Spring Ball Reports Here

[Pistol Pete 1]

DAY 1
Once again I am here with my inexperienced and untrained eye to report what I have seen. First off I am glad that we are able to watch the practices once again this year. Rebel in Wa was in attendance today and it was great to see him again.

A general overall impression for me is one of the guys settling in and getting comfortable with new coaches and drills especially on defense. A lot of time was spent just working on getting into a defensive posture and how to initiate movement from that position. Guys were getting after it pretty good considering they are just in helmets today. Very spirited along the line.

What we know at this point is that Armani is the clear # 1 QB. The guys behind him have to put a lot of work in to get familiar with the offense and this is his 3’rd year in the program. Most of a very experienced O Line is returning along with a good nucleus of LB’s. The highlight is probably the very solid returning group of RB’s & Receivers. Unlike our recent basketball teams it is really refreshing to see guys stay and grow in the program as we get to know them.

What we don’t know is how the influx of talent we recruited will augment, replace and improve the team in the fall. The most glaring need is on the DL and there is no secret about that. Not sure but I think we have 5 guys coming in there. Who is gonna play Left Tackle? Is the LB spot gonna get solidified to the point we don’t have to play a QB there this next year. Malakai Salu hopefully goes a long way to make sure that doesn’t happen again along with the return of Rominger who was injured last year.

What plans does CTS have for Tyleek Collins when he hits campus. He could be a game changer. What schemes will the DC employ. Will Armani take a step up from a successful Freshman campaign. Can we stay healthy.

We will know a little more when the pads go on!

 

[BornRebelRed]

As usual Pistol, an informative writeup. Are we going bowling next year? Take the points in our opener against USC ?

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

As usual Pistol, an informative writeup. Are we going bowling next year? Take the points in our opener against USC ?

Not sure about bowling, we will have an improved team but the schedule looks a little tougher. Hopefully we get more production out of our special teams. That could be the difference between watching or playing in the post season.

I need to see the line first. Definitely want to go to that game. Wanna go?

 

[BornRebelRed]

I kinda do want to go.

 

[Rebel1986]

UNLV needs 1 more win to go bowling, and that should be the minimum expectation. The schedule is really about the same as last year with UNLV not playing most of the better teams in the MWC.

 

[dcut03]

The path to a bowl game should be by winning more in conference.

Just making it to a bowl game will feel like a monkey off all of our collective backs, but what we really want is a team that is competitive and actually getting better.

I'd like to see us be at least regularly battling for 2nd place in our division, beating UNR when we should (see last 2 seasons) and playing with more consistency. Hopefully the new DC and the maturation of Rogers can help with that.

 

[drmontehorne_a_yahoo.com]

DAY 1
Once again I am here with my inexperienced and untrained eye to report what I have seen. First off I am glad that we are able to watch the practices once again this year. Rebel in Wa was in attendance today and it was great to see him again.

A general overall impression for me is one of the guys settling in and getting comfortable with new coaches and drills especially on defense. A lot of time was spent just working on getting into a defensive posture and how to initiate movement from that position. Guys were getting after it pretty good considering they are just in helmets today. Very spirited along the line.

What we know at this point is that Armani is the clear # 1 QB. The guys behind him have to put a lot of work in to get familiar with the offense and this is his 3’rd year in the program. Most of a very experienced O Line is returning along with a good nucleus of LB’s. The highlight is probably the very solid returning group of RB’s & Receivers. Unlike our recent basketball teams it is really refreshing to see guys stay and grow in the program as we get to know them.

What we don’t know is how the influx of talent we recruited will augment, replace and improve the team in the fall. The most glaring need is on the DL and there is no secret about that. Not sure but I think we have 5 guys coming in there. Who is gonna play Left Tackle? Is the LB spot gonna get solidified to the point we don’t have to play a QB there this next year. Malakai Salu hopefully goes a long way to make sure that doesn’t happen again along with the return of Rominger who was injured last year.

What plans does CTS have for Tyleek Collins when he hits campus. He could be a game changer. What schemes will the DC employ. Will Armani take a step up from a successful Freshman campaign. Can we stay healthy.

We will know a little more when the pads go on!

Thanks Bro!

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

Day 2
I got out there a little bit late today as I have been a tad under the weather and I was staying for the hoops game. Sorry to report the Rebs were unable to overcome Reno’s 3 point shooting and the Zebras. Poorly officiated game.

