Thursday, Oct. 12, 2000 | 10:10 a.m.
UNLV coach John Robinson can't help it. When he talks about Rebel safety Randy Black, he has a habit of dropping the name of another pretty fair college safety he once coached.
A fellow named Ronnie Lott.
"I'm not trying to compare Randy to Ronnie," Robinson said of the 6-0, 220-pound senior from Clark High School. "But he's a lot like Ronnie Lott in that his emotions are right there and he plays as hard as he can each play. And every once in a while he gets over the edge some. But so did Ronnie."
Perhaps one of the best examples of Black going a little over the edge occurred two years ago when UNLV played at Colorado State.
Early in the first quarter, Rams quarterback Ryan Eslinger appeared to be easing up after sprinting out of bounds in front of the UNLV bench when Black delivered a vicious hit -- some might call it a cheap shot -- to the face of the Colorado State quarterback.
Eslinger was knocked out of the game because of the blow, which caused him to bite through his lip and tongue. But the Rams, behind then unheralded backup Matt Newton, still went on to cruise to a 38-16 victory over the Rebels that afternoon.
Now Black, who needs only 21 tackles to break the school career tackle mark of 289 set by linebacker Darnell Pickens from 1984 to 1987, makes his first trip back to Fort Collins since that brutal hit on Saturday night when UNLV (3-2, 1-1) faces the Rams (4-1, 1-0) in a key Mountain West Conference game on ESPN2.
"I knew it was coming," Black said when asked about the Eslinger hit after a practice this week. "I've been expecting it. I expect to hear from the crowd. I know there's going to be a lot of newspaper questions about it.
"It's something that just happened," Black continued. "If I could take it back and do it over, I don't know if I would change it. I just wish I was more aware of what was going on. At the time it happened, it looked like he was still running (inbounds) to me. I apologized for it at the time. I'm going to go on with my life now."
Black said some Rams brought up the hit during last year's rematch at Sam Boyd Stadium.
"There were comments made," Black said. "We were out there banging. There was a lot of talking back and forth. But nobody ever said, 'We're going to get you back' or 'You're dirty' or anything like that. They said all that when it happened, but not last year. Last year was a good game."
Black thinks the Eslinger hit will not be a topic for the Rams going into Saturday's game.
"I hope they don't circle this game because Randy Black hit a guy two years ago," he said. "There's certainly a lot more riding on this game than that."
Robinson has nothing but good things to say about Black.
"He's such a leader," Robinson said. "He is the guy on the field who I think holds our group together out there. He creates a positive attitude on our defense. He's a very physical player. He comes to play and plays with emotion. I'm just really impressed with who he is and who he has become on this team."
The MRI showed that Sunia not only tore the ACL as first feared, but also the MCL and some cartilage as well.
Wilson said Sunia will undergo reconstructive knee surgery in about two weeks.
"We'll try and get some of the swelling out and also get some of his motion and strength back before we do the surgery," Wilson said. "Usually we're looking at about nine months of rehab for recovery, give or take a little. We're looking at him being back around the start of fall practice."
Sunia, a three-year starter for the Rebels, still has one year of eligibility remaining.
"He told us he went through the same thing that we're going through -- helping build a program -- when he played at Washington," Rebel All-American punter Ray Cheetany said. "He basically said we have a great coach and to take advantage of him."
Cheetany said he wasn't surprised to have a Hall of Famer stop by and offer the team words of encouragement before this weekend's key Mountain West Conference at Colorado State.
"That's one of the great things about having a coach like Coach Robinson," he said. "We've had people like John Madden, Ronnie Lott, Joe Montana and now Hugh McElhenny stop by and speak to us in the last year or so. That's one of the perks of playing for Coach Robinson."
Colorado State opened as a six-point favorite at off shore books on Sunday night but has since been bet up to a seven-point favorite.
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