Columnist Steve Guiremand: Don’t expect any miracles from Rebels

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, Aug. 5, 1999 | 9:47 a.m.

Steve Guiremand is a Sun sports writer. Reach him at steveg@lasvegassun.com or 259-2324.

Something unusual is happening around UNLV these days.

It's August and instead of people asking the usual "How much longer till basketball season begins?" the big question is "What time do the Rebels kick off against Iowa State?"

The excitement surrounding the debut of John Robinson and his 1999 squad is starting to reach fever proportions, not just on campus but around town. And for many, it's not "if" UNLV will win a game this season, but can the Rebels put together a winning season?

One word: Whoa!

Robinson is a football coach, not a miracle worker.

There's a good reason UNLV hasn't won a game since Oct. 11, 1997. It's the same reason the Rebels went 0-11 last year and why popular Jeff Horton is no longer pacing the sidelines at refurbished Sam Boyd Stadium.

The players aren't very good.

It seemed easy to pass the blame of last year's debacle on the shoulders of Jon Denton, whose last-minute departure left the Rebels without a legitimate quarterback. But outside of defensive end Talance Sawyer, now with the Minnesota Vikings, hard-hitting linebacker James Sunia and a handful of others, the UNLV talent level was not anywhere close to what it should be.

A red flag should have been raised when you paged through UNLV's media guide and found out the Rebels beat schools like Boise State, Sacramento State, Hawaii and New Mexico State for many of their players.

Robinson, whose 104-35-4 record in 12 seasons at USC makes him the nation's sixth-winningest active college coach, is no dummy. He knows the first rule of being a good coach is having good players. So despite a very late start last winter, he and his staff brought in a number of top-notch recruits.

They beat out USC and Oregon State for wide receiver Nate Turner. They sweated out a late advance by defending national champion Tennessee for speedy H-back Jermaine Curtis. They brought in a running back, Jeremi Rudolph, rated the best in Florida four years ago who signed with powerhouse Florida State out of high school. They brought in a junior college quarterback, Jason Vaughan, who was No. 2 on the depth chart at Ole Miss out of high school. They staved off Oregon, BYU and Arizona State for local hotshot Kawika Sagapolu.

And in a move that may pay even bigger dividends down the road, they landed USC quarterback transfer Jason Thomas, arguably the best two-sport athlete to come out of Southern California in over a decade.

No doubt, the Rebels have some potentially big-time players on their roster now. They just don't have enough of them ... yet.

The defensive line is undersized and inexperienced. The offensive line is probably a year or two away. The secondary has better athletes, but figures to have its share of breakdowns as newcomers learn on the fly. Depth? Forget it.

Will the Rebels be more competitive and more fun to watch than a year ago? Yes. Will they be playing in bowl game come December? Maybe in two or three years.

If the Rebels win three games, they'll equal their total the last two years under Horton. Four wins would match their output over their last three years.

Whatever the final victory output, it's at least a start in the right direction.