Three Bearcats earn ALL-Big 12 FIrst Team
On Thursday afternoon, the Big 12 announced their All-Big 12 teams.
Three Bearcats were recognized for their efforts on the field this season as redshirt senior right guard Luke Kandra, redshirt junior defensive tackle Dontay Corleone, and redshirt junior tight end Joe Royer all received All-Big 12 First Team honors.
In 2023, Kandra earned Second Team honors from the coaches and First Team mention from the Associated Press. Corleone was a Second Team selection by the coaches and AP last fall.
Kandra was the Big 12's highest-rated right guard by Pro Football Focus for the second straight season. The Cincinnati Elder High native was a preseason All-Big 12 selection this fall after earning Walter Camp Second Team and Associated Press Third Team All-America honors in 2023.
Corleone earned all-conference honors for a third straight season. Another Cincinnati native out of Colerain High School, "The Godfather" was a 2022 First Team All-American Athletic Conference selection and Third Team AP All-American in 2022 before earning All-Big 12 mention the last two seasons. Corleone missed three months of full-contact practice after being diagnosed with blood clots this summer but returned in week two, finishing the season with 26 tackles, 5.0 TFLs and 3.5 sacks.
Royer, who began his career at Ohio State, broke Travis Kelce's 12-year-old school record for single-season receptions by a tight end this season with a four-yard reception against TCU in the final regular season game.
The Elder High School product led all Big 12 tight ends with 50 catches and tallied 521 yards and three touchdowns. Royer has emerged as one of the nation's top tight ends and will have to make a decision soon regarding a decision to stay another year as a Bearcat or declare for the NFL Draft.
Honorable Mention Awards:
Senior punter Mason Fletcher, redshirt senior linebacker Jared Bartlett, and redshirt junior linebacker Jake Golday all received honorable mention All-Big 12 selections.
Fletcher ends his career with his third all-conference accolade after earning honorable mention honors last season and All-AAC first-team distinctions in 2022. The Melbourne, Australia native averaged 42.6 yards per punt this past season, booting nine punts of at least 50 yards and placing nine inside the 20-yard line. He ends his career ranking second all-time in program history in career punt average (44.0) and fifth all-time in career punting yards (8,747).
Bartlett, who transferred to Cincinnati from West Virginia, ranked among the league leaders in sacks (7.5, T-2nd), and tackles for loss (11.5, T-4th). He led UC in both categories as well as tackles (69) while starting eight games. Bartlett had at least one TFL in nine of 12 games this year and had a stretch of five straight games in which he recorded a sack.
Golday, who also transferred to Cincinnati from Central Arkansas, ranked second on the team with 58 tackles while accumulating seven tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups, and 1.5 sacks. Golday was the Big 12's second-highest graded linebacker according to PFF (81.3) and its top-graded linebacker in pass coverage (83.3).
Brendan Sorsby Returning to Cincinnati
Wild times that we are currently living in.
On Thursday, ESPN's Pete Thamel announced that Cincinnati had struck a deal with Brendan Sorsby to return as the starting quarterback of the Bearcats in 2025.
An Indiana transfer and Denton, TX native, Sorsby completed 249-of-389 passes for 2,813 yards and 18 touchdowns while adding 447 yards on the ground and nine rushing TDs. Sorsby's completion percentage (64.0%) ranks seventh all-time in school history in a single season, and his nine rushing touchdowns are third-most in a season ever by a UC quarterback. He ended the regular season as one of just three FBS quarterbacks with at least 2,500 passing yards, 15+ passing touchdowns, and 9+ rushing touchdowns, and he was the only FBS quarterback this season with one game of at least 425 passing yards and one game with at least 125 rushing yards.
With the Bearcats losing receivers Xzavier Henderson, Jamoi Mayes, Aaron Turner, and Sterling Berkhalter to graduation or transfer, Scott Satterfield and his staff will try to replenish a wide-receiver room that helped lead an offense that ranked sixth in the Big 12 in total offense (420.6 ypg).
