By Bill Koch
Enquirer staff writer

As the players filed into the University of Cincinnati football offices Tuesday afternoon to report for their first fall camp under Mark Dantonio, the new UC coach admitted to a few butterflies.

"You want to make sure everything is ready," he said.

"I'm sure there's something that didn't get done that we'll have to adjust on the move. But, yeah, I've got a little anxiety. You want everything to go smoothly."

Dantonio, who replaces Rick Minter, was to meet with the entire team at 7:30 p.m., but he planned no first-day pep talk.

"I think they'll be pretty wired," he said. "They normally are."

Instead, the day was devoted to procedural matters such as physicals, equipment, team policies and the like. The real fun begins this morning when the players go through what Dantonio calls an interval test to see what kind shape they're in.

The Bearcats, who open their regular season on Sept. 4 at Ohio State, will conduct their first practice this afternoon.

Nine starters on offense and seven on defense return from last year's team that finished 5-7.

"This is game time tomorrow morning," Dantonio said of the interval test. "Don't tell me you're going to play well against Ohio State if you can't do this."

Everyone showed up except for former basketball player Kareem Johnson, who worked out during spring practice as a defensive end.

Johnson still wants to play football, but NCAA rules say the Bearcats must count him as one of their 85 scholarship players. Dantonio had hoped to use Johnson, who completed his basketball eligibility last year, as a walk-on.

"We talked to him (Monday)," Dantonio said. "He hasn't played football since the ninth grade. Right now, he's too far away. We were going to give him two weeks to see if he would be in the two deep, but they won't let us do that. If he comes in on day one, he counts and that takes away an opportunity for somebody else."

Senior defensive tackle Mike Wright talked with the enthusiasm you'd expect from a player inspired by a new coaching regime and a fresh start for the program.

"Everybody's excited," he said. "Before the guys kind of dreaded going to practice. Now I think the guys actually enjoy going to practice.

"You can work for two hours and have a good time and get the work done and get out of there. Before, with Minter, it was 3 1/2 hours. You were dreading practice, pacing yourself and you were wanting to get out.

"I told coach Dantonio that this is what I envisioned a college football program to be, with the coaches caring for you. It's just a better atmosphere."

Not much is expected of this team, which has been picked to finish eighth in its final Conference USA season by the league's coaches.

But the players aren't listening to that.

"Coach is going to do us right," said defensive end Trent Cole. "These coaches are players' coaches. They're all for the players. I think we'll have a fun year."

E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com