Surprising news: The Cincinnati Bearcats trade their most talented player to another weak football team.
Unexpected news: Cincinnati’s most gifted player is traded to another underperforming squad.
Cinquanta – On Monday, University of Cincinnati football head coach Scott Satterfield made public the formal inclusion of ten more student-athletes.
All told, UC welcomed 17 transfers who are all enrolled in classes right now and will be participating in spring practice after the first portal cycle.
Among the many outstanding resumes in Cincinnati’s transfer class are all-conference players, a 1,000-yard receiver, a national leader in interceptions, and team captains.
“It gives me great pleasure to welcome this group to our football program and the University of Cincinnati,” Satterfield stated. All of them are excellent players who also give our team leadership and big-game experience. To work, they go. We improved during the summer, and I’m excited about the competitiveness at every position during winter and spring practices.”
With the recent announcement of ten early enrollees from the 2024 high school signing class, Cincinnati will have 27 new scholarship student-athletes on campus for spring practice.
Cincinnati’s 2024 transfer portal additions (officially revealed today in italics)
Wilson came to UC after playing as a reserve defensive lineman in 23 games over four seasons at Louisville. Over 12 games in 2023, he ended with 14 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, and two sacks. Wilson had half a TFL against Florida State and a sack against Kentucky in the 2023 ACC Championship Game.
Over his Cardinals career, he appeared in 28 games, recording 27 tackles and 3.5 TFLs. Coming out of Mount Zion High School, the native of McDonough, Georgia, was a four-star prospect.
He has 135 tackles, 21 TFLs, and 14 sacks from 50 games played and 26 starts at West Virginia coming into this autumn. 2023 saw Bartlett lead WVU in sacks with 4.5, along with 50 tackles and 6.0 TFLs.
Wilson was a two-year starter at safety and captain of the North Texas team in 2022–2023 when he recorded 112 tackles, three interceptions, and 11 passes defended in 28 games.
2019 saw him redshirt at Kansas State and transfer to North Texas from ULM. Wilson was a Dallas, Texas, Bishop Dunne High School three-star prospect who captured a state title.
Varner played in 12 games and had 1.5 TFLs during his one season at Wisconsin before transferring to the Bearcats.
He had previously excelled at Temple, where he recorded 7.5 sacks and 12.5 TFLs as a sophomore in 2022 to earn All-AAC First Team honors. Over his career, he has 10.5 sacks and 19.5 TFLs.
Williams was among 2023’s top Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) running backs in the country. On 148 carries for Grambling State, the product of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, carried for 878 yards and six touchdowns, earning Second Team All-SWAC recognition. Along with his three 100-yard games—106 yards on seven carries at LSU, 174 yards and a touchdown against Texas Southern, and 119 yards and two touchdowns against Bethune-Cookman—he also had 15 receptions for 135 yards and a touchdown.
Before two outstanding seasons as a safety at New Mexico State in 2022 and 2023, Miller played three seasons at Miami (Ohio). He had 60 tackles and two interceptions in 2023, including a 57-yard pick-six vs. Western Kentucky.
Over 26 games for the Aggies, he finished with 88 tackles, two TFLs, and 11 passes defended. Miller appeared in thirteen Redhawks games. At Rich Central High School in Park Forest, Illinois, he was a standout defensive back and team captain.
Minkins was a four-year contributor at Louisville, starting all 13 games at safety in 2022 and finishing with 55 tackles, three pass breakups, and one interception. He had seven tackles to lead Louisville in a victory over Georgia Tech to start the 2023 season, but a hamstring ailment kept him sidelined early on. All the same, he made three starts and 21 tackles in 11 games.
Along the way, he made 17 starts and finished his Cardinals career with 99 tackles, five passes defended, and two tackles for loss in 41 games.
Before recording 43 tackles at Virginia Tech in 2023, Canteen was named All-Sun Belt twice and Freshman All-America at Georgia Southern.
With six interceptions—a school record—the Evans, Georgia native matched for the FBS lead in 2020. Along the way to First Team All-Sun Belt and Freshman All-America honors in 2020, he also made 48 tackles and 10 pass breakups.
He earned Third Team All-Sun Belt recognition in 2022 with 64 tackles and 12 pass breakups. Over 42 games, he has recorded 160 tackles, 34 passes defended, and seven interceptions.
In 2021–2023, Royer, a 6–5–255-pound native of Cincinnati, played tight end for Ohio State in 14 games and recorded four receptions. He caught two passes in the College Football Playoff Semifinals of 2022 against Georgia.
In 2022, Smith led UTEP in receptions (71), receiving yards (1,039), and touchdown catches (seven) and was named an honorable mention for Conference USA. Second in the league was his 86.6 yards per game average, and fourth were his 71 receptions. In 2022, he recorded four 100-yard games: a 183-yard effort at New Mexico, 127 yards against UNT, 106 yards at Charlotte, and a 10-catch, 117-yard performance at MTSU.
The product of Cibolo, Texas, made 19 grabs for 191 yards and a touchdown in four games in 2023. Over his 29 games at UTEP, he had 123 receptions for 1,800 yards and 12 touchdowns.
