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Ivan Pace Jr. Turning Heads and Taking Names Early at UC

The transfer linebacker looks like the best player on UC's defense just two games into his Bearcat tenure.

Russ Heltman

© Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports

CINCINNATI — UC football needed some impact results from their transfers this season, and one linebacker is more than meeting the challenge. Two games into his UC career, Ivan Pace Jr. has been the heart of this Blackcats defense.

"I'm surprised maybe just in how well he's picked things up." Luke Fickell said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday. "He's had to work on his attention to detail. I think that's where he's done a really good job. And last week was a challenge just because we play things a little bit different. And we're very disciplined in how we play some of the triple option."

His stat line is eye-popping: 23 tackles (11 solo), 4.5 tackles for loss, and a sack. Add in his forced fumble on a Kennesaw State pitch play this past Saturday, and all the linebacker needs is a pick and a fumble recovery to check all the boxes.

"Ivan is very disruptive. He’s a very instinctual football player," Fickell said after the loss to Arkansas. "He was very productive. He made a lot of plays. There are obviously things we got to get better at. There's some soundness of things that for how we play on, what it is we do, that puts a little bit more pressure on those guys because, little mistakes become catastrophic when you play as tight of coverage as we do. But he is very comfortable in what he's doing."

None of this surprised Fickell in that first outing, where Pace looked like he more than belonged on an SEC field.

"I'm not saying (it's) a surprise, but as a new guy in a system, in a game like that, that is not normal," Fickell continued. "Meaning there's so many motions and so many shifts and so many flies, and the tempo and pace of it, that it didn't slow him down one bit. That's a good thing.”

The senior's produced plenty of good things through two games—good enough to be the leading tackler among all AAC players thus far. Overall, Pace ranks top-20 nationally in total tackles (t-16th), and tackles for loss (t-ninth).

At 6-foot, 235-pounds, the game-wrecker would've been a shoo-in NFL Draft pick already had his height peaked another two or three inches. No matter, with production like this (125 tackles in 2021, ninth in NCAA) it's going to be hard for all 32 NFL teams to turn Pace away.

One of the coolest wrinkles of this homecoming for Pace is getting to play with so many names from Colerain.

“It's because of those guys," Fickell said describing the impact of Colerain products on defense. "You don't want to get those two nose guard guys in their graves. Jabari Taylor, Dontay Corleone, and Justin Wodtly did a really good job to give Wilson Huber and Ivan Pace the best opportunity to fit and fill downhill. You can see the instincts even in a triple-option game. It's from a kid like that, he's going continue to grow up. He's a big part of what we're doing.”

We've only gotten a taste of Pace's impact thus far, but it's been palpable. Linebacker is the strongest position group on this team, and Pace has shot up from a reserve vying to wear No. 10 in the spring, to arguably the best defensive player in the program.

Now he gets to battle his former team and keep showing why he's been such a rocket ship in Clifton. 

"I don't put a whole lot of stock in those things," Fickell said about Pace playing his old team. "But I understand the emotions. That is an emotional game in particular and just like I did last year with Michael Young, earlier in the week, talking to him about it, I'll do the same thing with Ivan (Pace, Jr.) and anybody else that comes into some of those situations where they've either been someplace, or they've got a different connection to those things."

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Russ Heltman
RUSS HELTMAN

Russ Heltman is a contributor for AllBearcats and AllBengals. He is the morning host and producer for 89.3 WMKV in Cincinnati, OH. Russ can be found on Twitter: @RussHeltman11 or you can reach him by email at Heltmandm@yahoo.com.

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