Thomas optimistic he’ll return to field Saturday

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Nov. 6, 2000 | 10:55 a.m.

Jason Thomas spent Sunday night doing what he has done for more than three weeks since spraining his right foot late in the first half at Colorado State.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound sophomore quarterback dipped his sore foot into a tub of cold water for several minutes in the Lied Athletic Complex training room, then switched over to a tub of hot water. He continually repeated the procedure until a timer went off.

"Time to go get some deep foot massage," Thomas said as he walked gingerly over to a training table.

Thomas said he was optimistic that the foot, which kept him out of UNLV's 38-16 loss at Utah on Saturday, will be healed enough to allow him to practice again by Wednesday and start Saturday's crucial Mountain West Conference game against New Mexico at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"Last week I couldn't feel anything from the tip of my heel down to my toes when I walked on it," Thomas said, pointing to the arch on the inside of his right foot. "I know it's not broken. There's just a lot of pain in the muscle down there. But now I'm gradually starting to get better."

Thomas said there was a time during Saturday's loss where he thought about playing.

"Early in the second half it got to the point where I wanted to see if Coach (John Robinson) would put me in the game," Thomas said. "I was looking at him and he shook his head no. So it was no go. After that, I just tried to cheer up the guys."

Robinson was asked if in hindsight he wished he had kept Thomas out of the Rebels' 43-40 overtime loss at Ole Miss on Oct. 28.

"Nah, I don't know," Robinson said. "At that point the foot was, 'Hey, it looks OK, let's go.' And you think he'll play through it and it would get better. But it didn't. It got worse. And I was surprised by that."

Was it a tough decision not to play Thomas at Utah?

"Yeah, it was," Robinson said. "But he was not ready to play. He was not at full speed and hadn't practiced all week."

UNLV (4-5, 2-3) must win its final three games to meet its No. 1 goal of becoming bowl eligible starting with Saturday afternoon's home finale against much-improved New Mexico (5-5, 3-2). After a bye week, the Rebels, who are 0-5 on the road this year, finish with back-to-back away games at San Diego State (Nov. 25) and Hawaii (Dec. 2).

"This is the key game of the year for us as it turns out," Robinson said of the Lobos. "Then if we win that, then the next one becomes the key game for us."

Black, with the hand wrapped and padded, tied fellow safety Sam Brandon for the team lead in tackles with 10.

"The hand hurt him a couple of times, but he's a force out there," Robinson said. "He's a determined player.

"We really need him down the stretch. We need that kind of player. Our defense has had two weeks now where they kind of got knocked back on their heels a little bit. We need to re-establish the quickness and aggressiveness we had a little earlier."

Tate, who finished with 108 yards rushing, was running up the left sideline toward the end zone after catching a screen pass when the 6-2, 235-pound Owens came crashing in from the side, sending Tate hard to the ground to a chorus of oohs and ahhs.

"It's the hardest hit I ever took," the 6-1, 230-pound Tate said. "I blacked out for just a second. I was definitely woozy there in the huddle."

Owens was surprised when told of Tate's comments.

"I just pursued him and I just hit him," Owens said. "When I got close I knew I was going to bang him. But I always try and do that."

Tate got the last laugh however. On the very next play, he bounced off a couple of UNLV defenders and powered six yards into the end zone to increase Utah's lead to 24-9.