Rebels coach familiar with Toledo

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2003 | 9:35 a.m.

John Robinson and his staff didn't need to go far to get a pretty detailed scouting report for Friday night's season opener against Toledo.

Just down the hall and to the right to the office of new wide receivers coach Garrick McGee.

McGee spent the 2002 season as the wide receivers coach at Toledo. He joined Robinson's staff in March when DelVaughan Alexander left the Rebels' staff for an assistant coaching job at Oregon State.

"I've been very impressed with the job Garrick has done coaching our wide receivers," Robinson said. "I think he is an excellent young coach."

Robinson was asked how big an advantage it was for the Rebels to have someone as familiar as McGee was with the Rockets on his staff.

"Probably not as big as you would think," Robinson said simply.

McGee, who was a college quarterback at Oklahoma for two years and started his college career at Arizona State under current Rebels assistant Bruce Snyder, waved off a reporter this week when asked his feelings about coaching against his old team.

"I'll talk about our team only," he said politely. "Our team is doing well and I'm excited about the game."

How many of the Toledo players did he recruit?

"All of the kids here in red are mine," McGee said. "All of them are mine. I'm confident in every one of them. ... I love them to death."

How was his coaching experience at Toledo?

"No, no, I just want ro talk about our team," McGee said. "Our guys. We're ready to go."

Toledo was scheduled to arrive in Las Vegas today at 10 a.m. but will not take part in a walk-through at Sam Boyd Stadium this afternoon. Instead, the Rockets are expected to tour the city. ... UNLV players will get their first chance to practice on the new artificial turf at Sam Boyd Stadium tonight. ... Starting defensive end Chris Eagen (ankle) took part in Wednesday's practice at Rebel Park. However, starting left tackle Zach Gorham watched in shorts while resting a sprained ankle suffered in Tuesday night's practice when guard Joe Critchfield fell on it. "He'll be ready to play," Robinson said. "He's too slow to be hurt." JC transfer Tyler Crandal is Gorham's backup.