Estandia will take redshirt, return in 2005

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2004 | 10:05 a.m.

Senior tight end Greg Estandia said he has informed head coach John Robinson that he plans on redshirting this season because of lingering soreness in his left knee.

Estandia, a 6-foot-8, 250-pounder, was expected to be a key offensive weapon this year for the Rebels. He partially tore his MCL on the final play of fall camp on Aug. 26. He played for the first time this season in UNLV's 48-13 victory against Nevada-Reno on Saturday night and caught one pass for 10 yards.

"The main point is me being able to play at 100 percent," Estandia said. "And I'm not going to be 100 percent probably for another two or three weeks. After the game the knee really tightened up again. I need to rehab it for another two weeks or so and continue to fight through the scar tissue."

Estandia said he went through several sleepless nights while trying to decide whether to come back in 2005 or try to play the rest of this season. Besides facing the prospect of a new head coach and having to maybe learn a new offense, he also is close friends with quarterback Kurt Nantkes and several other graduating senior players.

"I want to make sure they know that I'm not giving up on them," Estandia said. "I think we can still win the rest of our games."

Full-time students are allowed free admission to the games while part-time students must pay for a half-price ticket. Students must show a valid student ID to be scanned to get their free entrance.

About 1,200 students turned out for UNLV's opener against Utah State but long lines developed because there were only three people scanning the student IDs. Melissa Meacham, director of sports marketing at UNLV, said the number of scanners was tripled for last Saturday night's Fremont Cannon battle with Nevada-Reno but that still was not enough to handle the student turnout of about 3,700, one of the largest in school history.

Part of the problem according to Meacham is most of the students waited until just before kickoff to enter the stadium.

"At 6:30 we had no lines," she said. "Then at 7 p.m. we were trying to get 3,700 people through the gate."

Meacham said in the future the school plans to add more scanners and perhaps open another gate for students to alleviate some of the late congestion. She also is urging students to arrive earlier.