Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Whatever the outcome of Thursday night's Las Vegas Bowl V, Nevada-Reno linebacker DeShone Myles expects to have a more enjoyable homecoming this year.
Prior to the 1995 game, in which Reno was defeated by Toledo in overtime, the former all-state linebacker at Cheyenne High School was stricken with appendicitis and had to undergo an emergency appendectomy. Amazingly, just three weeks after the surgery, Myles suited up for Las Vegas Bowl IV and -- still sporting the stitches from the operation -- came off the bench and led the Wolf Pack in tackles.
"I came home for Thanksgiving last year and I was looking forward to the bowl and everything and the next thing you know I'm laid up in the hospital," Myles, the 1996 Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Year, said. "It was terrible because I didn't think I was going to be able to play but I got a chance to play.
"I wanted to play and I thought I could because I felt pretty good; I didn't feel like anything in the inside of my body was feeling bad or anything. I felt real good the first half, the second half I felt a little bad but I didn't hurt anything so it was worth it."
The game, however, isn't among Myles' personal highlights because his mother, Carolyn, wasn't in the stands at Sam Boyd Stadium to watch her son play.
"My mother protested and she didn't come to the game," Myles said. "She really didn't want me to play and she got the family to support her so I don't think that many people in my family came to the game because they didn't want me to play.
"It was sad because when you go to a bowl game, you want your family to be there for you. She said she wasn't going to be there if I played but if I didn't play, she was going to come. I said, 'What's the difference? If I don't play, then why come?'"
Carolyn Myles and the rest of DeShone's family and friends will be at Sam Boyd Stadium Thursday when the Wolf Pack attempts to capture its first Las Vegas Bowl trophy in three tries when it meets the Ball State University Cardinals at 6 p.m.
"It's great to be home with my friends and my family out here," the junior linebacker said. "It means a lot to me. It means that we were the best team in the Big West and we get to come here and have some fun with our team. It's like a little bonus for going through the whole season."
For Myles, it has been another in a string of exceptional seasons at Reno. Despite missing a game -- the first of his three-year career at UNR -- due to a sprained ankle, the 6-3, 230-pounder led the Wolf Pack with 125 tackles, had three sacks and one interception.
UNR linebackers coach Ken Wilson said Myles' season was all the more impressive because, for the first time in his collegiate career, he played some defensive end in addition to linebacker.
"We moved him all over," Wilson said. "We used him a lot more this year; we played him some at defensive end in pass-rush situations and he had a great year. He would have had probably his best year, but he missed a game and a half with a sprained ankle.
"His biggest strength is that he's so explosive. He gets to plays that other guys can't get to and when he hits people, he's like a highlight film. There are very few guys who can strike somebody like he can."
Wolf Pack head coach Jeff Tisdel agreed with Wilson and added that Myles brings more to the team than physical prowess.
"He brings everything to this team: He's an athlete, he's intelligent and he plays football with enthusiasm, the way the game should be played," Tisdel said. "I think he's the best football player in the Big West Conference -- on either side of the ball."
Tisdel said Myles had no problem adjusting to his expanded role this season.
"We want to move him around and blitz him as much as we can from different spots on the field," Tisdel said. "I want to try to put him in different spots ... to create confusion for an offensive scheme and to try to create a situation where they don't know where he's coming from. He's such a specially gifted athlete that he doesn't have much of a problem (adapting)."
UNR football fans should see bigger and better things from Myles next year -- and beyond, according to Tisdel.
"I think next year he will be better than he was this year because kids mature and get better, and then I think everybody will see him playing on Sundays -- without question," Tisdel said. "He's really a remarkable athlete."
And a pretty tough one, at that.
archive