The boot is off of Williams but he wasn’t participating in the drills however. The QB’s looked good today and all made some nice throws. Rogers showed some nice touch lofting a couple passes into tight windows as did Oblad. Grayson may be the odd man out but he does look like a guy that could play other positions.

The RB’s behind X & Lex were getting a lot of looks today and it looks as if we incurred a couple injuries we would be okay there. LB’s might be deeper than we think. There are a couple out there that are pretty good sized moving around pretty good.

Hauck once said that we were starting to look like a football team and that was true but we just didn’t have the speed to go with it, now we are getting fast and still looking like a football team.

Guys have bee getting after it pretty good with no pads so Saturday should be interesting with the Shells going on. We will know more then.

 

[RebelBuzz]

NHopefully we get more production out of our special teams. That could be the difference between watching or playing in the post season.

So you're saying that we need more reports on our kickers?

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

So you're saying that we need more reports on our kickers?

Not sure who will be covering thekickers now that Bull has checked out of Rivals.

 

[drmontehorne_a_yahoo.com]

I am pretty sure it was made clear last year that there would be no talk about kickers. LOL

 

[dcut03]

Just go to unlvmessageboardskickerupdatesonly.com

 

[drmontehorne_a_yahoo.com]

Just go to unlvmessageboardskickerupdatesonly.com

Thanks Bro. It appears to be a blind link though.

 

[c-reb-run]

Day 2
I got out there a little bit late today as I have been a tad under the weather and I was staying for the hoops game. Sorry to report the Rebs were unable to overcome Reno’s 3 point shooting and the Zebras. Poorly officiated game.

The boot is off of Williams but he wasn’t participating in the drills however. The QB’s looked good today and all made some nice throws. Rogers showed some nice touch lofting a couple passes into tight windows as did Oblad. Grayson may be the odd man out but he does look like a guy that could play other positions.

The RB’s behind X & Lex were getting a lot of looks today and it looks as if we incurred a couple injuries we would be okay there. LB’s might be deeper than we think. There are a couple out there that are pretty good sized moving around pretty good.

Hauck once said that we were starting to look like a football team and that was true but we just didn’t have the speed to go with it, now we are getting fast and still looking like a football team.

Guys have bee getting after it pretty good with no pads so Saturday should be interesting with the Shells going on. We will know more then.

Thanks again for the report Pistol! I thought Oblad was still in high school? Did he graduate early? I hope they find a way to use Grayson if it isn't there at QB. That kid just wanted to be a rebel so bad, that I hope he can contribute in some way.

 

[willlevi]

I can't see Oblad burning his redshirt minus extreme circumstances so my assumption is that Grayson will be the #3 guy this year behind the two redshirt sophomores.

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

I can't see Oblad burning his redshirt minus extreme circumstances so my assumption is that Grayson will be the #3 guy this year behind the two redshirt sophomores.

I agree. But I will say that he does throw a nice ball and he showed up to compete.

In other news for those who get all their UNLV Football info on Rivals the practice tomorrow has been moved u an hour to 10 AM.

 

[ricovegas]

Day 2
I got out there a little bit late today as I have been a tad under the weather and I was staying for the hoops game. Sorry to report the Rebs were unable to overcome Reno’s 3 point shooting and the Zebras. Poorly officiated game.

The boot is off of Williams but he wasn’t participating in the drills however. The QB’s looked good today and all made some nice throws. Rogers showed some nice touch lofting a couple passes into tight windows as did Oblad. Grayson may be the odd man out but he does look like a guy that could play other positions.

The RB’s behind X & Lex were getting a lot of looks today and it looks as if we incurred a couple injuries we would be okay there. LB’s might be deeper than we think. There are a couple out there that are pretty good sized moving around pretty good.

Hauck once said that we were starting to look like a football team and that was true but we just didn’t have the speed to go with it, now we are getting fast and still looking like a football team.

Guys have bee getting after it pretty good with no pads so Saturday should be interesting with the Shells going on. We will know more then.

Pistol Pete good stuff I love the info as I'm an Alumni living in SoCal but, come out for a game or two with the new stadium I'll be a season ticket holder.
And I do remember Coach Hauck making the remark.

 

[c-reb-run]

Pistol - were you able to attend the last couple of practices? I'm like a junkie who's been cut off. Anybody got any updates?

