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Recruiting Roundup: UC Offers High Four-Star Athlete, Multiple Football Visitors Salute Campus Experience

The Bearcats recruiting train is pumping out steam right now.

Russ Heltman

Recruiting Roundup: UC Offers High Four-Star Athlete, Multiple Football Visitors Salute Campus Experience
Recruiting Roundup: UC Offers High Four-Star Athlete, Multiple Football Visitors Salute Campus Experience /
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CINCINNATI — UC athletics just wrapped up a big weekend following the Crosstown Shootout—which included some key football visits. 

We start with three-star defensive lineman Ted Hammond out of St. Xavier (Ohio).

According to On3 consensus, Hammond is the 364th-ranked player in the class and the 30th-ranked defensive lineman. He holds 17 offers from schools like Vanderbilt and Kentucky. On3 gives UC a 16% chance of landing him, just behind Iowa (34.9%).

At 6-foot-4, 265 pounds, Hammond uses instant speed to win as a head-up nose tackle. The junior's technique is impressive at this stage of his career—he knows how to use interior gaps to his advantage when he knows a double team is coming. He played a lot more defensive end in 2022 and has the versatility to line up all over the line in Bryan Brown's defense

Next on the visit list is three-star 2024 athlete Taebron Bennie-Powell out of Lakota West (Ohio).

According to 247Sports Composite, Powell is the 58th-ranked player nationally and the 78th-rated athlete. He holds five offers from West Virginia, Pitt, UMass, Eastern Kentucky, and Kentucky. Cincinnati has not officially offered him.

Bennie-Powell plays an interesting hybrid role on the Firehawks' defense. He primarily suits up at safety, where he gets placed close to the line of scrimmage in a tighter sniper-like alignment. At 6-foot, 180 pounds, Bennie Powell thrived in that role last season, working down the line soundly and tackling with good form.

When he's off the line, Bennie Powell fits into the strong safety role with nice vision and range to break up passes. He has plenty of tools to be another Hometown Hero.

Moving from the visits to offers, we have three-star 2023 QB Samaj Jones out of St. Joseph's Prep School (Philadelphia).

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According to 247Sports Composite, Jones is the 368th-ranked recruit nationally and the 28th-rated quarterback. The Bearcats new staff recruited him at Louisville as one of his six offers and had been making strong progress in the battle for his signing.

Scott Satterfield has a type at QB: Dual-threat.

Jones fits in the same mold as the other QBs Cincinnati is pursuing in the 2024 class. He's a burly 6-foot-1, 205-pound runner on the ground that can bruise tacklers away or get around the edge with blazing 4.56 speed.

As a passer, Jones had the typical deep ball highlights you see from every QB recruit, but he also mixed in some nice progression throws that had him read out a concept only to revert to the backside and hit the open man.

Jones has all the talent to creep up near the 300s during his senior year.

Sticking on offense, UC sent an offer to current three-star Nebraska wide receiver commit Barry Jackson out of Cedar Grove (Georgia).

According to 247Sports Composite, Jackson is the 575th-ranked recruit nationally and the 83rd-rated wide receiver. He committed to Nebraska in July and holds 20 offers.

One of those was from Louisville, where he visited Satterfield and his old staff on June 17.

The 6-foot, 178-pound outside receiver helped his team win the AAA Georgia State Title this season with a bevy of big plays. He doesn't have a super dynamic route tree but gets in and out of his breaks well for a high schooler.

He has a nice eye for the endzone and a strong motor to get there in the open field. Tackling Jackson was not easy for opposing teams on film as he brings a physical presence on the outside to his next school.

We close the Roundup with an offer to arguably the best player on this whole list, four-star tight end KingJoseph Edwards out of Buford (Georgia).

According to 247Sports Composite, Edwards is the 38th-ranked recruit nationally and the fifth-ranked athlete. He would easily be the highest-rated player of the 247Sports era to sign with UC.

He's been crystal balled to Georgia and On3 has the Bulldogs landing him 84.8% of the time.

Edwards is a dual player that could probably play either tight end or defensive end at the next level. He looks like NFL legend Antonio Gates in plenty of size mismatches at tight end that usually end with him dominating 50/50 balls or running free with 4.5 speed.

On defense, he mostly rushed from a head-up position in the game I watched. The motor is what really stood out. Edwards outclasses all other players with his athleticism and he mixed in some nice swim moves to go with his power. 

He can definitely play his way into five-star status.

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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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