No doubting Thomas

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, March 21, 2000 | 10:04 a.m.

UNLV begins spring practice 11 a.m. Saturday at Rebel Park. No one is more anxious to get going than sophomore quarterback Jason Thomas.

"I've been thinking about this day for a long time," Thomas said. "It's time to show what I can do. It's been a long time."

It's been a long and sometimes bumpy road for the consensus prep All-American from Dominguez High School in Compton, Calif.

Considered by many scouts to be the top prep athlete to come out of Southern California in more than a decade, the 6-5, 230-pound Thomas suffered a broken ankle in a CIF playoff game his senior year against Antelope Valley.

Still, he turned down the likes of Nebraska, Michigan and Florida State to commit to childhood favorite USC and then-coach John Robinson, who confided to some that Thomas had the ability to maybe one day bring a fifth Heisman Trophy to Heritage Hall.

But Robinson was fired by USC before Thomas enrolled. And because of complications to his injury, Thomas redshirted his first year under new coach Paul Hackett in 1998.

It was in the spring of 1999 that Thomas thought he would finally get a chance to show his stuff with the Trojans. He says he had been promised by Hackett a chance to compete against Carson Palmer head-to-head that spring for the starting job.

But by the second day of spring workouts, it became very apparent to Thomas that Hackett had other ideas.

Thomas found himself lining up at wide receiver in some drills and shagging punts in others. Disillusioned, he asked for and was granted his release from USC so that he could play for Robinson, the coach who had originally promised to build his offense around him.

Now, almost 2 1/2 years since Thomas first pledged his loyalty to Robinson, he gets to finally compete for the starting quarterback job against senior Jason Vaughan, who started eight games in 1999 for UNLV, impressive sophomore Matt Ray, who started the Rebels' final three games last season, and redshirt freshman Ryan Hansen from perennial Southern California prep quarterback factory Los Alamitos High School.

"I'm really looking forward to the competition," Thomas said. "We all understand that we have several capable quarterbacks on campus here. Right now we're all kind of equal. It's up to one of us to kind of step in front of the others on the playing field now."

Most expect that to be Thomas, a strong-armed left-hander with the strength and toughness of an outside linebacker and the speed and moves of a tailback.

Unlike last season when UNLV's offense was very vanilla due in part to youth and lack of talent, Robinson is expected to really open things up in 2000. Look for a lot more rollouts from the quarterback and an offense similar to the high-scoring one used by UCLA two years ago with another very mobile lefty, Cade McNown, at the helm.

That would seem to work in Thomas' advantage. Although still somewhat raw at passing, Thomas was a devastating runner in high school and was timed at 4.46 in the 40 before his senior year at the University of Michigan's camp.

Still, Robinson said Thomas will have to earn the starting job before the team's Sept. 9 opener at Iowa State.

"It would be wrong to expect (Thomas) to be larger than life right away," Robinson said. "What he has to focus on now is the competition. Despite his reputation and all the expectations everybody has, he's in the same position everybody else is on this team ... he has to earn his position.

"I feel our quarterback position will be much stronger this season," Robinson continued. "I'm open for any way things turn out. We could use a two quarterback system if it works out that way."

Still, Robinson calls Thomas "an enormously talented" prospect. And he still hasn't ruled out Thomas making that run at a Heisman Trophy one day.

"He certainly does have that kind of ability," Robinson said. "God has given him the opportunity to reach that kind of height as an athlete. It's up to us as a coaching staff to try and bring that kind of ability out of him here."