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

Thanks again for the report Pistol! I thought Oblad was still in high school? Did he graduate early? I hope they find a way to use Grayson if it isn't there at QB. That kid just wanted to be a rebel so bad, that I hope he can contribute in some way.

Oblad graduated mid-year so he could start getting acclimated to college life and start learning the system. Really smart decision on his part. Here is a great article regarding his early entry to UNLV.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/sport...kenyon-oblad-adjusting-to-next-level-at-unlv/

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

Pistol - were you able to attend the last couple of practices? I'm like a junkie who's been cut off. Anybody got any updates?

I missed today's practice and will miss again on Saturday due to work. There is a lot of good info on twitter if you follow Mike Grimala & unlvfb. Video and thoughts and links to articles. Highly recommended.

 

[LVteam]

Also Youtube has videos with Coach Sanchez interviews

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

So you're saying that we need more reports on our kickers?

I am pretty sure it was made clear last year that there would be no talk about kickers. LOL

Bull doesn't talk about kickers but I will. Well I will talk about the punters. Evan Pantels did a lot of the punting last year but there was a new kid out there on Tuesday that was probably kicking it 10 yds farther on average than Evan. His name is Hayes Hicken and he delivered a nice high tight spiral on his kicks, Can't get too worked up about it yet but if he can replicate those kicks in the Coliseum I will consider him a keeper. He is a Junior transfer out of Salt Lake.

That's all for the kickers!

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

Thanks Bro. It appears to be a blind link though.

I hope you didn't fall for that.

 

[drmontehorne_a_yahoo.com]

I hope you didn't fall for that.

Nope. Thus the clueless emoticon...

 

[c-reb-run]

Thanks for the info. I'm not on Twitter, but I did find some fun videos on YouTube.

 

[rebneck]

Oluwaseon was the leading candidate at center before needing surgery? What happened to Acosta? I thought he was our savior at center and Oluwaseon would play guard.

 

[GiantKiller0]

Oluwaseon was the leading candidate at center before needing surgery? What happened to Acosta? I thought he was our savior at center and Oluwaseon would play guard.

Acosta tore his ACL last Spring and missed all of last season. He's returning this season.

 

[drmontehorne_a_yahoo.com]

Pete,
Hey man...I am hungry for some more of your insightful kicker posts dude! Who cares about trivial stuff like QBs, RBs and defense?

 

[rebneck]

Acosta tore his ACL last Spring and missed all of last season. He's returning this season.

I know about Acosta's injury last year. I just thought he was recovered and back in there. So, I was surprised to see our center - not Acosta, whom I was expecting - was needing surgery. I sure hope Sid's better, especially now that Oluwaseon is out.

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

Pete,
Hey man...I am hungry for some more of your insightful kicker posts dude! Who cares about trivial stuff like QBs, RBs and defense?

It's bad when I need to put work before a Rebel FB practice but that's exactly what I had to do on last Saturday and Tuesday. Hope to get out there tomorrow morning and be able to bring an in depth analysis of the FG kickers similar to my write up of the punters last week.

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

Pete,
Hey man...I am hungry for some more of your insightful kicker posts dude! Who cares about trivial stuff like QBs, RBs and defense?

Here Ya Go! I zeroed in on the FG kickers today. They didn't spend a lot of time with them but here is what I saw. Pantels got the lion's share of attempts, probably 5 or 6 and made them all right down the middle. 35 yards was probably as far back as they went. Gutierrez took maybe 2 or 3 kicks and made them all but didn't get as much height on his going over the line. Then they gave the new FG kicker a shot and he drilled one. He looks to possibly have the strongest leg for Field Goals and Punting. There is another guy out there but he didn't get a shot today.

But it wasn't just a practice for the kickers. I am seeing sooo many new drills they are putting the guys through that I can't remember them all. What I really like was the situational drills they are doing with the O-Line and breaking them down into small groups. They had 3 different drills going at once with the guys rotating in groups every 5 minutes. That might make it easier for the coaches to zero in on each guy and give them the attention they need to progress.

Williams is still being held out of drills. I think Campbell is impressing. Gilliam is picking up the offense. Oblad is gonna be a special player for us.

The coaches were extremely animated today and really pushing the guys. A lot of emphasis on cleaning up the details, holding onto the football, creating turnovers etc. How many games did we lose last year that turned on one miscue?

