Jerrod Calhoun Details Bearcats Roster Build Across 2026 Summer Press Conference

Jerrod Calhoun met with the media for the second time in his Bearcats tenure on Thursday morning. The Bearcats' roster is largely set with 12 of 15 spots filled so far, and all those players have been hitting the practice floor with their new staff in recent weeks.

Calhoun broke down the mentality and process of building his first roster at Cincinnati. It features plenty of veteran talent like Tyler Tejada, Riley Allenspach, and Myles Colvin, along with young rising names like Akai Fleming, Adlan Elamin, and others.

"Leadership comes in many ways," Calhoun said in a media scrum about the mix. "The reason we have some older guys and some younger guys, that's all by design. I think it's very hard to take 10 or 12 one year guys, so I like to build a system where we don't have to do what we did last year with the portal, bringing a whole new team every year. That's not a recipe that I love.

"So we're gonna attack high school recruiting. I think we're setting the record for Zooms. We did three of them yesterday, we got two today, right after practice. So, if I run out of here, we're on another Zoom, but we're playing catch up a little bit in that department. But we're gonna kill the high school recruiting."

Cincinnati is in a crucial phase of the offseason. All these players have to get on the same page as quickly as possible, having never played with one another.

Tough Slate On Deck

University of Cincinnati head basketball coach, Jerrod Calhoun participates in the 107th Findlay Market Opening Day Parade on March 26, 2026. | Cara Owsley/ The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

They won't have an easy schedule to onboard against either. Calhoun has scheduled tough matchups up and down the non-conference slate to match what will be a top-30 most difficult conference run in the country.

UC has non-con matchups against projected top-75 teams on Bart Torvik like Georgia (30th), Xavier (56th), Dayton (71st), and more.

"I think it's foreign, right? It's like learning a new language, so there's good days, there's bad days, but the biggest thing is, what are we doing from day one to day, whatever, how many ever days we get. So I like our guys' athleticism, I like their desire to get better. I think we're really versatile. Every team has their weaknesses. We certainly will address those as we go, as we're learning our guys," Calhoun said.

Cincinnati is gelling together this summer and is slated for a nice camaraderie-building trip to the Bahamas for some fun and on-court competition in August. It marks the first international trip for the program since 2014.

"Just really playing to our standard every single day,," Calhoun said about the key to start the offseason program. "What that looks like from a cutting perspective, decision making perspective, defensively being constructive. I think this time of year is really about understanding concepts. We don't do a ton of live the first two, three weeks. We really wish these guys to understand who we are and how we're going to play, and they're going to play to our system, and it's been a really good couple weeks.

The work continues for Jerrod Calhoun in his first go-round in Clifton. Check out the full session via Bearcat Journal below:

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