Key players to watch when Arizona hosts Cincinnati for the Big 12 home opener

Arizona enters Saturday as a one-touchdown favorite to beat visiting Cincinnati, which is making its first-ever trip to Tucson.

Here are six players — three from Arizona and three from Cincinnati — who could make an impact Saturday night at “The Sol.”

Cincinnati

JC French IV, quarterback: After losing starting quarterback Brendan Sorsby to the transfer portal, Cincinnati added French, a transfer from Georgia Southern. The Roswell, Georgia native started his career at Memphis in 2022 and played the last three seasons at Georgia Southern under former USC head coach Clay Helton.

French has passed for 6,678 yards, 44 touchdowns and 20 interceptions in his career, along with 766 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns. French has a 75% completion rate, five touchdowns and no interceptions on play-action passes this season.

Gi’Bran Payne, running back: The 5-10, 208-pound Payne has 51 carries for 368 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 7.1 yards per carry this season. The Cincinnati native signed with Notre Dame as a four-star prospect in 2022 and played behind NFL running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. Payne transferred to the hometown Bearcats and is now leading a UC offense that has the second-best rushing attack in the Big 12 behind West Virginia.

Jonathan Thompson, linebacker: The multi-year starter has played 1,400 defensive snaps in his four-year career at Cincinnati. Thompson has 182 tackles and four forced fumbles in his career. Thompson leads the Bearcats this season with 29 tackles and 2.5 sacks along with two forced fumbles.

Arizona

Ismail Mahdi, running back: Before last week, Mahdi only had two carries for 9 yards. The fifth-year running back bested that just in the fourth quarter against Washington State with 43 yards. Mahdi had 10 carries for 63 yards and helped the Wildcats rush for 93 yards in the fourth quarter. 

With Mahdi leading the way in the fourth quarter, Arizona used four running backs at Washington State: Mahdi, Kedrick Reescano, Quincy Craig and Antwan Roberts, which could be a common theme moving forward.

Everett Roussaw, linebacker: Roussaw is known by his UA teammates and coaches as “trap,” a nickname he garnered growing up in Atlanta. Roussaw’s father owns “Da Ink Trap,” a popular tattoo shop in Atlanta.

“I was able to get a lot of experience at a young age, helping my dad run the shop,” said Roussaw, who tattooed “Trap” on his leg. “I’m like the CEO. If you call him now, he’ll say it’s my shop just as much as it is his shop. … I’ve met a ton of players who played in the NFL. It’s a great experience overall. … A lot of notable athletes who came from ATL, they came through my dad.”

“Trap” showed why he was one of Arizona’s top defensive transfers in the offseason in his debut against Washington State. In the third quarter of Arizona’s win over WSU, Roussaw sacked WSU quarterback Caden Pinnick and forced a fumble that was recovered by UA defensive end Tre Smith.

After missing the first three games of the season with a leg injury, Roussaw made an immediate impact in his first game at Arizona. The Wildcats played seven linebackers against Washington State.

Michael Salgado-Medina, kicker: Arizona’s kicker missed his first two attempts last week, although the first miss was a low snap. The second one was a low-trajectory kick that was blocked.

Salgado-Medina redeemed himself with a 27-yard chip-shot field goal and a 51-yarder to ice the game in Pullman — very similar to his performance against Cincinnati last season.

Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said he refuses to offer words of encouragement to Salgado-Medina between kicks.

“No. That’s like talking to a pitcher during a no-hitter,” Brennan said. “I’m just there to support Michael and let him know that I have confidence in him and I’m putting him back out there and ‘You go end this game for us.’ That’s we did and that’s what Mike did. … It’s my inner dialogue. It’s like your son is playing little league and he’s going up to bat and you’re like, ‘Hey, got hit a home run.’ It’s so unfair. I was really proud of Mike for the way he handled that.”

Salgado-Medina is 5-for-14 on field goals between 40-49 yards and 4-for-6 on field goals between 50-59 yards in his career.