FITTING IN TO TIGHT SPOT

Steve Carp

Wednesday, Oct. 16, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

IT was supposed to be a fierce competition for a starting spot.

The UNLV football team needed a tight end to replace the ageless David White, who finally graduated. The smart money was on Talance Sawyer. But Sam Mineo was hardly discouraged.

But he was surprised when coach Jeff Horton announced early in August that Sawyer was being moved to defense and Mineo, a 6-foot-3 sophomore from Redlands, Calif., was the Rebels' new tight end.

Seven games and 15 receptions later, Mineo still is the man at the tight end spot. He'll be there again Saturday when the 0-7 Rebels try to break into the win column against 1-6 Hawaii.

At the time Horton made his decision, it was definitely a gamble. What if Mineo got hurt? What if he didn't pan out?

But with the Rebels sorely lacking on defense (they already had turned tight end Ted Darnell into a defensive lineman), Horton had little choice but to roll the dice and hope Mineo wouldn't come up snake eyes.

"So far, we've won," said Horton. "The gamble was that he'd stay healthy."

To give the gamble some leverage, Horton doesn't play Mineo every down on offense and has him playing special teams only on occasion.

"I'm surprised it worked out this way," Mineo said. "I was expecting it to be a battle to start, so I worked out hard all summer. When they moved Talance to defense, it took some of the pressure off me. But there was also pressure to produce. I knew the team was counting on me."

UNLV doesn't utilize its tight end as much as other teams which run the "West Coast Offense." But when the ball has come to Mineo, he has made the play more times than not.

"I feel like I'm part of the offense," he said. "I know they don't call a lot of plays for the tight end, so I have to take advantage of the opportunities I get."

Horton said as the UNLV offense grows, so will the number of chances for the tight end to catch passes.

"He could be a real good one before it's all said and done," Horton said. "We're still missing a couple of pieces of the puzzle. But when we get them, we'll be able to do more things and Sam will definitely be involved."

Mineo was an undersized tight end coming out of high school. He also was from well outside the big city, so not many recruiters were willing to check him out.

But former UNLV assistant Brian White was one of the few who did. He thought Mineo had good hands and enough potential to fill out. Horton likes players who need developing and he convinced Mineo to come to UNLV.

Since coming to Las Vegas three years ago, he has put on 35 pounds of muscle.

"Idaho and Utah State were also recruiting me," Mineo said. "But the chance to play in the WAC convinced me to come here. Plus, the coaching staff is so positive, they're a big reason why I chose UNLV."

Extra points

* EARLY TO RISE: Because the team is traveling to Honolulu this afternoon, the Rebels scheduled a 6:30 a.m. practice today in full pads at Rebel Park. Normally, the team works out at 3:30 p.m. "We need to get our work in and try to get some people to class before we leave for Hawaii," said coach Jeff Horton. ... Thursday, the team will practice in the morning at Aloha Stadium. On Friday, the Rebels will go through their walk-through at a local park because the stadium is being used for high school football.

* INJURY UPDATE: LB Leroy Gambrell and WR Jesari Rodell will not make the trip to Hawaii. Gambrell has a bruised right foot and Rodell a sprained left knee. RB DeJohn Branch's sprained right knee has improved and he is back practicing. He is probable for Saturday, as are LB Scott Patton (hip flexor strain) and DT Derrick Monroe (bruised shoulder).