UC LB Damaine Wilson Houston Week Interview

Russ Altman of Bearcats Talk here, chatting with UC linebacker Demaine Wilson. Demaine, obviously been a big part of the defense, kind of hovering right around 30, 35 snaps a game. Just your overall thoughts on how you played so far past the midway point of the season. You guys still humming forward, trying to get that bowl eligibility down the stretch here. Honestly, I feel like my role in this defense, I feel like I've been trying to help the team as much as I can possible. Production-wise, I feel like I can do a lot better. Elevate my game to another level, especially the guys that surround me, especially my linebacker room. They really push me the best. Coach Braswell, he always strives for the greatest. So just to be better every day and every week. What was the message kind of from Coach Bras internally in that linebacker room? We kind of heard the message from Coach Satterfield after the game, but after that loss to Utah, you guys take it on the chin in the first half. What did Coach Braswell kind of have the message from him for you guys? Keep fighting. Use it as a learning lesson. This is my everyday. It's meant for you to learn like this loss made us learn a lot about our defense made us learn a lot about what we're strong about and what we're weak on. So just be able to counter back and move past it and actually learn from what we just did. What has been kind of your favorite moment of the season so far, halfway through? First year at Cincinnati, I'm sure there's been a lot of great firsts for you in this first half of the season, but what was kind of your top moment so far? I'd say Texas Tech game, the field rush. It just felt great having the fans be able to just have fun with us on the field and just embrace how much this meant to Cincinnati and how much it meant to Clifton. Was that your first field rush you've experienced? Yes, it is. Most definitely, first field rush. What was the locker room like after that game? We got a sense of it in the Clifton Cut when they tried to turn the lights on and they can't turn it on. It was great. Your view from that. It was great, man. Just seeing everybody happy, smiles on everybody's face. That's what we do it for. It's a child's game. You're supposed to have fun. So just us being able to experience that, it was just great for us. What is kind of the biggest key for your position group going into this matchup against Houston? Great offense, great quarterback, another tough challenge at the top of the Big 12. Just stay to your technique. Do what you've been coached to do this whole time. You don't got to be special. Just do your 111, and everybody do their 111, get out with a win. Get some quick hitter kind of. Insight into Domaine Wilson's life a little bit here. Domaine, that name. I've searched through a lot of databases in my time covering football. Very unique name. Where does it come from, Domaine? It comes from my auntie. She actually named me. She sadly passed, but I'm actually named after her. I got her on my body right now. Her name was Lorraine Carr, and so my name is Domaine Jordain, so I get the AIM from her. So I just. My family has made it, and I feel like it's really unique, so I'm glad they did it. That's awesome. Rest in peace to your auntie. Overall, just the decision to come to Cincinnati, obviously a completely different environment. What have you kind of latched on to on campus? What have you tried to? Try to ingratiate yourself with outside of the building, so to speak. Obviously, you guys are in there a lot. But being a Bearcat, what have you tried to do to kind of get involved and get ingrained into the culture of campus? Also, just side quests. Every time you step on this campus, it's something to do. It's something to watch. You can go watch soccer, basketball. You can do a lot of stuff here, especially like on these. We got little courts, cricket courts. We got tennis courts and stuff. Just go out and just watch people play sports. I feel like it's real sports-orientated, so I love it. That's awesome. Demayne Wilson here joining us on Bearcats Talk. The Halloween obviously got dampened by the loss to Utah. Were there any Halloween festivities that the team did together? Did you guys have any costume parties? Was there anything like that that went on, or was it just kind of all business last night? Everybody did. Everybody still embraced each other. There's still a family at the end of the day. So everybody came together to just have fun with each other and into it with us. So, no, we still had a little fun, but we kept it business as usual. You got to get it here on Halloween. Good. You got to celebrate the holidays. You got to celebrate with your teammates. The closeness of this team, how would you describe the tight-knit factor, the rate the tight-knit factor, 1 to 10, of this linebacker room, kind of your most ingrained there, compared to the rooms you've been in in years past? I'd say 10. Everybody love each other. It's like we all came out of the same womb. I love it. I can call everybody my brother. Even in the O-line room or wide receiver room or DB room, I can call everybody my brother. I can go walk in their room and listen to what they talk about. Off the football field, I can go hang out with them anytime I want to. So I just feel like it's just a big family, like a big brotherhood. I feel like we emphasize that a lot. Awesome. Last one here for Demayne Wilson. Your top goal, remaining goal for the rest of the 2026 season, individually and then? What do you want to see from this team as a whole, both sides of that coin? We just want to win, honestly. That's all we want to do, personally and for the team. We just want to win. That's our goal. We don't worry about what we want individually. We worry about what the team wants. So you've got to be for the team. So once you're for the team, that's when you come along. But once you're for the team, that's what we want. We want to win. Jermaine Wilson, everybody.