Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner still vividly remembers his first career interception. It came Oct. 4, 2019 against a ranked UCF team. Film study that week came easily. Gardner knew if the Bearcats played off coverage, the Knights would run a hitch route. If the Bearcats were pressing on the line, the receiver would run vertical. Simple.
Cincinnati called a Cover 3 look and Gardner lined off his assigned receiver. But when he saw Dillon Gabriel make his drop, Gardner knew he had a chance. He jumped the route and took that thing back for six to give Cincinnati a second-half lead it would never relinquish.
“When I got here, everyone was just talking about UCF this, UCF that,” Gardner told 247Sports. “Ever since that game I feel like we’ve got a lot of respect, and it’s only getting better.”
Gardner went from a reasonably anonymous three-star recruit (he ranked as the No. 163 overall cornerback in the 2019 247Sports Composite) to a Freshman All-American soon after that game. Now, he’s one of the best players in the country and a potential first-round pick.
Cincinnati made a similar rise. The Bearcats entered the Top 25 the following week and haven’t left in the two years since. They’re 20-3 over that period and currently sit No. 7 in the AP Poll, the highest rank for the program in its 68-year history.
There’s an opportunity for Gardner and the Bearcats to continue that rise over the weekend with Cincinnati traveling to play No. 9 Notre Dame (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC). The matchup is the culmination of years of progression, an opportunity for Cincinnati to prove to the College Football Playoff committee it belongs in the conversation.
“I think talent-wise we’re better than we have ever been since I’ve been here,” Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell told 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong. “"That’s where we’re much different. I’m not going to say we’re as talented as Georgia or we’re as talented as Notre Dame. But there’s not a discrepancy in the amount of talent that’s going to be playing in those 11 positions.”
While Cincinnati has had major recruiting wins during Fickell’s tenure – three four-star recruits, including a top 50 prospect, were in the Bearcats’ 2020 class – the majority of its roster is made up of developmental success stories.
Take Gardner for example. A star two-way contributor for Detroit power Martin Luther King High School, Gardner had a spattering of Power Five offers (Iowa State, Kentucky, Indiana). Yet most big programs shied away from him because he weighed less than 160 pounds. He had the frame at 6-foot-3 but looked like a strong wind gust might send him tumbling.
Even Cincinnati lied about Gardner a little: “In a game they’d boost my weight up a little bit. My freshman year versus UCF they said 185, and I was like, ‘Dang, I’m 185?’ I knew that was wrong, but it was good to see that on TV.”
A lot more calories and the dialing back of the too-rigorous, calorie-shedding training has helped Gardner jump to a legitimate 200 pounds. At that weight, Gardner has the ingredients to be the best press cornerback in the 2022 NFL Draft class.
Cincinnati lines up in man-to-man coverage 46.8% of the time, per PFF College, which is the fifth-highest rate in the country. That suits Gardner perfectly. He’s long, physical at the line of scrimmage and has enough makeup speed to make plays in the rare instance he’s trailing out of press. Gardner hasn't allowed a touchdown in a 1,340 career snaps. He’s picked off seven passes while holding opposing receivers to a 4-in-10 catch rate.
“I like to be very aggressive,” Gardner said. “It wouldn’t be rational for me to have this much length and to play off coverage.”
The defense shares Gardner’s mentality.
The cornerback opposite Gardner, 2020 all-AAC selection Coby Bryant, is 6-foot-1, 198 pounds. Even the team’s starting safeties are 6-foot or taller. The front seven is no less rapacious. With several potential draft picks scattered across the unit, including star edge rusher Myjai Sanders, the Bearcats have the second-highest pressure rate in the country, per PFF College.
Cincinnati finished the 2020 season ranked fourth nationally in yards allowed per play. This year the Bearcats sit 10th. They also rank 10th nationally with 10 takeaways, the most turnovers of anyone who’s played three or fewer games.
Talent is part of Cincinnati’s defensive story. Mentality defines the group.
“We’re not going to let everyone walk all over us,” Gardner said. “We’re not going to let anybody be all fancy and pretty. If you’re going to be able to win against our DBs, you’re going to have to earn it. You’re going to have to be very physical since we’re going to be physical. You’re not going to be able to run away from us. You’ll have to run to it. That’s why we excel. Most receivers they try to run away from it. They’re not going to be able to be successful.”
Proof of concept happened a year ago when Cincinnati held Georgia to 24 points in the Peach Bowl. The Bearcats lost 24-21 that day, a loss Gardner said still sticks with the team. In Notre Dame, the Bearcats have a similar opportunity against a traditional power.
One moment two years ago helped change the direction of the Cincinnati program. With a higher degree of stakes – the playoff committee is watching – Gardner is hopeful Cincinnati can make yet another early-October statement.
“Nobody is going to be able to run over us, and we have athletes,” Gardner said. “It might be Group of Five – well, it’ll be Big 12 in the future – right now, but we’ve got Power Five athletes all over the field.”
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Ahmad 'Sauce' Gardner and Cincinnati ready to bring the heat to Notre Dame - 247Sports
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