Kickoff returns have put Rebels in offensive hole

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2003 | 10:27 a.m.

Two years ago, it was many happy returns for UNLV and especially for 5-foot-6, 165-pound mini-mite Dominique Dorsey, who returned 10 kickoffs for a whopping 34.6-yard average as a true freshman.

Dorsey was two returns shy of qualifying for the NCAA statistical championship, but his average would have placed him second among the national leaders. Together with Troy Mason, Dorsey helped UNLV finish sixth in the team category with a 26.4 average.

This season, the Rebels might be lucky to finish sixth from the bottom.

Heading into this week's game at surging New Mexico (5-3, 2-1 Mountain West), UNLV (4-4, 0-3) is ranked 117th -- dead last -- in the NCAA in kickoff returns with a minuscule 11.7 average.

True, there have been a few squib kicks that have wound up in the hands of an up man, while others have sailed deep or through the end zone. But of the nine returnable kickoffs that have found their way to Dorsey's hands, only one has been brought back for a modest 20 yards.

Amazingly, his 12.8 average is second on the team to Ryan Clifford, a lumbering tight end, who has averaged 13.5 on two returns.

"This season the ranking is real low in the country -- about last or so," Dorsey said with a straight face and solemn voice as the Rebels hit the practice field Tuesday night. "It's going kind of slow right now, so the team is going to have to step up the entire program of returning kicks, like before."

The Rebels don't have a special teams coordinator, as many teams do, and according to the media guide, they don't even have an assistant responsible for them, preferring to handle special teams by committee. But Dorsey said it's not as if the Rebels ignore them.

He said UNLV works on kick returns in practice, talks about them in meetings, watches them on film. But so far, nobody has been able to pinpoint what's wrong.

It's not that Dorsey isn't the threat he was two years ago. If anything, he's better, as his 100-yard effort on 26 carries in UNLV's stunning 23-5 win at Wisconsin last month suggests.

"It's pretty much the same type of blocking (as two years ago)," Dorsey said. "If anything, it's different players (doing the blocking). But the kickoff team is going to start producing very soon. This is something the team doesn't have to worry about."

The Rebels hope Dorsey is right. When an offense is struggling as much as UNLV's has during its current three-game losing streak, a couple of lengthy returns could result in the good field position that has been so hard to come by and take some of the burden off quarterback Kurt Nantkes and the rest of the offense.

And this might be the perfect week to work on the return game for another reason, as New Mexico had all kinds of trouble covering kickoffs in a 47-35 upset victory against Utah last week.

The Utes' Bo Nagahi set a Mountain West record with 193 kickoff return yards en route to being named MWC special teams player of the week. Utah collected 282 kickoff return yards, another conference record.

It should be noted that given all the touchdowns the Lobos scored, the Utes had plenty of opportunity to practice their kickoff returns. But Dorsey said if New Mexico wants to squib or pooch the ball to offset any shortcomings its coverage unit may have, so be it.

"Some of the teams have been kicking short, so that's pretty good field position right there," he said.