Robinson solves Rebels’ QB shortage

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Jan. 11, 1999 | 10:05 a.m.

It took just one recruiting weekend for new UNLV football coach John Robinson to fill the large quarterback void on his roster.

Robinson received verbal commitments from both Jason Vaughn (6-4, 205) of Middle Georgia Junior College as well as Los Alamitos (Calif.) High School's Ryan Hanson (6-2, 210) on Sunday. That means UNLV should have at least three quarterbacks on scholarship for the start of fall practice next August. Sophomore Chris Hayward is the only returning quarterback on scholarship.

Vaughn, who signed with Mississippi out of high school, is expected to enroll for the start of the spring semester next week. That means he will be able to take part in spring practice, which will likely start at the end of March.

Hanson, who also took a recruiting trip to Sacramento State, was the Orange County Register's Offensive Player of the Year after completing 192 of 286 passes for 3,082 yards, 31 touchdowns and throwing just three interceptions for the Griffins.

He is the latest in a long line of Los Alamitos quarterbacks to earn Division I scholarships, following in the footsteps of Tom Williamson (Nevada-Reno), Todd Gragnano (Nebraska), Tim Carey (Stanford/Hawaii), Mike Good (Northern Arizona) and Kevin Feterik (BYU). Another former Los Al quarterback, J.T. Snow, turned out to be a pretty fair baseball player.

"Ryan's probably bigger and stronger than any other quarterback we've had," Los Alamitos coach John Barnes said. "He's a big, physical kid. His arm has big-time strength. He can throw the 20-yard out right now."

Hanson also owns a 3.8 grade point average, registered 1,010 on his SAT and is a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete. Barnes says he is also "an NFL caliber long-snapper."

"The players and coaches were very personable there," Hanson said of his recruiting trip. "We just jelled very well. I had an outstanding time on my trip there. This team is on the rise. With the new refurbished stadium and coaching staff, I think it's going to be a whole new atmosphere for UNLV football."

Hanson isn't concerned that Vaughn also has committed.

"He's a really good guy," Hanson said. "In fact, when he committed, I thought to myself, 'I'm going to commit, too.' And I did."

Because UNLV loses its long snapper, backup tight end Mike Leatham, to graduation, there's a chance that Hanson could contribute right away for the Rebels.

"They want me to long snap if possible," Hanson said. "If they have someone else there who can do it, then I'll probably redshirt. They told me I'll get the opportunity in the fall to contribute. They made no guarantees that I'll play, which is the way it should be. But they told me I'd get an opportunity. That's all I can ask for."

A third quarterback prospect who visited UNLV, Santa Monica (Calif.) JC's Dylan Smith (6-1, 180), will visit James Madison this weekend and also is considering Kansas, Tulane and San Jose State. Smith still needs to earn his Associate of Arts degree this spring, which means he wouldn't be eligible to enroll at a college until the fall. However, the Rebels would like to bring in a third quarterback and would likely take Smith if he were to commit.

Two of the top prep prospects in Las Vegas, defensive tackle Kawika Sagapolu (6-4, 285) and linebacker Arnold Parker (6-2, 210) of state 4-A champion Cimarron-Memorial, visited UNLV over the weekend.

"Right now it's either Oregon or UNLV for me," Sagapolu said. "I think I like (UNLV) a lot more after my visit there. They did a lot of things as far as the academic end of things that the other schools haven't done for me. And it's my home state."

Sagapolu said he still plans on taking his two final recruiting trips -- to Arizona State this weekend and to BYU on Jan. 22-23.

Parker also spoke highly of his trip.

"It was a good one," he said. "I got to meet a lot of good people and good recruits."

Parker already has visited Utah. He is scheduled to visit three more schools in a span of eight days in mid-January: Arizona State, Michigan State and BYU.