New QB Reed could be rusty

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1998 | 10:58 a.m.

Chad Reed is the first to admit that he didn't see his first college quarterbacking start coming.

The 6-1, 210-pound senior from Lubbock, Texas, who will start at quarterback for winless UNLV (0-5) Saturday at BYU, has good reason for being surprised by Rebel head coach Jeff Horton's decision to start him this week.

Until last week, Reed, the son of former Mississippi State and NFL veteran quarterback Joe Reed, was UNLV's third string quarterback who also saw plenty of time at wide receiver and on special teams. He also hadn't played quarterback in a college game since 1994 when he was a true freshman at Memphis.

Now, after playing the final 11 minutes of UNLV's 30-21 loss to Nevada-Reno last Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium, Reed suddenly finds himself as "The Man" for this week's WAC game at BYU.

"Yeah, it's been a wild 48 hours," Reed said after practice Tuesday. "But it's a great opportunity for me to go into. I feel great about it.

"I'm a little rusty," Reed continued. "I haven't been playing lately and I'm just going to leave everything out on the field Saturday and try and do my best."

Reed completed 5 of 10 passes for 43 yards, no touchdowns and one interception in relief of starter Kevin Crook last Saturday. He also scrambled for a 17-yard gain and showed good mobility in avoiding Nevada-Reno's pass rush. That figures to come in handy Saturday against a BYU team that blitzes about 50 percent of the time.

"He has good athletic ability," Horton said. "He can get out of trouble. He can run around and make some plays. BYU does a lot of pressure things (on defense). We feel he can get out and make some things happen."

That athletic ability has been both a curse and a blessing for Reed.

He was recruited to Memphis by Charlie Stubbs in 1994 and played in parts of four games at quarterback as a true freshman, including before more than 100,000 fans at the University of Michigan. But Memphis head coach Chuck Stobart was fired after that season and new Tigers coach Rip Scherer decided to move Reed to wide receiver.

"I didn't like it much," Reed said. "During the spring game I had been MVP at quarterback, but they decided to move me to wide receiver because of my mobility and athletic ability. I wanted to do what was best for the team, so I took it."

Reed suffered a knee injury after making just one catch for six yards in 1995. When he heard that Stubbs had moved on to UNLV, he decided to put the Rebels on a list that included Texas Tech, Louisiana Tech and several Division 1-AA schools that he was considering transferring to.

"I found out Coach Stubbs was here and he asked me if I wanted to come out and take a look at the campus," Reed said. "Me and my dad took a trip here and fell in love with it."

But after sitting out the 1996 season at UNLV per NCAA transfer rules, Reed once again found himself the odd-man out at quarterback and playing wide receiver again.

"Jon (Denton) came in here and established himself early (as the starter)," Reed said. "I had made the decision to come here, so I decided to make the best of it. I wasn't going to play quarterback, so I played some receiver."

"We were low in numbers at receiver at the time," Horton said. "(Reed) is a guy who can run. Can Kevin Crook move to receiver? No. Can Chad Reed move and play? Yes. He's a better athlete who can run. So he was kind of a fill-in guy there for us."

But with both Crook and redshirt freshman Chris Hayward struggling at times this year, Horton decided to give Reed another serious look at quarterback last week.

"I really didn't see this coming," Reed said. "I got a few reps last week in practice. I really didn't think anything of it. Going into the (Nevada-Reno) game, (Horton) told me I would be his No. 2 guy if something was to happen. When I got my opportunity to play, it was exciting. I did some good things and I did some bad things. Now I just have got to correct the mistakes and give it my all."

Reed, who said he has a "vague" memory of watching his father quarterback the Detroit Lions at the Silverdome when he was 5 years old, got some advice from his dad this week.

"He's real excited about it," Reed said. "He told me just to keep a calm head and relax. He said it was a good time to get my opportunity and to take advantage of it."

Unfortunately, Joe Reed, now a stockbroker in Lubbock, won't be able to make the trip to Provo on Saturday.

"But my parents will be here for Homecoming (Oct. 17 against Wyoming)," Reed said. "So I'll get to see them next week."

REBEL NOTES: UNLV could be without three starters for Saturday's game. Tailback James Wofford is expected to try to practice on a badly bruised toe today. If he can't make it, he more than likely won't play Saturday. Meanwhile, starting left guard Jerald Pierucci is to have a CAT-scan done on his head today. Pierucci has a large bump in the middle of a swollen forehead as well as two black eyes. He is having trouble wearing his helmet because of the injury. "He wants to play," Horton said. "But we've got to make sure there's nothing seriously wrong there." And starting safety Randy Black had to be helped off the field at the end of practice Tuesday after landing hard on his left elbow during a goal line drill. ... Horton, who put a gag order on his players before last week's Fremont Cannon battle with Nevada-Reno, no doubt was cringing at Tuesday's Rebel Football Foundation luncheon when cornerback Mark Hays made this statement: "I promise you this weekend you're going to see a whole different UNLV team. We're not giving up. ... When we come home Saturday night, we'll come home with a victory."