UNLV Transfers

[unlv7163]

Definitely

Thomas would have flourished in the spread offenses of today. Big QB, decent speed, good arm until he injured his shoulder.

Sanford's drubbing of Utah is up there for me.

By the 4th quarter you could see Utah defenders wanted no part of tackling Frank Summers.

Thomas‘ biggest weakness was traditional drop back passing. Just was not accurate (and was worse following the shoulder), he was much better throwing on the move. Just wasn’t in JRob’s nature. Can’t blame him really, Dude won a title at SC and was successful in the NFL doing it that way. Spread was still 3-5 years away from becoming prominent so you can’t even blame him for being slow to adapt. Just always fealt that JT’s strength (athleticism) was under utilized then, but more so after watching offenses evolve the past 15 years. Would have at least given NFL teams a chance to envision him as TE or something (ala Logan Thomas). Of course NFL teams weren’t doing much of that at the time either.

Sanford certainly had some bright moments. Utah game, as you mentioned, was a great one. ASU and Iowa St back to back wins were great too, though they followed that promising non-conference start with a disappointing conference slate, much like JRob’s 2003 team.

 

[rebneck]

Had a great time on the boards with Iowa St fans and Arkansas fans. ISU fans were classy and traveled very well. There were so many unique handles being used on the Arkansas side, all having something to do with pigs or pork products (bacon, ham, etc). Loved handling them in the bowl game (still have a T-shirt from that game, but it's a major loss of weight from fitting). Lots of fun!

 

[rebswin2]

Had a great time on the boards with Iowa St fans and Arkansas fans. ISU fans were classy and traveled very well. There were so many unique handles being used on the Arkansas side, all having something to do with pigs or pork products (bacon, ham, etc). Loved handling them in the bowl game (still have a T-shirt from that game, but it's a major loss of weight from fitting). Lots of fun!

That summer after the win, absolutely smoked them was great because like you said all of their fans were on this board, talking about the opening game the next season in Little Rock. I wish it was in Fayetteville but LR was good too. It was a Friday night game (maybe Thursday), stayed at the team hotel and took the UNLV busses to the game, we were sitting on the "others" bus with a team Dr I knew that got us on. We had a police escort through town, drove by an elementary school all of the kids were lined up angainst the fence watching. When we got to the stadium all of the Arkansas fan where giving the busses the bird, yelling, cussing throwing shit.

Then they game, UNLV dominated them all game long, that Arkansas team was absolutely stacked. They played 5 QBs in that game because they couldnt do anything on offense. If I remember correctly Ken Hamlin ran back a pick and then Cedric Cobbs scored a TD at the end of the game after Ryan McDonald dropped that punt, his first punt attemp of his career.

As I mentioned that Arkansas team was stacked, I just looked this up on wikipedia:

QB: Matt Jones 1st rd pick
QB: Tavaris Jackson 2nd rd
RB: Cedric Cobbs 4th rd
OL: Shaun Andrews 1st rd
DL: Jason Peters undrafted, still plays OL in NFL 9 x Pro Bowler
DL: Carlos Hall 7th rd
LB: Tony Bua 5th rd
LB: Caleb Miller 3rd rd
LB: Jeb Huckeba 5th rd
CB: Ahmad Carrol 1st rd
S: Ken Hamlin 2nd rd

 

[j. spilotro]

That summer after the win, absolutely smoked them was great because like you said all of their fans were on this board, talking about the opening game the next season in Little Rock. I wish it was in Fayetteville but LR was good too. It was a Friday night game (maybe Thursday), stayed at the team hotel and took the UNLV busses to the game, we were sitting on the "others" bus with a team Dr I knew that got us on. We had a police escort through town, drove by an elementary school all of the kids were lined up angainst the fence watching. When we got to the stadium all of the Arkansas fan where giving the busses the bird, yelling, cussing throwing shit.

Then they game, UNLV dominated them all game long, that Arkansas team was absolutely stacked. They played 5 QBs in that game because they couldnt do anything on offense. If I remember correctly Ken Hamlin ran back a pick and then Cedric Cobbs scored a TD at the end of the game after Ryan McDonald dropped that punt, his first punt attemp of his career.

