Three Cincinnati Football Defensive Players to Watch for 2025 Season

The Cincinnati Bearcats football team is going to have to improve on defense if it hopes to contend in the Big 12 in 2025.

Here was how the Cincinnati defense ranked last season in FBS:

Points allowed per game: 24.6 (No. 62)

Rushing yards allowed per game: 162.7 (No. 88)

Passing yards allowed per game: 222.8 (No. 73)

Total yards allowed per game: 385.4 (No. 85)

With only three returning starters, the Bearcats face an uphill climb to improve the unit and bounce back from a 5-7 season in 2024.

Here are three defensive players to keep an eye on for the Cincinnati Bearcats.

DT Dontay Corleone

‘The Godfather’ is back for one more year. Last year, it was unclear if Corleone would even be able to play as he developed a blood clot over the summer, and the Bearcats didn’t offer a timetable for his return.

He only missed one game, and he had his usual impact on the Bearcat defense, as he finished the season with 26 tackles, 5.0 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks. The Big 12 coaches didn’t seem to mind that he missed time or only had 26 tackles. He was still named All-Big 12 first team and even made College Football Network’s all-America team as an honorable mention.

Corleone doesn’t need gaudy numbers to make an impact. By coming back for 2025, he made NFL scouts wait one more year. A redshirt member of Cincinnati’s 2021 College Football Playoff team, he wants to appear in a bowl game one more time.

LB Jack Dingle

He has the opportunity for a huge breakout campaign alongside the other returning starter at linebacker, Jake Golday.

Last year, Dingle had 38 tackles, below his career best of 53 from 2023. But he also finished with a pass break-up. Cincinnati would like to see him get more involved behind the line of scrimmage, where he had five tackles for loss in 2023.

He’s now started 23 games at Cincinnati and is a redshirt senior. Like several key parts of this team, this is a last chance to get back to a bowl game after a two-year absence.

CB Matthew McDoom

Aside from having a name that is kind of perfect for a cornerback, the Bearcats need the Coastal Carolina transfer to be the player he was a year ago for the Chanticleers.

He had a great 2024. He was named First-Team All-Sun Belt, had 36 tackles with three tackles for loss. He also had 10 pass-breakups and three interceptions. He tied for 12th in the country in pass breakups and tied for second in the Sun Belt in passes defended.

The senior is joining a secondary with a lot of new pieces. The Bearcats need him to be a stabilizing force early in the season.