Croomed and ready

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Nov. 21, 2003 | 10:15 a.m.

Larry Croom can only hope that his performance against Colorado State on Saturday can come close to matching his last game against the Rams.

A 5-foot-10, 205-pound senior from perennial prep powerhouse Long Beach (Calif.) Poly High School, Croom set a UNLV school record for single-game rushing after averaging 11.1 yards per carry on 20 attempts en route to a career-high 222 yards in the Rebels' 36-33 upset of the 13th-ranked Rams in Fort Collins last year.

And despite being hampered by a nagging thigh muscle strain for much of the season, Croom enters his final regular season home game as the Rebels leading rusher with 697 yards and three touchdowns on just 148 carries.

"Hopefully they've forgot about it," Croom said with a smile when asked about his Colorado State performance last season.

"It was one of those games where everything was just happening. The offensive line did a great job. I'm guessing (CSU) will remember that game. They'll probably be watching out for me. But if I consider myself a good player, I have to overcome that."

If not for his thigh injury at the end of a 60-yard touchdown run at Kansas -- Croom had rushed for more than 100 yards in the first 11 minutes of the game -- he likely would be flirting with a 1,000-yard rushing season. He had to sit out the Wisconsin win the following week and it took about a month after that before he was close to full speed again.

"Obviously, it happened for a reason," Croom, who started his career at Arizona before transferring to UNLV in 2001, said. "God wouldn't have given me anything I couldn't handle. ... But that's the past. I'm just working for these last two games and will do the best I can to help this team win these last two games."

No matter what happens, Croom says he's glad he came to UNLV.

"I have a lot of great memories here," he said. "I thank Coach Robinson and I thank Coach (John) Jackson for giving me the opportunity to come here and get a second chance. I've had a great experience here. If I had it all to do over again, the only thing different I'd do is I would have come here straight out of high school instead of going to Arizona first."