As I mentioned that Arkansas team was stacked, I just looked this up on wikipedia:

QB: Matt Jones 1st rd pick
QB: Tavaris Jackson 2nd rd
RB: Cedric Cobbs 4th rd
OL: Shaun Andrews 1st rd
DL: Jason Peters undrafted, still plays OL in NFL 9 x Pro Bowler
DL: Carlos Hall 7th rd
LB: Tony Bua 5th rd
LB: Caleb Miller 3rd rd
LB: Jeb Huckeba 5th rd
CB: Ahmad Carrol 1st rd
S: Ken Hamlin 2nd rd

You remember it very well. The punt killed me.

I set up something at the PT’s near my other house, we had about 70 people. Something like $10, buffet style all you can eat and a couple of drinks, drink specials too.

A girl I worked with, her hubby was a big Arkansas fan, he was on their message board and came to ours, he joined us. A lot of people that are/were on the board showed up. A lot of intros made that day.

One of the visions of that day that’s still in my mind is Jeremy (JeremyJDE). Rest In Peace.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Thomas‘ biggest weakness was traditional drop back passing. Just was not accurate (and was worse following the shoulder), he was much better throwing on the move. Just wasn’t in JRob’s nature. Can’t blame him really, Dude won a title at SC and was successful in the NFL doing it that way. Spread was still 3-5 years away from becoming prominent so you can’t even blame him for being slow to adapt. Just always fealt that JT’s strength (athleticism) was under utilized then, but more so after watching offenses evolve the past 15 years. Would have at least given NFL teams a chance to envision him as TE or something (ala Logan Thomas). Of course NFL teams weren’t doing much of that at the time either.

Sanford certainly had some bright moments. Utah game, as you mentioned, was a great one. ASU and Iowa St back to back wins were great too, though they followed that promising non-conference start with a disappointing conference slate, much like JRob’s 2003 team.

Agree on all points. I would contend that when the run game was going and Thomas could throw off play action he could get the ball downfield with decent accuracy. But yeah, you couldn't ask him to drop back 30+ times and expect great results.

That Sanford team that beat ASU and ISU was pretty solid. 3 losses in games they either lead or were down a score in the 4th quarter.

SDSU blowout loss to end the year was inexcusable. Bowl eligibility on the line and they got smoked by a bad SDSU team.

 

[j. spilotro]

Agree on all points. I would contend that when the run game was going and Thomas could throw off play action he could get the ball downfield with decent accuracy. But yeah, you couldn't ask him to drop back 30+ times and expect great results.

That Sanford team that beat ASU and ISU was pretty solid. 3 losses in games they either lead or were down a score in the 4th quarter.

SDSU blowout loss to end the year was inexcusable. Bowl eligibility on the line and they got smoked by a bad SDSU team.

With Robinson, we had a bit of a punch out of the backfield. Obviously, he was known for that. What I liked is we had completely different backs. Rudolph was smaller, quicker, Brown had a bit of beef and power and sometimes you’d use Wofford with even more beef.

 

[rebswin2]

With Robinson, we had a bit of a punch out of the backfield. Obviously, he was known for that. What I liked is we had completely different backs. Rudolph was smaller, quicker, Brown had a bit of beef and power and sometimes you’d use Wofford with even more beef.

Here is the box score from that Ole Miss game 378 yards on the ground and only 95 passing yards, JT was only 7-25. Kevin Brown was 5 yards short of having 3 UNLV RB's over 100 yards in the game. Think about that, absolutely incredible. UNLV FB goes into SEC county and just runs the ball down their throat all game long.

Nevada-Las Vegas at Ole Miss Box Score, October 28, 2000 | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

Nevada-Las Vegas at Ole Miss Box Score, October 28, 2000

www.sports-reference.com

 

[unlv7163]

With Robinson, we had a bit of a punch out of the backfield. Obviously, he was known for that. What I liked is we had completely different backs. Rudolph was smaller, quicker, Brown had a bit of beef and power and sometimes you’d use Wofford with even more beef.

Robinson definitely excelled at getting and developing running backs. 3 you mentioned and of course Dominique Dorsey. From the “what if“ department, Robinson never recruited Steven Jackson very hard. I believe Jackson had legitimate interest in staying home, but Robinson opted for John Ford who committed to UNLV as a top 100 player, but basically had no chance of qualifying. I believe Ford went JC for a brief spell but washed quickly which was too bad considering his talent. Jackson and Dorsey would’ve made quite the Thunder & Lighting duo.

*Should note that Jackson/Ford was not as simple as one over the other (believe they were actually different classes), but it certainly was a factor. Some of it was Robinson simply didn’t recruit locally much which was a little amusing because the ones he did take (brimmer, Seward, etc) were impact players

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Robinson definitely excelled at getting and developing running backs. 3 you mentioned and of course Dominique Dorsey. From the “what if“ department, Robinson never recruited Steven Jackson very hard. I believe Jackson had legitimate interest in staying home, but Robinson opted for John Ford who committed to UNLV as a top 100 player, but basically had no chance of qualifying. I believe Ford went JC for a brief spell but washed quickly which was too bad considering his talent. Jackson and Dorsey would’ve made quite the Thunder & Lighting duo.

*Should note that Jackson/Ford was not as simple as one over the other (believe they were actually different classes), but it certainly was a factor. Some of it was Robinson simply didn’t recruit locally much which was a little amusing because the ones he did take (brimmer, Seward, etc) were impact players

Joe Haro was pretty solid..

I think Jackson said in an interview that he wanted to stay home.

Ended up at Oregon State.

That Oregon State team was loaded on offense.

Derek Anderson at QB, played a few years in the NFL, Chad Johnson, TJ Houshmandzadeh and Steven Jackson.

Went 10-1 (I think) and rolled Notre Dame in Fiesta bowl with Dennis Erickson as HC.

 

[rebswin2]

Joe Haro was pretty solid..

I think Jackson said in an interview that he wanted to stay home.

Ended up at Oregon State.

That Oregon State team was loaded on offense.

Derek Anderson at QB, played a few years in the NFL, Chad Johnson, TJ Houshmandzadeh and Steven Jackson.

Went 10-1 (I think) and rolled Notre Dame in Fiesta bowl with Dennis Erickson as HC.

yeah OSU was really good. Jackson made the right decision.

 

[rebneck]

Steven Costa turned into a pretty good player at FB.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

yeah OSU was really good. Jackson made the right decision.

Not for us he didn't!

 

[dcut03]

Cotton was a bright spot on the Sanchez Teams, though in general I had some gripes with the approach, and there seemed to be a disconnect with Sanchez and recruiting in general.

First gripe was that the passing offense was awful, and this is with some very good WR Corps.

If we had anything other than a 3rd and short is was a guaranteed punt, unless Armani (or insert any other QB)could make a miracle scramble. Though you can't count on that in every situation.

Trying to rebuild a Nebraska offense at UNLV is a difficult proposition. They won that way with huge O lineman and overpowered people. Even at their best with Cotton there, they would usually lose to similarly talented teams in the B12.

I do think we had a bunch of padded numbers in games were we would get down big, get a soft shell defense where we would help run down for them, accruing yardage in the meantime.

I'm OK with having a run heavy team, but a power run team without too many wrinkles is not a great stategy at our level. A triple option or something more quirky has a better chance at working. Also with one of our best recruiters being Coach C and WR's, I like trying to build an offense maximizing the talent that you have.

Of course it is hard to win with a run heavy team that absolutely sucks on defense. Winning shootouts without passing is tough to do. I will give them credit, they were able to compete in some shootouts anyway.

All that being said, if could recruit defense like they did the offense. Sanchez could still be here and we would have been bowling a few times.

 

[dcut03]

As for Arroyo, tough situation for him and way too early to pass judgement. His last 2 classes were the 2 highest ranked classes in UNLV history from an initial ranking prespective so it is hard to fault him there. Interesting if next season things will be better put together. The fact that Max looked 100x better under last year's offense vs previously (still not great obviously) is a little encouraging. The inability run the ball was not encouraging at all.

Defense was not talented, but I liked the new guys' ability to get to the QB. secondary was a struggle bus. And Arroyo is making recruiting the D a priority so hopefully the future will get much better there.

 

[RebNReno]

Tight End Alex Lines transfers to Arizona. First Arizona takes our TE coach and then he takes our top TE prospect with him. Alex was our highest rated offensive recruit of the 2020 class.

Former UNLV tight end transfers to Arizona

247sports.com

 

[Rebel1986]

The good news for UNLV athletics just keeps coming!

 

[rebneck]

Life in the Group.