UNLV looks to add size, ability

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2003 | 10:20 a.m.

The national letter of intent signing period began today at 7 a.m. with high school and junior college recruits around the country getting up early to fax in letters to their schools of choice.

Here's hoping the fax machine in the football office at UNLV's Lied Athletic Complex has plenty of paper.

The Rebels, who brought in 10 new players for the start of the spring semester that started two weeks ago, were expected to sign 21 more prospects today.

"It's always premature to talk about an athlete before he actually plays," UNLV coach John Robinson said. "But we certainly upgraded ourselves in the size and the general athletic ability of the players."

It's against NCAA rules for Robinson to comment on individual recruits until all the letters have been faxed in today. But Robinson was confident the team would do a good job of filling its most pressing needs.

One reason for that optimism was a strong mid-year recruiting haul headlined by two highly touted running backs.

Compton (Calif.) College's Alvin Marshall, a first team junior college All-American who originally signed with Nebraska out of Locke High School in Los Angeles, has drawn comparisons to Marshall Faulk. Ja Ja Riley, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound transfer from Ohio State who must sit out the 2003 season, will have two years of eligibility remaining.

"Alvin Marshall was regarded as one of the top running backs in the country and fits our speed idea," Robinson said. "He also is very good at catching the ball and doing the kinds of things we would like to see from backs in our offense. He can play tailback and receiver. Ja Ja gives us a really solid player there in the years ahead."

Marshall's Compton College teammate, linebacker John Andrews, was the defensive MVP of his conference over more highly-publicized teammate Marvin Simmons, who is expected to sign with Kansas State today after originally signing with USC out of high school.

"We feel like he'll have an impact on our team," Robinson said of Andrews. "He reminds me of a player we had way, way back at USC named Jimmy Sims who had extreme speed."

Sims was an all-Pac-8 Conference performer on the Trojans' undefeated 1972 National Championship squad on which Robinson was an assistant.

The Rebels also bolstered their offensive line with the addition of juco transfers Joe Critchfield and Tyler Crandal and added a much-needed tight end target in 6-foot-7 Greg Estandia.

"The two offensive linemen will both come in and play right away," Robinson said.

Three "grayshirts" -- high school players who signed last February but didn't receive a scholarship until January -- also will be among the 10 newcomers who will take part in spring practice starting next month. They are wide receivers Jay Staggs and Donell Wheaton and cornerback Ernest Gordon.

Of today's expected signees, hard-hitting free safety Willie Tagoai, a second team JC All-American who was a prep teammate of Rebel wide receiver Michael Johnson at Vista (Calif.) High School, and cornerbacks Solomon Smart of Moon Valley High School in Phoenix (who originally committed to Arizona) and Roy Lewis of Harbor City (Calif.) Narbonne High School (who had verballed to Cal last month) are expected to have the biggest immediate impacts.