By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A little extra spice could be added to one of the area's oldest football rivalries next season.

New UC head football coach Mark Dantonio revealed his first recruiting class Wednesday on national signing day, and three of his 16 players originally were thought to be headed to Miami.

Western Hills offensive lineman Trevor Canfield, Marion Harding fullback Brad Bury and Ravenna safety Lamonte Nelms changed course and will play for the Bearcats next season instead.

Dantonio also has lured away the RedHawks' defensive coordinator, Pat Narduzzi, to join a staff with Miami alums Don Treadwell and Mark Staten.

"I felt like we deserved the chance to step up to the plate and swing," said Dantonio, who also signed players away from other universities. "So regardless of whether somebody committed or not, we were going to go in and talk about the University of Cincinnati and what we were trying to develop here. . . . (The Miami recruits) made their choices based on what was best for them. I'm never going to apologize for standing up and trying to get the best players possible, whether that's from Ohio State or anywhere else."

Bury followed his high school coach, Tim Hinton, to Cincinnati. Hinton will be the Bearcats' new running backs coach.

Canfield met some of the new UC staff at an Ohio State camp last year and made the decision partly because Miami lost three coaches.

RedHawks linebackers coach Taver Johnson took a position as an assistant with the Browns, and offensive line coach John Peterson is headed to the University of Arizona.

"Those guys were a big part of my decision, and they were leaving," Canfield said. "At that point, I felt like I had to get out. You never know what new coaching staffs are going to be like and if you're going to like them."

Nelms was persuaded by Narduzzi to switch allegiances. Narduzzi said he promised Miami head coach Terry Hoeppner he would not try to steal away any athletes committed to the RedHawks but said Nelms was "fair game" because he was uncommitted at the time.

"There's no way I was going to do that to Miami University," Narduzzi said. "I'll probably get beat up over (signing Nelms) by them, but again, he was fair game. I had a relationship with him. It happened to be a kid that I was recruiting, but I thought twice about doing it, to be honest with you."

Narduzzi, who moved to UC because of the opportunities the Big East will present in 2005, might have the hardest time with the rivalry this year after experiencing last year's 13-1 season and GMAC Bowl championship at Miami.

"It's not fun. It's like Coach 'Hoepp' said as I went and talked to him one evening. He said, 'Any school but Cincinnati,' " Narduzzi said. "It's one of those rivalries that you don't realize how heated it is until you make that move. I was sick to my stomach for a couple of days."

Hoeppner said he's happy with Miami's recruiting class.

"I don't care about the ones who got away. You could kill yourself. You could drive yourself crazy," Hoeppner said. "The recruiting process is such that we tell so many people no that the ones who tell us no, we don't worry about it. We go right on by. The guy right behind him might be just as good, or he might be better."

Mark Schmetzer and Ryan Ernst contributed to this report.