Cincinnati Bearcats Hayden Moore tops QB chart, but several youngsters could push for time

Tom Groeschen | Cincinnati Enquirer

Show Caption Hide Caption Watch: UC's Fickell says Moore No. 1 QB, but youngsters could push for playing time University of Cincinnati football coach Luke Fickell says senior Hayden Moore is his No. 1 quarterback, but that Moore still faces competition in camp.

WEST HARRISON, Indiana - This is Hayden Moore's show for now, but the University of Cincinnati senior quarterback still faces competition for his job as 2018 preseason practice continues here at Camp Higher Ground.

Fifth-year senior Moore is locked into the No. 1 spot as UC prepares for its season opener, which is Saturday, Sept. 1, against UCLA (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

UC head coach Luke Fickell said after Monday's practice that Moore is the man at quarterback but that Moore should not get too comfortable. That is no different than any other position on the team, Fickell said.

"If you went out there today, just because of where (Moore) has been and what he's done, he would be the guy that's got the nod right now," Fickell said. "But we're making it a competition."

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Moore (Clay, Alabama, native) has been the UC starter for most of the past two years, in which the Bearcats went 4-8 each time. Obviously, not all of the won-lost record is on Moore, but he has been UC's top quarterback option during that time.

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Former backup Ross Trail once was in the picture, but Trail transferred to Arkansas State after it became clear in 2018 spring ball that he would not beat out Moore.

The stark reality is that, after Moore, UC has no quarterback who has taken a collegiate snap. Redshirt freshman Desmond Ridder (6-4, 212, Louisville St. Xavier, Kentucky.) pushed himself into the No. 2 role in spring ball. True freshman Ben Bryant (6-3, 210, La Grange, Illinois) appears to be No. 3 for now, followed by sophomore Jake Sopko (6-2, 220, Avon, Ohio) and true freshman walk-on John Keller (6-2, 200, North Canton, Ohio).

"Between (Moore) and Des (Ridder), they're rolling most every series with the ones," Fickell said, referring to the No. 1 unit. "Ben (Bryant) gets thrown in there for some as well, but mostly Ben is getting the rolls with the twos. It's really kind of a two-man battle right now."

With a tall task awaiting at UCLA in the opener, the only scenario where Moore would not start probably would be if he was injured in preseason camp. As of Monday, Bovada odds listed the Bearcats as 16 ½-point underdogs to the Bruins.

At some point, will Fickell play Ridder just to get his feet wet? Everyone must take that first collegiate snap at some point, but Fickell said he will not rush Ridder just to get him into a game.

"There's a uniqueness in how those guys have got to be able to handle it," Fickell said. "I'm not, say, a two-quarterback guy, but we do have to figure out how to use our best players. If that happens to be that the two quarterbacks are two of the best players we've got, then maybe there's some other ways we could use him.

"Right now we're just letting them focus on competing and say, hey, who can lead this team? Who can do the things we need to do and who can help us be most successful?"

ALL QUIET: For now, UC is not allowing its quarterbacks to do media interviews. The idea is to avoid any distractions early in camp.

GETTING COORDINATED: UC Offensive Coordinator Mike Denbrock is in tandem with Fickell, in terms of the quarterback situation. Denbrock said there is no depth chart written in stone but acknowledged that Moore and Ridder are the main men.

"We've got two, sometimes three guys competing hard for the reps," Denbrock said. "It's been a daily competition that we've tracked very closely. Each day, one guy seems to surge a little bit. Then the other guy takes a step back and the other guy surges.

"It's kind of the Hayden Moore-Desmond Ridder battle. They're encouraging each other, helping each other, but they're battling hard. It's helping us offensively."

Bryant appears to be more of a long-term possibility, having just come out of high school.

"For a freshman he's very, very talented with his ability to throw the football," Denbrock said. "He was an early enrollee and he got a lot of work in spring ball. Some of it is also his football intelligence and what he came here with."

BIG NUMBERS: Moore burst onto the scene as a redshirt freshman in 2015, when he relieved an injured Gunner Kiel and threw for a UC single-game record 557 yards in a 53-46 loss at Memphis.

Kiel regained his job that season but then fell out of favor, including his absence from the 2015 Hawaii Bowl. The 2016 season saw Moore, Kiel and Trail all start games as then-coach Tommy Tuberville saw his final UC season spiral out of control (4-8 record, Tuberville resigned under pressure).

Fickell took over in 2017, and Moore started all 12 games. Moore threw for 2,562 yards last season, with 20 touchdown passes and nine interceptions. Moore has had consistency issues during his career, with only a 40-27 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Moore's 57 percent career completion percentage is, for this era, relatively low.

Athlon Sports rated Moore No. 82 among the 130 projected FBS starting quarterbacks for 2018. Regardless, if Moore stays healthy he will finish with some of the top cumulative numbers in UC quarterback history: