Thursday, Oct. 17, 2002 | 9:50 a.m.
Ron Kantowski's insider notes column appears Tuesday and his Page One column appears Thursday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
Every time I watch Jason Thomas attempt to set up in the pocket with blitzers buzzing all around him, or shot put a pass downfield without planting his throwing foot, I, too, am tempted to boo.
Only my catcalls wouldn't be directed toward UNLV's hulking quarterback, but to John Robinson and the Rebels' coaching staff, for not giving Thomas a realistic chance to succeed.
Barring a remarkable turnaround in the final six games of his checkered UNLV career, Thomas probably will be considered the biggest disappointment to hit Rebel Football since they decided to cut off beer sales at Sam Boyd Stadium after the third quarter.
What's sad is that if the Rebel coaches knew anything about developing a quarterback, they might be framing a giant picture of Thomas to hang alongside the one of Randall Cunningham on the Sam Boyd concourse.
That the Rebels have yet to figure out a way to utilize Thomas' considerable athleticism is a disgrace. It has got to be the worst coaching job since Dean Smith instructed Michael Jordan to only take his shots out of the North Carolina offense, or that caddie agreed to let Jean Van de Velde go for the green at Carnoustie.
After leading the Rebels to a resounding 31-14 victory over Arkansas in the Las Vegas Bowl following his sophomore season, UNLV launched a Heisman Trophy campaign for the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Thomas. And it was justified when ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper listed Thomas as the nation's top QB prospect and compared him to Daunte Culpepper.
Now it's debatable whether Thomas is a better quarterback than Sgt. Pepper. His fans have become a Lonely Hearts Club Band, as it appears that Thomas will share the QB duties with understudy Kurt Nantkes for the rest of the season.
Thomas never claimed to be Johnny Unitas, but that's who the Rebels tried to make him into. What he is a running back (or a tight end, linebacker, strong safety or basketball power forward) who can throw the ball well enough to keep the defense honest. You would think that Robinson, who has developed a running back or two, would have picked up on that, and tailored a game plan with Thomas in mind.
Can you imagine somebody like Fisher DeBerry getting hold of Thomas as a freshman and teaching him how to run the option? Heck, Notre Dame wouldn't stand a chance against Air Force on Saturday night.
The Rebels also run the option. About once a game. It looks like it was drawn up on a cocktail napkin. UNLV also has a sprint-out series, which against New Mexico had Thomas, a lefty, rolling right and throwing against his body. When the stars are properly aligned, the Rebels also have been known to let Thomas run the bootleg, but he usually throws off it, rather than keep the ball himself.
Against New Mexico, about the only time Thomas carried the ball was on ad-libbed scrambles. Conversely, Justin Millea, the Lobos' third-string walk-on QB who would have trouble making a Pop Warner team in Green Valley, carried the ball 20 times for 148 yards. The Lobos even ran a couple of series out of the old single wing formation, snapping the ball directly to Millea.
Did you happen to catch Millea in warm-ups? His passes made Thomas' look like Joe Namath's. Yet I didn't hear anybody on the New Mexico side booing him. Perhaps that was because Lobos coach Rocky Long -- not exactly Bill Walsh when it comes to offensive genius -- gave Millea a game plan he could execute.
That's something the Rebels have yet to figure out. They've got a Ferrari in the offensive backfield, but they keep using it to pick up the kids from school.
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