Guys are off until April 3

 

[drmontehorne_a_yahoo.com]

Here Ya Go! I zeroed in on the FG kickers today. They didn't spend a lot of time with them but here is what I saw. Pantels got the lion's share of attempts, probably 5 or 6 and made them all right down the middle. 35 yards was probably as far back as they went. Gutierrez took maybe 2 or 3 kicks and made them all but didn't get as much height on his going over the line. Then they gave the new FG kicker a shot and he drilled one. He looks to possibly have the strongest leg for Field Goals and Punting. There is another guy out there but he didn't get a shot today.

But it wasn't just a practice for the kickers. I am seeing sooo many new drills they are putting the guys through that I can't remember them all. What I really like was the situational drills they are doing with the O-Line and breaking them down into small groups. They had 3 different drills going at once with the guys rotating in groups every 5 minutes. That might make it easier for the coaches to zero in on each guy and give them the attention they need to progress.

Williams is still being held out of drills. I think Campbell is impressing. Gilliam is picking up the offense. Oblad is gonna be a special player for us.

The coaches were extremely animated today and really pushing the guys. A lot of emphasis on cleaning up the details, holding onto the football, creating turnovers etc. How many games did we lose last year that turned on one miscue?

Guys are off until April 3

Nice work Bro. What are your thoughts on the over all look of the team and coaches compared to last year?

 

[rebneck]

Thanks, PPete1! Good stuff.

Speaking of coaches....

Interesting that we have Cotton, who we know favors the run game, as OC. Then we have Justice as OL Coach/Run Game Coordinator. That's it for offense. If you're like me you're wondering who may be taking care of the passing game. Do we even care enough about the passing game to have somebody assigned specifically to it? Please don't say O'Dell. I'm a bit concerned.

 

[drmontehorne_a_yahoo.com]

Thanks, PPete1! Good stuff.

Speaking of coaches....

Interesting that we have Cotton, who we know favors the run game, as OC. Then we have Justice as OL Coach/Run Game Coordinator. That's it for offense. If you're like me you're wondering who may be taking care of the passing game. Do we even care enough about the passing game to have somebody assigned specifically to it? Please don't say O'Dell. I'm a bit concerned.

Interesting thought. Especially with the pass tallent we have...

 

[Rebel1986]

Cormier!

 

[drmontehorne_a_yahoo.com]

Cedric Cormier- Recruiting Coordinator/Wide Receivers
Ron O'Dell- Quarterbacks

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

Thanks, PPete1! Good stuff.

Speaking of coaches....

Interesting that we have Cotton, who we know favors the run game, as OC. Then we have Justice as OL Coach/Run Game Coordinator. That's it for offense. If you're like me you're wondering who may be taking care of the passing game. Do we even care enough about the passing game to have somebody assigned specifically to it? Please don't say O'Dell. I'm a bit concerned.

The way the practices break down the majority of the QB's & Receiver's time is spent working together. They spend a lot of time together running routes and getting timing down. Then they have a bit of time on 7 vs 7 getting the QB's to understand defenses and how to make the correct reads.

During scrimmage time there is just about an equal number of running and passing plays although they balance out the time spent on 7 vs 7 with running plays with no receivers active. Not unusual to see the QB's & Receivers break off during this time and work out timing routes again.

The staff really wants the passing game to be a major part of the offense this year as they wanted it to be last year. Not sure that Rogers was quite ready yet last year to make that happen but seems much more comfortable and capable this year and if he can't get it done then Gilliam will, & if Gilliam can't then look for Oblad to step in during the last 4 games with that new rule coming online that will allow players to play 4 games without losing a redshirt season.

But to specifically answer your question it is Cotton that is in charge of everything offense with no doubt a lot of input from Tony Sanchez. Cormier works with the wide receivers and O'Dell is the QB coach as drmontehorne pointed out.

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

Nice work Bro. What are your thoughts on the over all look of the team and coaches compared to last year?

Really like everything that I am seeing. Lots of energy on the defensive side of things. Coaches are really emphasizing the little things that make a difference between winning a losing. There are a lot fewer dropped passes and fumbles this year. Those little things that last year were the difference between going to a bowl and staying home,

Looking forward to seeing how they come out for the last week and scrimmage!

 

[drmontehorne_a_yahoo.com]

I like what I am hearing. I would really like to see a D that is flying around, showing schematic changes before the snap, forcing turnovers and pressuring the QB. IF we can do the aforementioned, this will be a really good team and a gas to watch!

 

[drmontehorne_a_yahoo.com]

I really appreciate your post from practice being 1400 miles from LV!