Columnist Steve Carp: Looking to make an impact early

Steve Carp

Tuesday, Aug. 12, 1997 | 9:40 a.m.

IT IS COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S version of boot camp and hell week combined, even though it lasts only a few days.

It's by invitation only and those "lucky" enough to pull one of those invites would just as soon be overlooked.

But when you're a freshman, you don't get a lot of breaks.

So you show up, you run in the heat, you get yelled at a lot by coaches.

Then you run some more.

Fun? Hardly. Especially when the odds of you doing anything else but standing on the sidelines are about as good as the Cubs winning the pennant.

But there's always a guy willing to beat the odds. And Duane James may be the one freshman who gets to get a little dirt on his UNLV uniform this fall.

James, a 5-foot-9 true freshman from Mira Mesa High in San Diego, is trying to get a leg up on the competition by blazing his way through the two-a-day workouts that have been held at Rebel Park the past few days, and will continue Thursday up in Mesquite where the Rebels will set up camp for 10 days.

He's a running back who has been converted into a receiver.

If that sounds familiar, consider Carlos Baker was a defensive back in high school and Damon Williams was a quarterback, and they've turned out to be pretty good UNLV pass catchers.

James has breakaway speed. That not only gives him a chance at catching passes, but an opportunity to return kickoffs and punts. It's the one commodity coaches can never have enough of.

"If you have speed, you'll play," said Rebels coach Jeff Horton in a simple statement of fact.

That is James' hope.

"I can do a lot of things," he said.

"You always want to play. That was one of the reasons I came here to UNLV. I thought I'd get a chance."

He will.

When you're 1-11, as the Rebels were during their Western Athletic Conference baptism last season, you take help wherever you can get it. And if it's a freshman who can run like the wind, so be it.

Still, James has a lot of battles to fight and a lot of adjustments to make before he can become a hero on Saturdays.

He has to get used to the quicker pace of college football. He has to adjust to the blazing desert heat. He has to learn to play a position he hasn't performed at since 10th grade.

And he has to get used to the fact he's no longer the biggest fish in the pond.

"That's the toughest thing for me," he said. "I have to accept the fact I'm no longer the best player on the team. But I'm shooting to one day get back on top."

The fact that he's even going to get to play this early in his career gives him a head start.

Someday, he may even be the main man again.