Coming into Cincinnati, Ross Trail was the highest rated recruit in the 2015 class. Due to an injury during the spring of 2017, Trail was squeezed into the backup role in last years campaign.
With a new batch of hot recruits buying into the Fickell era, Trail was, again, being squished into the middle. Moore has established himself as the leading candidate for the 2018 season, which has limited the window of opportunity for Trail to step in.
Trail never got himself established in Cincinnati, as his freshmen year looked wobbly and unstable. As the QB carousel continued to spin, Trail only had one TD pass against six INTs.
He never looked comfortable, but no QB actually looked that comfortable because they knew if they made one mistake, Tuberville was going to pull the plug on them.
Don’t even get me started on Tommy Tubes…
Moving on.
When Luke Fickell arrived for the 2017 season, Trail was left in an uncomfortable position. Fickell went with a more experienced QB in Moore, and before the season started, Fickell decided to have one QB lead the way throughout the season. Trail’s only playing time came in a thirty point blowout, down in Tampa, where Trail went 5-9 with 31 yards.
Before that, the fans were calling for Fickell to make the QB change and to see what Trail had – but when given the chance, Trail let the opportunity slip away.
How does this benefit the Bearcats? It leaves Moore as the undefined number one guy going into summer camps and even to start the season.
With a bigger gap between the one and two slots on the depth chart, Moore can ease up and perform with less pressure. It also leaves Desmond a Ridder as the front runner for the 2019 starting QB job, as he can learn behind Moore. Ridder should look to be the number one guy going into spring camps his sophomore year.
How does this benefit Ross Trail? Playing time was always going to be an issue with Trail being in the middle of two different era’s. He will now have the opportunity to go play and start at a lower level program because playing time was the number one reason for his transfer.
He has high level talent, but with the right coaching, attention and setting, he could thrive with his remaining two years of eligibility.
Departures are always tough for the team and the player, but some things are meant to be. Trail’s time was limited from the start, with his talent being unused on the sidelines.
Every kid that goes to college to play football, wants to play, and Trail might have another opportunity to do so.
