Rebels hand out 5 scholarships

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2001 | 10:30 a.m.

In 1998 Andrew Faga and Derek Olsen combined to lead Indian Springs High School to the eight-man football state title at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Now the two will be teammates again at UNLV.

The 6-0, 210-pound Faga, who quarterbacked the Thunderbirds to a 32-1 record and two state titles during his reign, is one of five mid-year players who will receive scholarships from UNLV when the spring semester starts next week.

Faga originally signed with Idaho over Washington State our of high school but left after one year. He enrolled last fall at UNLV but has yet to play football. He will likely play fullback or linebacker for the Rebels and be reunited with Olsen, who played running back at Indian Springs and starred on special teams for UNLV this year.

The other four mid-year scholarships will go to backup quarterback Kurt Nantkes, wide receiver Eric Elkington (6-2, 190) of Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado, Calif., and junior college recruits Garrett Brassington (6-3, 280), a defensive lineman from Grossmont College in La Mesa, Calif., and offensive lineman Matt Williams (6-7, 290) of Pasadena (Calif.) City College.

Nantkes redshirted this past season and had his way paid by the Oakland Athletics. He is considered to be the heir apparent to Jason Thomas at quarterback.

UNLV, which is off to a late start in recruiting this year because of its Dec. 2 game at Hawaii and Dec. 21 Las Vegas Bowl victory over Arkansas, is expected to bring in about 10 recruits this weekend.

Topping the list is first team all-California running back Dominique Dorsey of Tulare (Calif.) Union High School who set state records with 7,761 yards and 118 touchdowns. He's from the same school that produced current Rebel fullback Steven Costa.

The one knock on Dorsey is his size. Although listed at 5-9, he is really closer to 5-6 -- which has scared away some of the bigger schools that initially recruited him. But with blazing 4.45 speed in the 40, Dorsey could make an inviting target for Thomas as a slotback.

Also visiting is highly touted linebacker Bobby Otani (6-1, 210) of St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura, Calif., who led his school to back-to-back 14-0 records and CIF Division XI titles. Otani has also visited Iowa State and is scheduled to visit USC (Jan. 19-20) and Oregon State (Jan. 26-27).

UNLV also has verbal commitments from tight end Mike Friend (6-2, 215) from Washington, offensive tackle Sheddrick Mitchell (6-7, 310) of Butte Cummunity College in Oroville, Calif., and honorable mention all-California offensive tackle Zach Gorham (6-4, 285) of El Capitan High School in San Diego.

One bit of bad news for the Rebels is that a key running back recruit that could have made an immediate impact next fall may have been lost to in-state rival Nevada-Reno.

Herman Ho-Ching (6-0, 205), a former Long Beach (Calif.) Poly star who played as a freshman at Oregon in 1998 but left last spring, was all but signed, sealed and delivered to battle Jabari Johnson for the starting tailback job in the fall. However, the former youth football league teammate of Jason Thomas apparently has decided to join his cousin, Wolf Pack defensive line assistant Mike Tuiasosopo, in Reno.

"Herman was all excited about going to UNLV and playing with his good friend Jason Thomas," Poly assistant coach Merle Cole said Monday night. "But he didn't hear from anybody there for a month. Now it looks like he's going to Nevada."