CINCINNATI -- Dre Kirkpatrick's aspirations extend much further than simply winning a starting job by the end of this training camp.

The fourth-year cornerback wants to force the Cincinnati Bengals into one day soon putting on his chest a patch with a "C" and a gold star on it.

"I don't want to [just] be no starter," Kirkpatrick said. "I want to be a leader, man.

"I want to wear a 'Captain C' on my jersey."

For those around the team who are closest to Kirkpatrick, that statement wasn't surprising. But it has been a long time coming.

"That's exciting because he wants to be the best and he wants to win," co-defensive backs coach Vance Joseph said. "He wants the whole thing. He wants to be the best corner that we've got, he wants to be the best corner in the league. That's his personality."

Asked if he felt Kirkpatrick would make a good team captain, Kirkpatrick's biggest competition, second-year corner Darqueze Dennard, said yes.

"He's passionate about the game. He's very intense," Dennard said. "Guys can lean towards that. You have the Ray Lewises, and on this team, the Vontaze Burficts. He's a big rah-rah guy and he can get people going, as well. I see qualities like that in Dre."

Dennard wasn't the only one who mentioned Lewis in reference to leadership. Kirkpatrick brought up the retired former Baltimore Ravens linebacker in reference to this conversation, too.

While Lewis might be the first name people think of with respect to leadership in Baltimore, Kirkpatrick added: "when you think of the Bengals, I want you to be able to think about Dre Kirkpatrick. Point-blank period."

So why exactly does he believe he can be a leader within a position group that also features the likes of veterans Leon Hall and Adam Jones?

"It's always been a goal, I just had to get in that situation," said Kirkpatrick, who spent the first three seasons of his career as a backup. "Now I feel like I'm in that situation and I feel like I'm doing a great job of going out there motivating guys by my play and not what I'm saying."

There was a prime example of that in the middle of Monday's practice when Kirkpatrick pulled rookie corner Josh Shaw to the side after Shaw failed to shed a block during a half-line contact drill.

In an effort to replace the Oklahoma drill, and to give players more of a true-to-football measure of contact, coaches had receivers and defensive backs go head-to-head in the blocking drills. After Shaw was turned by one receiver, Kirkpatrick got him on the sideline and started breaking down better techniques with him. He specifically mentioned how getting a better push on the blocker's outside shoulder may have helped in that instance.

Kirkpatrick actually looked like a coach for a brief moment.

"He knows how it works," Joseph said. "That's his role, to help others."

Kirkpatrick contends his desire for the captain's "C" runs deep. He believes leading has long been part of his personality.

"It comes from Alabama," said the former Crimson Tide star and Yellowhammer State native. "It comes from my dad, my momma, from just who I am as a person. When I want something so bad, I'm going to do everything in my heart to try to fulfill it and do it right. I feel like I can be a captain on this team. I ain't shying from it."