Thomas, Rebels back in spotlight

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Aug. 30, 2002 | 10:09 a.m.

NEXT UP

What: Wisconsin at UNLV

When: Saturday, 5:45 p.m.

Where: Sam Boyd Stadium

TV: ESPN2, Cox cable ch. 31

Radio: KBAD 920-AM

Line: Wisconsin by 4. Total is 54.

Tickets: A crowd of more than 40,000 is expected. Officials were to sell 2,500 standing-room-only tickets. Order online at unlvtickets.com or call 739-FANS.

Sellout crowd. National TV. Big name opponent.

It's the kind of environment every college football player dreams of. But for Jason Thomas, that dream turned into a nightmare in UNLV's season opener at Arkansas last year.

Thomas struggled through one of the worst games of his college career, completing just 4 of 16 passes for 40 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions in a 14-10 loss to the Razorbacks.

So what if his throwing shoulder, quietly operated on just two months earlier, was nowhere near as strong as it was before the surgery.

So what if UNLV's special teams committed critical blunders that allowed Arkansas to stay in the game and eventually pull it out at the wire.

So what if Thomas had almost as many yards rushing (103 on 12 carries) as Arkansas' entire team output of 114 yards in total offense.

Thomas was supposed to be a Heisman Trophy candidate, not the second coming of Kevin Crook. And this was the season UNLV was supposed to burst into the Top 25 rankings.

In the Rebels' damp and sticky locker room at War Memorial Stadium, a distraught Thomas got up and apologized to his teammates for letting them down.

Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium, Thomas and the Rebels will find themselves in similar circumstances when they host perennial Big Ten powerhouse Wisconsin on ESPN2 before what is expected to be the largest crowd to view a college football game in the state of Nevada.

No matter what happens this time, don't expect any apologies from Thomas.

"I was immature," Thomas said. "That was a sign that I thought that I had the whole weight on my shoulders. That was a sign that something was going wrong. ... apologizing for losing the game like that. I did have a bad game, but there were a lot of things that contributed to the loss.

"As a quarterback, you can't put that kind of pressure on yourself. There is no Dan Marino out there who can carry the whole team like he did. You have to win as a team and lose as a team."

Having learned that lesson the hard way, Thomas said he hasn't thought about the possibility of redeeming himself on Saturday night for last year's clunker.

"Nah, I don't think about redeeming myself," Thomas said. "I just think about us having a good start. I know how important that is as opposed to a bad start. I know what that can do to a team's psyche and all that stuff.

"Last year is in the past. I used what happened last year to fuel me to get better, but I don't use it for anything else. I don't use it to motivate me on the field. I use it to fuel my training in the off-season and stuff. But now that's over with. Like I said, last year is in the past."

The good news for Rebel fans is that Thomas hasn't been this healthy or in this good of shape since before breaking and dislocating his ankle his senior year at Dominguez High School in Compton, Calif.

Thomas and about thirty other Rebels met about three times a week during the summer for unsupervised workouts and to get a head start on fall camp. And Thomas says he's also benefitted greatly from the day-to-day supervision of new quarterbacks coach Vince Alcalde.

"Physically, I feel great," he said. "I feel fast. My arm is in good shape and I've got whip on my ball. It's the best I've felt in a long time. And I've come real far with my mechanics, leaps and bounds. Coach Vince has done a great job with me. We still have a whole lot of work to do, but we're on the right track."

Thomas says he's looking forward to Saturday's opener before a standing room only crowd at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"It's going to be a great college football environment," he said. "Every time we've been in that kind of environment before we've been on the road. Now we're going to have the home crowd advantage."

Largest UNLV home crowds