By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Derick Ross knows he and his fellow receivers on the University of Cincinnati football team have a tough act to follow.

The third-year sophomore from Marion, Ohio, has spent the past two years watching LaDaris Vann, Tye Keith and Jon Olinger, who formed one of the most prolific groups of receivers ever to grace the UC program.

But they're all gone.

When UC opens its season Monday afternoon at Nippert Stadium against East Carolina, the only receiver with significant experience will be junior George Murray, a converted quarterback who caught 26 passes last year in a reserve role.

Murray will start this season, along with junior Kevin Hazel and Ross, who was impressive in UC's spring game with four catches for 62 yards and one touchdown.

After two years on the sideline, Ross is looking forward to making catches when they count.

"Finally, the time is here," Ross said. "I redshirted a year and played backup for a year. This is definitely an opportunity to take advantage of and that's what I'm going to do. They were some great receivers. There's a feeling now that you have to make this play because they always did it. We're going to prove that we can play, too."

UC begins the season without the proven playmakers it had last year, but head coach Rick Minter believes the Bearcats may have more depth, with Princeton High School's Mike Daniels and Elder's Bill Poland, two freshmen who are expected to play a lot.

"We don't want to play three guys like we did last year," Minter said. "I think we're deeper than that. We wore them out last year because we were only three deep. This year we have more equality. We just have more guys that we think can play.

"But we have a lot of guys who have never done it before in a ballgame, and that's the thing you kind of hold your breath about."

Poland, one of the stars of Elder's state championship team last year, won't start Monday, but he has had a solid preseason.

"I think as time goes on, he's going to show more and more why he needs to be on the field," Minter said.

At 6-feet-3 and blessed with excellent leaping ability, Poland has the tools and the sure hands to rise over smaller defensive backs and secure the ball. But he also is still in the process of adjusting to the college game.

"The speed of the game has picked up a lot more," Poland said. "It's a lot faster and a lot more physical. You've got to read a lot more what the DBs are doing."

It falls to junior quarterback Gino Guidugli to adjust to the newcomers.

"They're young and inexperienced, but we're going to make it work," Guidugli said. "I think the skill level is right there. It's just going to take some game experience to get where those guys were."