Oh, I'm looking forward to seeing Notre Dame the most," Briggs said. "I remember one of the first games I started was against Notre Dame as a freshman at Virginia, and it wasn't my best game. So I'm looking to hopefully improve and show what I've improved on."
The Oct. 2 showdown will also be Briggs' opportunity to show his improvement to Freeman, one of the men who was integral in bringing Briggs back to his hometown.
"Coach Free is a great dude, very intelligent, knows what he's talking about, he's very personable," Briggs said. "I talked to him, I talked with Coach Scruggs, of course, and I talked to Coach Fickell. Those three ultimately were the people in communication with me when it came to making that decision. He (Freeman) was an important factor, but, you know, just like anything, you just gotta move on. You just gotta keep playing.
"I had two different D-line coaches at Virginia. You just gotta get used to it. You gotta understand that this is a business. People are getting paid to coach you. So if something happens, or they get a better job, somebody says they're not cutting it, they could be gone tomorrow. So you just try not to attach yourself to the separate parts of the machine, attach yourself to the machine itself."
Briggs said his personal goal for the upcoming season is to at least double the 20 tackles and three sacks he had in seven games for Virginia in 2020. But he said he's most looking forward to having the opportunity to "carve out a niche as one of the nation's best defensive linemen" while playing in front of his family at Nippert Stadium, which is just a few blocks from the Arlitt Child Development Center where Briggs attended preschool.
"I've literally been here my whole life," he said. "Everything literally came full circle for me."