Champs in camps

Spencer Patterson

Wednesday, June 21, 2000 | 10:11 a.m.

It's 108 degrees outside, quite a bit hotter inside the jersey and helmet worn by Cimarron-Memorial defensive back Kyler Rushton.

The first day of official high school football practice is more than two months away, the first game two weeks after that.

Yet Rushton and his Spartans teammates are huddled together on UNLV's practice field, jumping up and down and chanting "Defense, Defense" in unison as they await their chance to take center stage.

Such is life at the annual Rebels football camp, known for the past two years as John Robinson's Football Camp. And an argument easily could be made that this is where champions are made.

"One of the big factors that's helped our kids be successful is what we do in the off-season, like coming to the camp," said Greg Spencer, head coach for two-time defending 4A state champion Cimarron.

"We've been coming to this camp almost every year since the school opened (in 1991). When you do this in the off-season, you're so much farther ahead."

The five-day event held last week gives teams from in-state and out-of-town the opportunity to utilize UNLV's facilities -- including dormitories, dining halls and weight rooms -- and work out with the Rebels' coaching staff.

For Spencer, it provides the perfect opportunity to start making decisions about which players he will rely on come September. Spartan contributors past (linebacker Taylor Miller '00) and present (Rushton, running back Kellen Marshall) have seized that opportunity to impress their coach.

"This is where he looks for his players," Rushton said. "I tell other players that they need to work hard, that this camp is important."

The camp also serves an important purpose for UNLV, which gets a close look at potential Division I prospects in its own backyard.

"For us, it's a great chance to evaluate talent," said Rebels defensive coordinator Mike Bradeson, the camp's director. "And for the teams, it's a chance to have a week of camaraderie and team building. It really helps everyone."

'Building a family'

Like Cimarron, Northern California's Vacaville High has seen its share of success during the past two seasons, winning back-to-back Monticello Empire League titles. And like the Spartans, the Bulldogs are regulars at UNLV's camp, having been here seven times.

"This camp kick starts our summer," Vacaville coach Fred Jones said. "Our main thing here is to jell as a team, to bond and develop leadership. Our philosophy is to build a family, and this helps us do that."

The Spartans' formula for success was not lost on Desert Pines head coach Gary Findley, who took his second-year program to the camp for the first time last week.

"If a team is successful, you look at what they've done and emulate some of it," said Findley, whose club went 0-7 in its inaugural campaign last year. "We needed something to help us grow up, something to speed up our maturation process.

"We've accomplished all our goals that we set for camp, and we think we're a good football team. The main thing for us is learning what it means to compete at this level, and we've found that we can compete with everyone out here."

The two-a-day sessions include positional workouts with individual coaches, intrasquad scrimmages and the day-ending "challenge" round, in which teams go head-to-head for one intense series with the entire camp -- including Robinson -- watching.

"It's a great time for us to see our younger guys come up and play at this level, and it gives them a chance to see what it's like," Silverado coach John DeNardin said. "It also gives kids something to look forward to, especially the ones who have been lifting weights all spring."

Recruiting tool

For the host Rebels, the annual camp serves as an important community relations device, building goodwill between UNLV and local coaches and players.

The camp also gives student-athletes a chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at the array of UNLV facilities, something few local players experience otherwise.

"It gives you a close look at the college," Rushton said. "It'd be nice to go here. They have a great school, and their future looks bright."

With several key players back from their 1999 championship squad, the future also looks bright for the Spartans, although you won't hear Spencer singing his team's praises this soon.

He's content doing what he always does at this time of year -- evaluating his players' abilities and, perhaps more importantly, their willingness to work. And for that, there's perhaps nothing better than UNLV's annual camp.

"If you get a kid willing to come out in 110-degree weather on a Sunday in the summer, that tells us a lot. They want to play football," Spencer said. "Those are the kind of kids we want playing for us."