Nantkes key to grounding Falcons

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2000 | 9:33 a.m.

UNLV freshman Kurt Nantkes is doing his best impression of Air Force quarterback Mike Thiessen in practice this week. And the 6-3, 205-pounder from Aurora, Colo., couldn't be happier.

"I really miss this, to tell you the truth," Nantkes said.

"This" is running the wishbone offense for the Rebel scout team in preparation for Saturday afternoon's game against the Mountain West Conference-leading Falcons (3-0, 2-0) at Sam Boyd Stadium. Nantkes was so good at running the wishbone while leading Aurora's Hinkley High School to the Colorado state 4-A title his senior year that he received a number of top-notch college scholarship offers.

One of those offers came from Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry.

"Actually, they don't give out scholarships, but you have to be appointed," Nantkes said. "I had everything in order to go there. I talked to Coach DeBerry on the phone a couple of times. But then I decided I didn't want to play baseball there."

So Nantkes set his sights on another school that has had pretty fair success running the option ... Nebraska.

In fact, Nantkes had accepted a scholarship from the Cornhuskers and was ready to play his football in Lincoln, Neb., when the Oakland Athletics, who had drafted him in the 32nd round of the 1998 June amatuer baseball draft, made him a six-figure offer that he couldn't refuse.

So one day before he was to attend his first class at Nebraska, Nantkes took the money and ran to minor league baseball.

"The Nebraska coaches weren't real happy," he said. "They wished I had let them know a little earlier. I kind of wasted a scholarship for them."

But after two years of pitching in the minors, Nantkes decided he wanted to give football another try. He enrolled in UNLV this fall and the A's, as part of Nantkes' baseball contract, are picking up the tab.

Now Nantkes, the likely heir apparent to sophomore star Jason Thomas at quarterback for UNLV, finds himself in the key role of helping prepare the Rebel defense for an Air Force wishbone attack that ranks second in the nation in rushing (337.0 yards) behind only Nebraska (370.0).

"We ran almost the same type of offense in high school," he said. "I kind of fell in love with it. Now I'm out here to help our defense. I know my role. Whatever it takes for us to win."

UNLV coach John Robinson said it's a huge plus to have someone of Nantkes' skills simulating Air Force's option in practice this week.

"It's really good," Robinson said. "Otherwise we'd have to recruit a guy who can do it or move a halfback there and teach them what to do. It definitely gives you a better look."

According to UNLV sports information director Mark Wallington, the Rebels have never appeared on an over-the-air network broadcast from Sam Boyd Stadium. The school's last appearance on ABC also was a regional telecast way back in 1981 at Wyoming.

The last time UNLV appeared on any network at home was the 1994 Las Vegas Bowl, a 52-24 victory over Central Michigan that was carried by ESPN.

After a short pause, an arm finally shot up.

"Coach, considering BYU's strong pass rush on Saturday, did you ever consider putting Jason Thomas in the shotgun where he might have a little more time to throw?" was the question.

The man asking the question was Charles Thomas, Jason's father.

Robinson smiled and said, "(Jason) asked me that, too."

Actually, the Rebels had experimented with some shotgun in fall drills and even ran a few plays out of it during the season.

"But when (passing game coordinator) Gene Dahlquist left three weeks ago (for an NFL Europe coaching job) we kind of shelved it," Robinson explained. "We weren't ready to run it."