Aug. 25, 2009

(10:50 a.m.): WEST HARRISON, Ind. – At times during the UC football training camp at Higher Ground this year, I’ve been in kind of a silly/stupid mood – I always seem to get that like when I’m done eating my body weight in the cafeteria – and I decided to ask some silly/stupid questions to some members of the team.

I did the same thing last year during Media Day when I asked some Bearcats who their favorite teammate was and why. Here were the results of that poll (scroll to the bottom of the post).

Here were my questions this year: 1) Who is the funniest player on the team? 2) Who is the scariest player on the squad, the guy you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley? 3) What’s the one question/concern you have about this year’s team?

Here are the results:

Senior quarterback Tony Pike

FUNNIEST: Mike DeTemple (sophomore long snapper) and Craig Carey (senior linebacker). Mike because he’s witty and silly, and Craig because he’s just all around funny.

SCARIEST: Ricardo Matthews (senior defensive tackle). That’s the guy I wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley.

QUESTION: It’s really no question. I’m just eager to see how we respond to our challenges every week.

Senior safety Aaron Webster

FUNNIEST: Ricardo Matthews. Everything he says, it’s almost like a long story and it’ll be real stupid at the end. His climax will be at the beginning and you won’t even know it.

SCARIEST: Bones (Marcus Barnett, junior wide receiver) or Ricardo Matthews. Bones is the type of dude that has crazy strength. A lot of people will say he can’t move people. But I’ve seen him pick up people three times his size and slam them. He has dumb strength.

QUESTION: How we’re going to come up when adversity hits us and how we’re going to act. People act a certain way in practice, but you can’t tell how they’re going to act until the game starts. That’s the biggest question I have.

FUNNIEST: I’m the funniest sounding guy, because I have a country voice. But if we’re talking the top two, you have to say Ricardo Mathews is hands-down the funniest guy. Then, Mardy and Colin McCafferty (junior linebacker). Whenever that guy opens his mouth, people start rolling.

SCARIEST: Ricardo Matthews again. He’s big, he’s got those long dreads and he’s all tatted up.

QUESTION: I want to know who we we’re going to be when we get hit in the mouth.

As for what I’ve learned from this little exercise (and from last year’s as well). Ricardo Matthews is a funny, somewhat scary dude. Maybe I should be interviewing him more often. But standing about 10 feet away while I’m doing it.