A season to forget

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2001 | 11:02 a.m.

As he walked into the locker room after Saturday's season-ending 34-10 victory at Air Force, UNLV quarterback Jason Thomas shouted, "Hey, those are the Rebels I know!"

Problem is, it took 11 games for the UNLV football team many expected to see to finally show up.

A squad that was talking Mountain West Conference championship and Heisman Trophy candidates in the summer finished a disappointing 4-7 overall and 3-4 in Mountain West play.

So what happened?

Hard to believe that with a quarterback of Thomas' reputation on campus the past two years, the Rebels couldn't attract a couple of top-notch receivers for him to throw to. Chalk that up to poor recruiting.

"A couple of guys we brought in from junior college just didn't pan out," UNLV coach John Robinson admitted.

"I think there were some (team unity) problems," freshman linebacker Adam Seward said after Saturday's win. "We had a lot of guys hyped and whatever. Maybe there were some guys who were, 'What about me?' Last year we didn't have that. Everybody just pulled together and played as a unit."

During an interview in his office on Monday, Robinson said he felt his squad "didn't play well in the mental and competitive part of the season.

"I think we took some things for granted in terms of leadership, football instincts, those kinds of things. We seem to be slow learners in some of those areas. A year ago we were really quite good at it.

"This team needs to start from scratch and build a team concept. A year ago we did that. This last year we kind of assumed we had it. Maybe it got lost."

Although some might point to crushing early season, last-minute losses to Arkansas (14-10) and BYU (35-31) as the worst defeats of the season for the Rebels, Robinson instead pointed to the team's 42-14 loss to Utah.

"Utah was maybe the most significant loss in that for the second year in a row we have been unable to compete evenly with them," Robinson said. "A year ago Jason Thomas was out (with a foot injury). This year we had some other problems. But the power football they play we haven't matched up well with.

"BYU and Colorado State have both been extremely close, competitive games. We haven't won, but I don't think you go off the field saying, 'Whoa, what the heck happened there?' "

The Rebels hope to improve their size and strength up front when they hit the recruiting trail the next couple of months. UNLV will give out 25 scholarships and Robinson said the Rebels are focusing on bringing in immediate help at cornerback (where Kevin Thomas graduates), wide receiver (no explanation needed), offensive line (four starters depart) and defensive line.

But Robinson believes there is plenty of returning talent to work with next fall, especially in the offensive backfield where Thomas and talented backup Kurt Nantkes both return at quarterback and a bevy of talented running backs will battle for playing time. Among them are 1,100-yard rusher Joe Haro, the explosive Dorsey, and talented Pac-10 transfers Larry Croom (Arizona) and Deon Burnett (Washington State).

"We probably have the best depth I've ever had in our potential backfield," Robinson said. "We need to find ways to use more of them at the same time."

Translation: Expect to see the explosive Dorsey out in the flat catching his fair share of passes next fall.

Defensively, the Rebels should be paced by a strong linebacker unit led by Seward, sophomore Ryan Claridge, Iowa State transfer Tyrone Tucker and redshirt freshman Joe Miklos. And Alabama transfer Connie Brown has NFL potential as Brandon's likely replacement at free safety.

Can the Rebels put it together and finally become that Top 25-caliber team Robinson promised to build within five years?

"I don't know," Robinson said. "I'm not going to spend a lot of time with speculation."