Coombs, Bearcats’ secondary have a big void to fill
At spring practice for the University of Cincinnati football team, no one had more energy and life than Kerry Coombs.
The 18-, 19- and 20-something-yearold players were loud. Their 48-year-old head coach, Luke Fickell, who led the controlled chaos, was louder. But it was the 60-year-old Coombs who was the loudest and most proud to be back on the field and back in his element.
"It doesn't get any better than this," Coombs said. "We're outside. We're at Nippert Stadium. There's a bunch of people watching practice. The kids played really hard. I told them today when I got to address the special teams, the thing that you feel when you walk back into this facility, you feel the toughness, you feel the energy, you feel the effort. It is a fantastic thing. I'm really excited. It's a privilege to be back here coaching again."
The Colerain High School graduate and former state championship-winning coach returned to Cincinnati to lead the Bearcats' cornerbacks and coach special teams. The roles are familiar to Coombs, who held the same positions under former UC coaches Brian Kelly and Butch Jones (2007-11) before moving on to take on the same jobs at Ohio State.
The difference for Coombs at Cincinnati this time around is both everything and nothing at all.
"It's been 10 years since I left and actually 15 years since I started here," Coombs said. "It's both dramatically different and exactly the same. I still see a lot of the same faces. The complex is all the same. A lot of things look the same. There are facility upgrades, don't get me wrong, but the tone and tenor that Luke has brought is special. It's exciting to be a part of that. You feel that. So, it's very similar and very different all at the same time."
Coombs brings to the Bearcats nearly 40 years of coaching experience and an excitement and energy level not even athletes 40 years his junior can match.
"I just love his energy," UC senior cornerback Arquon Bush said. "Every time I see him, he's got a cup of coffee. He's always upbeat."
Coombs said that energy comes from his love for the game. Coombs will need that energy this year. He'll also need Bush.
As the Bearcats begin their countdown to the 2022 season-opener Sept. 3 at Arkansas, Coombs faces one of the toughest challenges of his storied coaching career: finding a replacement for two All-american cornerbacks in about six months.
After standout UC careers that included Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner not surrendering a touchdown in three seasons and Coby Bryant winning the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's top defensive back, the two now set their sights on the NFL, leaving a sizeable void in the
Bearcats' cornerbacks room.
"I know Ahmad and I know Coby, and I met with Ahmad this winter, but I wasn't in that room," Coombs said. "I don't know the players. So I don't know what the dynamic was. But what the dynamic is now is Arquon is the unquestioned leader of the group. I'm counting on him. I'm leaning on him."
While Gardner lined up on the boundary, or shorter side of the field, often facing the other team's No. 1 receiver throughout his career, Bryant patrolled the opposite side. The two combined to form a nearly impenetrable tandem.
With the two outside corner spots taken, Bush was relegated to the nickelback position, or the third cornerback lined up inside in Cincinnati's five-defensive back look.
Bush tallied 84 tackles, 17 pass breakups and seven interceptions in 23 career starts at that position.
Now, Bush is expected to step into that No. 1 spot.
"We just have to keep the standards up," Bush said. "There's no ifs, ands or buts about it. Those two guys are gone, next two guys are up. We've just got to do what we've got to do."
Two questions remain for Coombs. The first is whether Bush slides to one of the outside corner positions.
The other question facing Coombs is who will be on the opposite side of Bush. The early frontrunners are sophomore Todd Bumphis, seniors Justin Harris, Jaquan Sheppard and Taj Ward and even highly-touted freshman early enrollee JQ Hardaway.
"We've got a couple guys that are going on to the NFL," Coombs said. "Our job is to not allow the performance of the room to go down. It's going to be hard work, but that's our job, and that's what we're here to do."