With the bulk of their work done in December's early college football signings, the University of Cincinnati added a few more players to their upcoming roster Wednesday.

Needing to patch some holes on the offensive line due to graduation, UC inked Dayton Dunbar's Jonathan Allen. Allen is a 6-foot-6, 310-pound offensive tackle listed as a three-star recruit by 247sports.com. He attracted offers from Ohio State, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Michigan, Penn State and Iowa of the Big Ten; Syracuse, Georgia Tech and Louisville of the ACC; West Virginia of the Big 12; Kentucky of the SEC and most of the MAC.

Allen was ranked as one of the Top-35 players in the state and twice earned All-Southwest District honors from the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association. The four-sport athlete also plays basketball and baseball and took part in track.

“In December, we talked about being flexible with our remaining spots and focusing on our relationships in the 50- and 300-mile radius around campus and we did that,” Fickell said. “We were able to add a big offensive lineman in Jonathan Allen from that radius. He’s a dynamic athlete who only played a couple of seasons, so his best football is ahead of him which is exciting for us. We are looking forward to getting this entire class here later this year to start developing and competing with our returning players.”

Allen is a former high school teammate of UC running back Tavion Thomas. Thomas ran for 499 yards and six touchdowns as a freshman last season. Now Allen can plow holes for the likes of Thomas, Michael Warren II and Charles McClelland.

Other additions include Moeller's Ryan Mullaney and JJ Davis of Colerain as preferred walk-ons. Mullaney led the Greater Catholic League-South in sacks the last two seasons at linebacker. Over three seasons he had 30 sacks. This past season playing for former Bearcat Doug Rosfeld, he had 13 sacks, 61 tackles (41 solo), three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. In 2017 he had 50 tackles, four forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries to go with 14.5 sacks. Numerous preferred walk-ons over the years have been elevated to full scholarship status over time.

"Ryan is as dynamic and powerful of a defensive player as Moeller has had in several years," Rosfeld said. "He's a leader on and off the field. He broke Moeller's record for career sacks and is a perfect fit for Coach Fickell's team."

Davis played for Division I state runner-up Colerain (14-1) and had 715 yards rushing and nine touchdowns for a team that ran for 4,420 yards out of the triple-option. He also caught 19 passes for 456 yards and six scores. His longest kickoff return was 62 yards and longest punt return was 45 yards.

These signings complement the 14 players signed over two months ago, which included Greater Cincinnati recruits Eric Phillips out of Colerain and Brody Ingle of La Salle.

"We recognize there's great football here," Fickell said. "That's where everything starts for us, within that 50-mile radius we call the State of Cincinnati. It extends to the state of Ohio."

Another player with Bearcat ties is 6-0 200-pound linebacker Jackson Bruscianelli of Montini Catholic in Illinois where he was a three-year starter and All-State performer. Bruscianelli's father played at UC in 1988-89 under then-coach Tim Murphy.

From Vandalia Butler is Bryant Johnson III. Johnson is a 6-6 receiver who had 19 catches for 363 yards and three scores for Butler. He also recently had the unenviable task of trying guard UC basketball signee Samari Curtis. Johnson is Butler's starting center and has had a high game of 19 points and 11 rebounds against Northmont.

Others picking up walk-on opportunities are Poland Seminary (Youngstown) quarterback Cole Kosco, Dublin Scioto long snapper Cayson Pfeiffer and Perry offensive tackle Zachary Early.

UC was 11-2 under second-year coach Luke Fickell in 2018 after going 4-8 in 2017. The Bearcats won the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Maryland over Virginia Tech 35-31 with sophomore Michael Warren II named the game MVP. The bowl trophy was displayed last week at halftime of the men's basketball win over SMU with a lot of highly sought after juniors in the audience at Fifth Third Arena. Some of those could be in UC's next signing class which would come next December.

UC's fall football schedule hasn't been officially released yet but it includes home games against UCLA, Miami University, Temple, Tulsa, UCF and Connecticut. Road games are set for Ohio State, Marshall, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis and USF.

In addition to today's roster additions, there could be some graduate transfers announced soon.