Joe Mixon has become one of my favorite Bengals players. That’s not just because of what his flashy athleticism has produced on the field, but it’s also because he could very well be the heart and soul of the Bengals. When every major player was put on injured reserve and a playoff berth- yes, I just talked about playoffs- was no longer possible, Mixon kept his motor running with over 100 yards rushing in three of the final four games. And he didn’t waste anytime setting the tone for the upcoming season when he boldly guaranteed after last year’s regular-season finale at Pittsburgh that the Bengals would be back in the playoffs this season. His confidence in the team carries over onto the field on a personal level, as he led the entire AFC last year with 1,168 yards. Another thing I like about Mixon? He has maintained a clean image off the field since he arrived in Cincinnati as a rookie in 2017. But that does not eradicate what he did during his time at Oklahoma.
For those who don’t know, or if his performances on the field have made you forget, Mixon was seen in a surveillance video, obtained by Mixon’s lawyers in 2016, punching a female student inside a sandwich shop near Oklahoma’s campus in 2014. A subsequent misdemeanor charge suspended him for the entire 2014 season, which would have been his first as a Sooner. But it wasn’t until two years later that America got to view how what Mixon did was incredibly vicious and downright unacceptable. From the two articles written in December 2016 that I read, my takeaway is that it doesn’t matter what he said. The bottom line is, a man simply does not EVER hit a woman. Period.
Leading up to the 2017 NFL Draft, I saw at least one headline, blurb, something mention the Bengals potentially taking Joe Mixon. Why? Just why? It didn’t matter how great of a season he was having at Oklahoma in 2016 or how high of a prospect he was. Why would the Bengals draft somebody with that kind of baggage? But that’s exactly what they did in the second round the Friday of the 2017 draft weekend. I was livid the moment the Bengals drafted him but looking back this was a very good selection, one with an impact that is still growing as Mixon continues to emerge as one of the NFL’s best and, perhaps, most dynamic running backs.
Alright, now to the main point of today’s blog. Mixon came to mind today because of new Bearcats men’s basketball commit, Zach Harvey. Harvey is a top 50 commit from Topeka, Kansas, a state that knows a thing or two about the game of basketball and has a connection to an important the man who invented it, Dr. James Naismith. Consider: Harvey spurned offers from Kansas, whose program was founded by Dr. Naismith, and Kansas State to come to the Queen City. The No. 9 shooting guard in the nation according to 247Sports averaged 16.5 points, 4.9 assists and 4.8 rebounds at Prolific Prep Academy in Napa, California as a senior in 2018-19. The year before, as a junior at Hayden High Shcool in Topeka, he was named class 4A-All State by both the Topeka Capital Journal and the Wichita Eagle as a member of a state championship team.
That’s all great, but that’s in spite of an irremovable stain on his record. Not player profile; his record. As reported earlier today by multiple colleagues I work within the Cincinnati media landscape, Harvey was charged with two felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child in 2017. Then, last year, he pleaded no contest in Kansas to the two misdemeanor crimes of endangering a child and breach of privacy. While Harvey was only 16 years old at the time of the incident that prompted the charges in 2017, this is something that should not be taken, at least I certainly I am not taking, lightly.
UC’s athletic department did an outstanding job handling this. The month-long, thorough investigation shows that they’re going to take however much time necessary to arrive at the right decision and, more importantly, continue to fulfill their mission to be the class of the league. I have no problem with the athletic department’s handling of this and Harvey’s commitment to play basketball here at Cincinnati. The one question I have, though: are the Bearcats prioritizing winning over character here?
Once something like what happened to Harvey gets put on someone’s record, it NEVER goes away. Plus, who’s to say this, for sure, won’t happen again. I’m not trying to demonstrate semantics or be judgmental here, but trust these days is hard to come by. How can I completely trust, as a Bearcats fan and UC student, that something like what happened two years ago with Harvey isn’t going to happen again? I can, and do think, that he will abide by the higher standards that athletic director Mike Bohn and his staff have established for Harvey, but I can never completely trust that it won’t. I am one for second chances, but not with trust. This is exactly how I felt with Mixon when the Bengals drafted him. I couldn’t trust that what he did at Oklahoma he wasn’t going to do again during his career here in Cincinnati. Yes, he’s done a great job of keeping his image off the field clean, but there was that doubt when he got drafted because of the magnitude of his actions that one day in 2014 in Oklahoma.
This is uncharted territory for the Bearcats men’s basketball program. As mentioned by ESPN 1530’s Mo Egger earlier today in The Athletic, the high-profile names from the Mick Cronin era, Sean Kilpatrick, Gary Clark and Troy Caupain among an extensive list, “all knew how to best represent themselves and their school.” I’m not at all saying Harvey won’t. I’m saying that because of what has happened in Harvey’s past, I, and anyone else, is entitled to feel skeptical about him doing so.
In the same breath of uncharted territory, though, is the fact that this is the Bearcats men’s basketball program’s highest-rated recruit since Jermaine Lawrence. Whatever his role is on this team, his knack for scoring and being able to distribute the basketball should help the Bearcats play a style of offense Brannen said will “invigorate the fanbase and capture your hearts.” Add Harvey to the group of incoming freshman, transfers and the returning players from last year’s team and that equals a team that has a lot of potential on the offensive end. After all, games are won by the team that scores the most points. It’s nice to finally have somebody who understands that and will be roaming the sidelines in Fifth Third Arena next season, and Harvey is the latest addition who can help showcase Brannen’s style onto the court.
As the saying goes, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” What Brannen has done so far on the recruiting trail has been spectacular and has me exceedingly excited for the upcoming season. The addition of Harvey does as well, in spite of the baggage that he brings into Clifton. I acknowledge the athletic department’s through handling of this situation, but it still can’t completely remove the past charges on Harvey’s record. Winning is more than a feeling, so is trust. Is the Bearcats men’s basketball program prioritizing winning over the character of one of its players? Honestly, I don’t know. And when your trust within someone isn’t there, it is okay not to know. Only time will tell, and winning is NOT the only thing to answer that question.
Let me be Frank and Cut to the Chase 