Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Walk-on finally picks up road win

After eight years and a lot of long bus and plane rides home, John Greer finally got to experience the thrill of victory following a road football game last week.

Thirty-eight times during that span, the junior right tackle from Apple Valley (Calif.) High School had tasted the agony of defeat. Not once during his prep or college career had he played on a team that won a game away from home.

That changed last Thursday when UNLV snapped its 26-game road losing streak with a 26-3 win at North Texas.

"I really didn't know what to expect at first," the 6-5, 290-pound former walk-on said. "It was so much nicer. We actually got to talk and everyone was happy and in a good mood. It was just a great feeling finally."

Greer didn't begin playing organized football until his freshman year at Apple Valley, home of the Roy Rogers Museum off Interstate 15 near Victorville.

"We went 0-10," Greer recalled. "And my senior year, we went 0-10, too."

There weren't many wins in between, either.

"I won six games total in high school," Greer said. "But none were away games."

Then Greer walked on at UNLV in 1996 when the Rebels went 1-11, including 0-6 on the road.

He started all 11 games as a redshirt freshmen in 1997 when UNLV went 3-8, but once again was 0-6 on the road. And then there was last year's forgetful 0-11 campaign when Greer started 10 more times.

So Greer was 0 for 18 on the road as a Rebel and 0 for 38 going back to his high school days.

"I never really talked about it much," Greer said. "But since we won I can finally tell everyone I'm 1-0 now."

* KEVIN BROWN ENROLLS: Washington State transfer Kevin Brown was OK'd for late enrollment at UNLV on Wednesday and will begin practicing with the team next week.

The well-chiseled 6-1, 230-pound junior, who earned second team all-Pac-10 honors in 1998 after rushing for 1,046 yards and four touchdowns with the Cougars, must sit out this season and will have one year of eligibility remaining.

"I'm glad to be here," Brown said as his new teammates walked off the Rebel Park practice field on Thursday afternoon. "I'm real excited about coming here. I was a little worried about (the late admission process), but everything came through."

Brown said he did not want to comment about his dismissal from the Washington State football team after his guilty plea bargain for a residential burglary charge over the summer.

"I'll talk about that at a later time," he said.

The Rebels should learn the fate of Florida State running back transfer Raymont Skaggs by the end of the week.

* FRAZIER TURNS TO COACHING: Nothing against Baylor quarterback Jermaine Alfred, but there's little doubt that UNLV would much rather be trying to defense Alfred on Saturday instead of the Bears' running backs coach.

His name? Tommie Frazier.

Frazier quarterbacked Nebraska to back-to-back national championships in 1994 and 1995 and was arguably the top option quarterback of the '90's. He was recruited to Nebraska by current Baylor head coach Kevin Steele.

Frazier, who played briefly with Montreal of the Canadian Football League after leaving Nebraska, was working for the telephone company in Lincoln, Neb., when Steele called and asked if he would be interested in becoming a graduate assistant with the Bears.

"I came down to visit and decided to do it," Frazier said.

Frazier had barely unpacked his bags when defensive coordinator Mickey Mathews decided to leave Waco to become head coach at James Madison.

"They promoted me to running backs coach," Frazier said. "It happened that quick."

Frazier, who never got a shot at the National Football League because of fears over blood clot problems that sidelined him periodically at Nebraska, says he's enjoying his coaching experience so far.

"I felt that I needed to get back into football," he said. "Coaching was a way I could do that. I'm enjoying every minute of it."

Frazier said he hopes to be a head coach one day.

"I think that's every assistant coach's dream," Frazier said. "Yes I do want to be a head coach, but I'm going to take my time in getting there. I'm here learning from some great guys now. When my opportunity comes, I want to be ready for it. It's not something I want to rush into. You have a lot of guys who rush into being a head coach and they don't have very much success in doing it. I'm ready to spend my time as an assistant and move myself up slowly through the ranks."

* REBEL NOTES: UNLV passed the 7,000 mark in season tickets on Wednesday. ... The squad practices this afternoon at Rebel Park before flying to Waco on Friday morning. ... The early weather forecast is for temperatures in the mid-90s on Saturday night with humidity in the 70-percent range. ... A crowd of 35,000 is expected at 50,000-seat Floyd Casey Stadium.

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