Aug. 7, 2009
LAS VEGAS - Enjoying nearly perfect practice conditions the UNLV football went through 20 five-minute sessions Friday morning at Rebel Park, turning in a crisp session that featured a majority of veterans.
With hardly a breeze and temperatures in the low 80s, the Scarlet team took the field and the squad was composed of returning starters and returning lettermen, or for the depth chart team, the No. 1s and 3s. The experience showed as the players moved through each drill quickly and efficiently
"It was awesome weather and we had a good morning practice," UNLV head coach Mike Sanford said. "The players came in and went to work, which is great to see from the veterans."
Looking especially sharp was the work between the quarterback and wide receivers, who look to have carried over the chemistry developed through spring football and off-season workouts into camp. Returning junior starter Omar Clayton (Normal, IL/Normal Community HS) and experience backup Mike Clausen (Riverside, CA/John W. North HS) were in rhythm with receivers all morning long.
"The chemistry shows a lot," Clayton said. "Everyone knows what they have to do and so going forward, that will allow us to get better reps in during practice."
TURNAROUND DAY
While Rebel veterans such as Ryan Wolfe (Santa Clarita, CA/Hart HS) have been through their far share of two-a-days, Friday morning was officially the first time that players had to turn around after a night practice and lace up their cleats in the morning. And although it was not with pads, which will next week, the All-America candidate was pleased with what he saw on Friday.
"It was kind of rough at first, but it was a veteran-laden group out there so that helped," Wolfe said. "We know what to expect and also how to take care of our bodies."
EARLY RETURNS
UNLV head coach Mike Sanford is a new member of the USA TODAY Board of Coaches that votes in the USA TODAY Top 25 Coaches' Poll. Sanford is one of four voters from the Mountain West Conference (Gary Patterson of TCU, Troy Calhoun of Air Force and Dave Christensen of Wyoming are the others) on this year's board, which is made up of 59 head coaches from FBS institutions who are also members of the American Football Coaches Association. This marks the first time a Rebel coach has been a voter since Jeff Horton's final season at UNLV in 1998. The 2009 preseason poll was released on Friday and three MWC teams were included: No. 17 TCU, No. 18 Utah and No. 24 BYU. This is the first time in the Bowl Championship Series era that three teams from a non-automatic-qualifying conference have appeared in the preseason Coaches' poll.
Sanford revealed to the media at Friday's morning practice that he was one of the 53 coaches that had voted defending national champion Florida No. 1 and was excited to see his own conference well-represented. "I will tell you that I had all three of those Mountain West teams in my poll but I had them all higher than what they came out today. I think it says a lot of about the quality of our league that we had three ranked to end last season and three to start this one."
One other 2009 UNLV opponent was ranked in the coaches' poll as Oregon State, which comes to town to play the Rebels on Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. PT, came in at No. 25.
KIPER'S SLEEPERS
ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. tabbed UNLV as one of for sleeper teams heading into the 2009 season, along with Miami (Fla.), Cal and SMU.
SEEN AT CAMP
Ending his work day at camp Friday was UNLV radio play-by-play voice Dave McCann, who stopped by Rebel Park after finishing up the KLAS-TV morning show to take in his first practice. McCann will also be back hosting "Gametime with UNLV Football" coach's show as well as the co-host of the weekly "Mike Sanford Radio Show" this fall.
