Aug. 5, 2007
LAS VEGAS - UNLV's coaching staff finally got to see its entire team play together for the first time on a breezy but pleasant Sunday evening at Rebel Park. The squad, still wearing helmets and shorts during the mandated acclimation period, went 22-periods-plus under the lights.
"We got a lot of good work done out here during the acclimation period," said third-year head coach Mike Sanford. "We saw a lot of good things and the team really learned what the tempo of a practice will be. We see signs that we are in good shape as a team -- bigger, stronger and leaner."
One player who seems big, strong and -- most importantly -- 100 percent healthy during camp is returning senior linebacker Beau Bell (Tustin, CA/Tustin HS). Bell, who led the Mountain West Conference in total tackles when he went down in mid-season with an ankle injury at BYU, seems poised to make a run at the school's single-season tackle record of 147by Scott Patton in 1997.
"I'm trying to make my last camp my best camp," Bell said. "I'm focused on making this team better by getting better myself and making those around me better. I've learned to become more of a leader not just by example but vocally as well."
Monday will see the team split into two squads once again. The Scarlet will go from 8:45-10:45 a.m. while the Gray hits Rebel Park from 6-8 p.m. Practice this week is open to the public.
REBEL CAMP NOTES
-RANKING RECORD?... With the results of the USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches' Preseason Poll released last week, UNLV could possibly tie a school record this year by playing three ranked opponents in the same season. Wisconsin, which comes to Las Vegas on Sept. 8, is ranked seventh, TCU, which will host the Rebs on Nov. 17, is ranked 22nd and Hawaii, which visits UNLV on Sept. 15, sits 24th. The only other season that UNLV played three ranked teams was 2004 when all the contests took place on the road (Tennessee, Wisconsin and Utah). The Badgers would be only the third team in history ranked in the top 10 of either of the major polls to play at Sam Boyd Stadium. SMU, which was ranked 10th by both the media and coaches, was the first such visitor on Dec. 1, 1984. Kansas State, which ranked eighth in the coaches' poll and 11th by AP, blew into town a decade later on Nov. 26, 1994.
