WEST HARRISON – As the University of Cincinnati football team's practice was coming to an end on Tuesday, an ice cream truck pulled up just off the practice field at the Higher Ground Conference and Retreat Center.
The ice cream has become an annual treat for the Bearcats and an anticipated break from the monotony of camp.
More:5 observations from the Cincinnati Bearcats' first week of camp
UC coach Luke Fickell joked (but in a very serious way) that ice cream is his weakness. But then Fickell's smile quickly vanished.
Fickell, entering his fifth season at the helm of the Cincinnati program, was upset, expressing his distaste for the defense's lack of "energy" and "effort" during the red zone period at the end of practice.
"We want to pride ourselves on playing well in the red zone, whether it's offense or defense," Fickell said. "What I don't think I saw as much of is the competitiveness that I would want to see. ... I don't think I saw that competitive nature – when it really got down there and we got to it – that I wanted to see, especially from our defense."
Freshman cornerback Jonah Lytle surrendered a touchdown on the last play of practice. Junior cornerback Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner implored Fickell to give the first-team defense another crack at it, but to no avail.
"He wanted another shot at it," Fickell said. "But you know what? You don't always get another shot at it, that's the thing. Sometimes you need some humbling experiences. All of us do, as coaches and as players. That's the only way to kind of refocus yourself."
The defense coming up short Tuesday could've been due to the heat, humidity, the absence of 2020 first-team All-American Athletic Conference defense end Myjai Sanders (Fickell said Sanders "got tweaked up a little bit" on Monday) or just the overall grind of camp. Whatever it was, Fickell said he wanted to see the unit power through it.
"It's all of it," Fickell said. "But I'm not going to make an excuse for camp fatigue. When the ball goes down, the greatest thing that these guys have always done is compete and play. I just didn't feel like when the ball went down right there on the 3-yard line that we competed and played like I would expect. Regardless if it's 120 degrees out here, if it's Day 15 of camp or Day 1 of camp, when the ball goes down and they say liven it up and play on the 3, we gotta go."
Tuesday marked the 10th practice of camp and the second straight day in which Fickell left the practice field unhappy. Fickell cut Monday's practice short after things got a little too chippy between the offense and defense.
The chippiness is to be expected, as the Bearcats, who on Monday earned their second top-10 ranking in as many weeks, inch closer to their Sept. 4 season-opener against in-state rival Miami University.
Hopefully things will be better for Fickell on Wednesday – his 48th birthday. The staff in the kitchen will present the coach with an ice cream cake. The flavor will be a surprise.
Source link
