Rebels encouraged by Thomas’ progress

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, March 20, 2001 | 9:39 a.m.

Those around UNLV's Lied Athletic Complex on Monday saw a rather strange and unusual sight.

UNLV quarterback Jason Thomas was walking without a limp.

That's something the 6-5, 230-pound junior hasn't been able to do since severely spraining his right foot late in the first half of the Rebels' Oct. 14 game at Colorado State.

Thomas battled through the pain to help lead UNLV to its first bowl game since 1994, a stunningly one-sided 31-14 win over Arkansas in the Dec. 21 Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium. And a few weeks later it was diagnosed that he was starting to develop a stress fracture of his second metatarsal bone in that same foot.

Now a little more than two months later, Thomas is looking forward to getting back on the football field again when the Rebels begin spring practice on Thursday afternoon at Rebel Park.

"It's still not 100 percent healed," Thomas said of the injury. "I probably have about three more weeks to go before it's 100 percent. But it feels a whole lot better than it did last year."

Despite the gimpy foot, Thomas was still able to rush for 599 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also finished second in the Mountain West Conference and 15th nationally in pass efficiency with a 138.1 rating, completing 106 of 201 passes for 1,708 yards, 14 touchdowns and just nine interceptions.

He capped his season with a brilliant performance against Arkansas, completing 12 of 17 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns, including a pinpoint 54-yard touchdown pass to Troy Mason that broke a 14-14 tie in the third quarter and traveled 65 yards in the air.

"It was one of my best performances," Thomas said. "I want to build on that this spring."

UNLV head coach John Robinson said that he will gradually increase Thomas' workload during the spring just to make sure his foot is completely healed.

"It's all on Coach Rob," Thomas said of how much he'll practice the first week of spring drills. "I look forward to getting back out there and smelling the grass again. It's been a long time."

Thomas had the injured foot in a cast for almost six weeks.

"It was tough," he said. "I don't like being in a situation where I can't move. Just knowing that cast was on my foot everyday made it rough. But it made my foot better."

The sore ankle and foot limited Thomas' practice time the last half of the season. And it messed up his throwing mechanics as well. The left-hander could not put pressure on his front foot while trying to follow through.

"I was just kind of shot-putting it at times," Thomas said. "I couldn't really set my feet and follow through. This year I want to improve on my mechanics."

Robinson agrees.

"The biggest problem we had last year was that we were so guarded with his practice and he didn't get much work," Robinson said. "He just kind of limped through the motions. It affected his throwing style and a lot of other stuff. There's no question that his finally getting the foot healthy this spring is a plus. We'll work on his efficiency and just the detail of playing the position again."

A more efficient and healthy Jason Thomas? Now that's a scary thought.