No. 8 Cincinnati Always A Team On The Move

CINCINNATI -- Linebacker Craig Carey made his first career interception, tucked the ball securely into the crook of his elbow and headed upfield, acting like he'd done his many times already.

Sure had.

When Carey accepted a scholarship from No. 8 Cincinnati, he was a high school quarterback and tight end, hoping to score a lot of touchdowns for the Bearcats. Instead, he has ended up stopping them. And he's not the only Cincinnati player to undergo an extreme makeover.

At many positions, the Bearcats (5-0) are a team on the move.

Last season, tight end Connor Barwin moved to defensive end and led the Big East in sacks. This year, the Bearcats opened with four linebackers who came to Cincinnati as offensive stars. Alex Daniels was a running back at Minnesota before transferring to Cincinnati and to defensive end. Marcus Barnett has morphed into a throwback two-way player, starting at cornerback one week and his more accustomed position of receiver the next.

"With all of those guys, it's finding opportunities for guys you think can help your football team," said coach Brian Kelly, who started his head coaching career at Grand Valley State. "Instead of stockpiling players at a particular position, I've always come from the background of Division II where we only had 35 scholarships. We didn't have the luxury to have three running backs or four quarterbacks. We'd have to move them.

"So I think I default back to my background, and ... get these guys in a position where they can help us."

Other teams move players as well. Last week, Syracuse moved receiver Da'Mon Merkerson to defensive back to try to upgrade a struggling secondary against South Florida. But no one is more adept at it than the Bearcats, who have gotten many of their best moments from transplanted players.

Take that first career interception by Carey, which ended a Fresno State scoring threat in the fourth quarter and helped Cincinnati hold on for a 28-20 win. The Bulldogs were at the Cincinnati 6-yard line when Carey stepped in front of a pass intended for a running back, tucked the ball in and ran 21 yards before getting tackled.

"I feel like I hadn't had a ball in my hands for years," the senior said. "It felt kind of weird. It was fun just to hear the crowd go wild. It felt so good."

Last week, the RB-turned-DE Daniels had a career-high four sacks in a 37-13 win over Miami (Ohio).

No one has been more on the move than Barnett, who practiced at cornerback during summer camp because the Bearcats were well-stocked at receiver but thin in the defensive secondary. When cornerback Dominique Battle got hurt, Barnett made his first career start there against Fresno State and batted down a pass.

Second-leading receiver D.J. Woods got so sick that he couldn't play last week, so Barnett moved back to receiver last week and caught six passes for 57 yards against Miami.

"He's a great team player," Kelly said. "For a kid to pay 72 plays last week on defense, and then D.J. came down with an illness and Marcus got thrown into starting at wide receiver and did a very nice job. He's helped us out immensely the last two weeks."

Kelly's creativity was evident to the RedHawks before the game. First-year Miami coach Michael Haywood was the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame when Demetrius Jones played quarterback for the Irish. The 6-foot-4, 214-pound Jones transferred to Cincinnati and moved to linebacker this season.

"It's good to see him out there playing and running around," Haywood said. "The first time I saw him at linebacker was in a game on television. I texted (an acquaintance) and said, 'Can you believe he's playing linebacker?' and he sent me a text saying, 'I can't believe it."'

It's not an easy change. Players who spend their grade school and high school careers throwing, catching and running with the ball have to adopt a completely different mindset.

"You have blockers coming at you instead of people blocking for you," Carey said. "You've got to get off blockers and try to make the tackle instead of trying to avoid the tackle. You're going out looking for the contact. You're trying to punish the offensive player rather than having that happen to you."

It's a lot less glamorous.

"Offensive players are a little more flashy with all the wristbands and whatnot," Carey said.

Each of those transplanted players has stories to tell about scoring touchdowns in their previous roles. They generally keep those private.

"We don't talk about it because we consider ourselves defensive players," Carey said.

And the offense won't let them forget it. When Carey described his game-saving interception and 21-yard return within earshot of Tony Pike, the quarterback couldn't help but tease.

"Connor Barwin would have scored on that," Pike said.

Easy for him to say.