Rebels aim to hone skills at scrimmage

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Aug. 21, 1998 | 10:54 a.m.

MESQUITE--- Those UNLV football followers who can't wait until the Rebels' Sept. 5 opener at Northwestern to see their team in game-like action may want to make the 85-mile drive up to Virgin Valley High School on Saturday morning.

That's when Jeff Horton and company will hold their main scrimmage of fall practice. The scrimmage, which will start about 10 a.m., is open to the public.

"It's the first opportunity for us to go live and let everybody see what they can do under game-type conditions," Horton said. "We'll probably go about 70 plays. We'll try and do a lot of down and distance stuff."

The Rebels are in the midst of two-a-day workouts here. They break camp on Tuesday night, then return to UNLV to begin serious game preparations for their opener against Gary Barnett's Wildcats in Evanston, Ill.

Horton said two defensive starters, outside linebacker Greg Gales and free safety Quincy Sanders, will likely sit out the scrimmage with minor injuries. Gales sprained an ankle in a drill on Thursday while Sanders has been bothered by a sore knee.

"There's no sense putting them out there and getting perhaps a more serious injury," Horton said. "So we'll probably hold them out."

SURPRISE, SURPRISE: With fall camp just about at the halfway point, Horton was asked which players had been pleasant surprises with their play thus far.

Horton named three: redshirt freshman cornerback Kevin Thomas of Foothill High in Sacramento and two redshirt freshman wide receivers, Duane James of San Diego Mira Mesa and Troy Mason of Bastrop, La.

Thomas, a big corner at 5-11 and 175 pounds, is battling junior Amar Brisco and senior James Teele for the starting right corner spot.

"He's played real well," Horton said. "He'll probably start."

James and Mason add quality depth to a wide receiving corps that has been rated the best in the WAC by some preseason publications.

KEEPING COOL: With practice temperatures routinely in the 100-plus degree range, ice and water are prescious commodities here.

There are two large bins of ice by the practice field and another one up the hill by UNLV's locker room.

"We go through an average of about 3,000 pounds of ice a day," UNLV head trainer Kyle Wilson said. "And we go through about 200 gallons of ice water per practice."

The ice is trucked in daily from St. George, Utah.

Wilson said the Rebels also consume about 10 cases of fruit each day during their morning practice break and after their nightly meetings.

Wilson also gives each player a large water bottle to carry around with them at night.

"It's very important that they keep their fluids up," Wilson said. "If their muscle don't have enough water in them, they'll strain or tear more easily. So we encourage them to drink as much water as they can each day."

TALENT TIME: Horton said his team won't practice on Sunday but will hold some position meetings and evaluate film of Saturday's scrimmage.

But it still figures to be a stressful day for the team's newcomers. That's because the squad's annual talent show, which is closed to the public, takes place Sunday night. All freshman and JC transfers will participate.

"Usually they do a lot of imitations of the coaches," Horton said. "Some will get together and form skits. Others sing or dance."

It figures to be a rough crowd.

"The veterans wait on it," Horton said. "They remember what happened when they had to do it. But it's all in good fun."