Columnist Dean Juipe: Robinson lays it on star player

Dean Juipe

Friday, Sept. 7, 2001 | 9:43 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

John Robinson took an interesting approach to dealing with the aftermath and implications of his UNLV football team's dreadful game last week at Arkansas.

Beyond blaming himself, which was marginally predictable following the last-minute 14-10 defeat in Little Rock, he minced no words on the disappointing play of quarterback and one-time Heisman hopeful Jason Thomas.

He said what (most of) the rest of us had said: That Thomas was awful and that he has to play much, much better. He laid it out without disguise and without the coddling that some coaches accord a star player after a gloomy day.

It had to be a conscious decision on Robinson's part. He wanted to give Thomas a taste of the dark side of life in the limelight, and he did it by speaking bluntly on Thomas' horrid overall play.

He wants to test Thomas, test his mettle. He wants to see how Thomas will react to blatant criticism.

He's hoping Thomas accepts the onus and responds with a badly needed big game tonight when UNLV hosts Northwestern at Sam Boyd Stadium.

It's critical for both Thomas' career and the Rebels' season that he rebound against the Wildcats and a defense that may be no better than what UNLV faced last week at Arkansas. Northwestern has a flock of players back from last season's 8-4 team, yet its defense is, once again, questionable and might well be exploitable.

Scouts and fans alike will be looking to see how Thomas responds.

If he's sensational, it's fairly clear the Rebels can win. If he's still the fumbling, bumbling, slippery fingered quarterback who imploded at Arkansas and blew his Heisman chances in one disastrous nationally televised outing, not only will his long-term future but that of his present team appear to be in jeopardy.

The Rebels can hardly afford to open 0-2, especially with Colorado State, Arizona and BYU still on the September schedule.

Subliminally, Robinson is calling on Thomas to suck it up while the season is still salvageable. The coach's strategy: Refuse to handle Thomas with kid gloves, because they sure won't treat him that way in the NFL.

Of course, Thomas will be an NFL kick returner (at best) if he regularly reprises his role at Arkansas.

But he can't be that bad. He can't have regressed that far at a time when he should be dramatically improving.

He was brilliant in last December's Las Vegas Bowl and that brilliance led not only to an abbreviated Heisman campaign but to the notion that he was a top-five draft pick in waiting, and, perhaps, the finest player in UNLV history.

The Heisman's out but the remaining hopes still have merit. Thomas may yet be the second coming of Randall Cunningham, if nothing else.

But it's do or die. Thomas has to put the bad game behind him and he has to do it against a Big Ten team that has won or shared three league titles in the past six years.

While it's an idyllic setting for a recovery, there's also an element of danger afoot. For both the promising young player and his team, tonight provides an opportunity for redemption that may never be retrieved.