Bearcats Linebacker Simeon Coleman 'Smarter' Than Ever Entering Junior Season

Spring football is in the books for Simeon Coleman and Bearcats football after their 15th and final session this past Saturday. Coleman has gone from breakout freshman linebacker to a full-fledged leader in the room during his upcoming junior season.

Coleman nearly doubled his snaps from freshman to sophomore year in 2025, playing in all 13 games with five starts (39 tackles).

"I was blessed with the guys we had last year in front of us, with Jake Golday and Jack Dingle, so they really showed us the way," Coleman told me. "And then we had JT (Jonathan Thompson) with me. He's like, my Road Dog, because he ain't too much older than me, but he was still older than me. So like, yeah, I like to steal stuff from him, and I just keep an open ear. But with those guys, they just helped me really get more knowledge about the game. So like, these last two years, I've just been learning more about offensive formations, like what I'm gonna get out of certain formations and stuff like that. And I really feel like it's been helping me."

Coleman played 376 snaps last season as a really strong run defender, and he trying to boost his pre-snap acumen this offseason to make more plays in the passing game.

"Definitely, definitely, because coming in my freshman year, I struggled," Coleman said about learning the game before the game starts. "Coach Braswell is very smart. So Coach Bras helped me a lot with that. But like me, being here going into year three, I really feel like I'm smarter than I have been so far, football knowledge-wise. And I feel like I'm good on run defense."

Coleman is mixing in with Jonathan Thompson and some new transfer faces like Filip Maciorowski and Damaine Wilson to try to stop more offenses this fall.

Cincinnati was outside the top 100 FBS teams in stop rate last season, and that has to change for Coleman's Crew if they want to increase their win total for the third consecutive season.

Check out the full chat with Coleman below:

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