Cincinnati’s fifth preseason practice moved indoors Tuesday, but the Bearcats still found plenty of heat inside the Sheakley Indoor Practice Facility.
With thunderstorms pushing the workout off the field, UC got through 21 total periods and spent a good chunk of the day in situational team work. The first units on offense and defense went at each other hard, and the running game had one of the day’s biggest standouts in fifth-year transfer Gi’Bran Payne.
Payne, a Cincinnati native and La Salle product, turned in multiple eye-catching runs during 11-on-11 work. His best moment came on a long touchdown burst down the left sideline, the kind of play that shows why he has already started to grab attention in camp.
Payne’s path to this point has been anything but simple. He spent four seasons at Notre Dame and dealt with injuries there, including the year he said he didn’t play at all. After practice, he described that stretch as difficult but ultimately useful.
"It was definitely tough. [When I got injured at Notre Dame], that was the first year I didn't play football at all.
So, that was tough on me mentally, but I feel like in the end it really helped me. I took it as a learning experience.
I think I got better mentally, understanding the game better while rehabbing my knee, and I'm back 100%. No problems, no issues, and I've been taking those tendencies and extra work mentally and applying it out here."
Payne also made clear why Cincinnati appealed to him.
"I came into it knowing I wanted to be closer to home, and UC was willing to take that chance on me," Payne said. "It means a lot to be able to come home, put on for the city, and I'm just very grateful."
He arrives with a résumé that includes a strong high school run at La Salle, where he helped power the program’s 2019 Division II state championship season as a sophomore. That year, Payne rushed for 790 yards and nine touchdowns and added eight catches for 141 yards and three scores. He finished the title game with 129 yards and a touchdown in La Salle’s 34-17 win over Massillon Washington.
At Notre Dame, Payne saw his most action in 2023, when he played all 13 games as the primary short-yardage back. He finished with 45 carries for 168 yards and two rushing touchdowns, plus nine catches for 58 yards and two receiving scores. He was also around a running back room that saw two former teammates taken in the first round of the NFL Draft this past year: Jeremiyah Love at 3rd overall and Jadarian Price at 32nd overall.
Bearcats coach Scott Satterfield liked what he saw from Payne on Tuesday and said the back has been turning heads since spring.
"He kind of turned my head in the spring, and I think he's got a lot of talent and ability," Satterfield said following practice. "He's popped a few good runs in this camp, but I like our whole running back room. I like all four of these running backs, and it's going to be some competition right there to see who's going to be the guy who gets the most carries."
That competition is crowded. UC also has sophomore Zion Johnson, fifth-year Louisiana transfer Zylan Perry, and junior Stanford transfer Cole Tabb in the mix.
Johnson is the lone returning Bearcat in the group after appearing in four games last season and posting 22 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown. Perry earned Honorable Mention All-Sun Belt honors in 2025 after rushing for 689 yards and eight touchdowns for Louisiana while averaging 5.0 yards per carry, and he led the NCAA FBS with 862 kick return yards in 2023.
Tabb played 11 games and made three starts at Stanford as a sophomore, finishing with 114 carries for 445 yards and three rushing touchdowns.
Payne said he’s comfortable with the battle.
"Yeah, I'm definitely used to this," Payne said of the competition. "The running back room is stacked.
Everybody does a little bit of everything, so we all mesh well together, and that's why we're so tight as a group. It was the same case at Notre Dame."
The offense had its own strong moments in team periods. JC French IV led several scoring drives and connected with tight end Lyviel Waters down the left sideline before finding Kent State transfer Cade Wolford on a seam route for a touchdown.
The quarterback race remains unsettled, though. Samaj Jones scored on an untouched red-zone run up the middle, and Penn transfer Liam O'Brien added a long sideline scramble. O'Brien comes to Cincinnati after leading Penn in rushing with 548 yards and seven touchdowns while also throwing for 2,376 yards and 19 scores.
Wolford, meanwhile, brings big-play credentials from Kent State. As a freshman, he posted 19 catches for 509 yards and seven touchdowns in 12 games, leading the MAC among players with at least 15 receptions with a 26.8 yards-per-catch average.
Satterfield said the offense is still moving in the right direction, even if there’s more work to do.
"Yeah, I think the fourth practice - the last one (Sunday) - was our best day. I thought we were efficient.
We hit our goal efficiency on that day. Today we made some plays, and in the finish drill we ended up scoring there.
In a sudden-change period we had a big play, so I like where they're coming along. I think defenses are always a little bit ahead when you start camp and spring practice, but I think we're catching up a little bit offensively, though we still have a long ways to go."
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