Suggs wants to be a hero in trip to hometown

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.

In a quiet and workmanlike fashion, Anthony Suggs has helped plug up the middle of UNLV's defensive line each of the last two seasons.

At 6-1 and 265 pounds, Suggs usually is about 50 pounds lighter than the offensive guards and centers he routinely takes on in double-teams. Yet with a 465-pound bench press, he has become a stalwart inside for the Rebels.

It's not a glamorous job. He sacrifices his body physically so that the players around him can be freed up to make the big tackles.

"He's the guy down in the dirt holding the fort for everybody else," UNLV coach John Robinson says.

But Saturday at Mississippi, Suggs will finally have the spotlight shining in his direction for a change.

About 50 family and friends will be on hand as Suggs, a product of nearby Oxford High School, tries to help UNLV defeat the hometown team he grew up watching on Saturdays at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

"It's exciting to be going home," Suggs said. "I grew up about five or ten minutes away from that campus. I went to quite a few Ole Miss games while I was growing up. Oxford is my hometown."

Suggs, who has 15 tackles this season for UNLV, won't have any trouble finding the locker rooms on Saturday.

"I've played in some high school games there," Suggs said. "The first game of the season they'd have a big high school jamboree there where the high schools from around the area would play three or four games that day. The atmosphere is going to be special. It's like the whole town shuts down for an (Ole Miss) game."

Suggs was not recruited by Ole Miss out of high school and eventually attended Northwest Mississippi Community College a few miles away. Other SEC schools, such as Arkansas, recruited him -- but not his hometown Rebels.

Asked if that oversight makes Saturday's contest even more special, Suggs replied: "It adds some incentive."

To hear UNLV coaches tell it, Ole Miss' loss has definitely been UNLV's gain.

"He was one of the first guys Coach Robinson pointed out because he brought his lunch pail to work each day," UNLV defensive coordinator Mike Bradeson said. "He brings a toughness and work ethic to our team. He plays hard and he plays with leverage. Those guys down in the pits like Anthony don't get a lot of the glory, but anywhere you go you need those kind of players playing well for your defense to succeed."

McAllister left Ole Miss' 45-7 loss against Alabama 10 days ago with a high left ankle sprain. He also had been battling a shoulder injury and is listed as questionable for Saturday's game against UNLV.

On Monday night, the results were still too close to call. About 51.5 percent of the almost 1,400 respondents said Ole Miss should not rest McAllister while 48.5 percent believed the school should let him rest his ankle for another week before returning to SEC action against Arkansas.

Of course, the only real vote that counts is that of Mississippi head coach David Cutcliffe, and he wasn't tipping his hand on Monday.

"We'll just have to see how he is with his ankle," Cutcliffe said. "From a shoulder standpoint, he's ready to play. We'll just have to see how the ankle responds this week in practice."

UNLV's game at Utah on Nov. 4 as well as the Nov. 11 date against New Mexico at Sam Boyd Stadium will both be broadcast live by ESPN-Plus to 23 stations across the nation, including locally on KFBT Gold 33/Cable 6.

Both games will start at noon PST.

Also, it was announced Monday that UNLV's Nov. 25 game at San Diego State will be shown live in Las Vegas on KLAS TV-8 starting at 4 p.m.