Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2004 | 9:19 a.m.
Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
Yes, Virginia, there is running back depth at UNLV.
The problem is that UNLV played Tennessee, not Virginia, in its season opener. All the depth at running back we had been reading and hearing about suddenly seemed about as real as that big, bearded guy in the red suit.
And I'm not talking about Rebels nose tackle Howie Fuimaono.
Where was JaJa Riley, who once upon a time was going to be make everybody forget Maurice Clarett at Ohio State?
Where was Alvin Marshall, the junior college transfer who signed with Nebraska out of high school, when those recruiting services put more stars beside his name than "Gone With the Wind" or Gen. George S. Patton?
Where was Dyante Perkins, last year's short-yardage specialist who was supposed to be bigger and stronger and faster and on his way to becoming the kind of big back that seems to run in the water -- not to mention on field turf -- at places such as Tennessee?
Those are questions Dominique Dorsey might have asked as he was sitting in the whirlpool, soaking his weary bones after carrying the ball 18 times in a 42-17 loss against the rugged Volunteers.
Dorsey, who is listed at 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds but looks even smaller, skittered around Neyland Stadium for 121 yards. His performance, based on the fallout from the Knoxville-area sports talk shows, might have been the biggest thing to hit Tennessee since Dolly Parton's ... um, bouffant hairdo.
But not to beat a dead horse, which is what Dorsey could become if the Rebels keep riding his not-so-broad shoulders, winning teams hoping to establish the running game usually don't do it with a 5-foot-7, 165-pound running back, even one as gifted as Dorsey.
Based on what was said at Tuesday's UNLV football luncheon that both attended, Dorsey is on the fast track to becoming coach John Robinson's go-to back in more ways than one. For example, the sleeves of his polo shirt, at least the one he was wearing Tuesday, "go to" his forearms.
But Robinson said there's a big difference between a small back, which is what Dorsey was when he came to UNLV, and a strong one, which he is now.
"He's proven he can handle the football as many times as you want to give it to him," Robinson said.
At Tennessee, that might have been a little more than what was unexpected because the other guys on the depth chart were nonfactors. Perkins carried seven times for 37 yards, but was used mostly to give Dorsey a breather. Riley rushed four times for 21 yards and Marshall zero times for 6 yards, which not even Jim Brown could do in his prime (Marshall was credited with a 6-yard gain but not a carry after scooping up one of quarterback Kurt Nantkes' fumbles).
On Tuesday, Robinson made a halfhearted attempt to explain the backups' lack of playing time. He claimed that Perkins spent a lot of time on the field at H-back, which is what offensive coordinators call blockers with low jersey numbers. And he said he had planned to work Riley into the rotation, but with the Rebels trailing 21-3 and 107,000 fans screaming for the kill, the playing field didn't seem the ideal place for a guy who basically hasn't carried the ball under duress in three years.
At that point it was mostly about survival, and it became apparent that if the Rebels didn't use Dorsey and use him a lot, they would have been drawing pictures on volleyballs with their own blood, a la Tom Hanks in "Cast Away."
It's unfair to cast Riley as the next Maurice Clarett, or for that matter, this year's Deon Burnett or Jabari Johnson (two highly touted transfers from Pac-10 schools who didn't pan out as Rebels), on the basis of one mop-up assignment against an SEC team.
Robinson has done neither, but did give JaJa a rah-rah after Tuesday's luncheon.
"I think we've got to get JaJa Riley going," he said. "JaJa hasn't had as much experience, and it was a case (at Tennessee) where I wanted to get him started then all of a sudden, it's down to the end. But I see us working him in on a pretty consistent basis."
Maybe just not against Frying Pan U. (Tennessee) or Fire State (Wisconsin, this week's opponent). Where's Utah State when you need it?
At 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, Riley has the size that you look for in a back, at least if you want to keep moving the chains against somebody like Wisconsin. His type are rare at UNLV -- the last time the Rebels had a back at least 6-foot tall and 200 pounds lead the team in rushing was 1992, when Shannon Wilson, the player literally to be named later, did it with 650 yards on 143 carries. Wilson started his UNLV career as Shannon McLean.
But Robinson said size -- or at least height -- isn't everything when it comes to a running back.
"It isn't necessarily so that over six feet is (ideal)," he said, noting the value of a guy who runs low to the ground. "(LaDainian) Tomlinson is about 5-10, Emmitt Smith about 5-10. You know, the best running backs are about 5-10, 5-11 and about 200 pounds ... "
Just then, Dorsey walked by on his way to the parking lot.
" ... with that kind of quickness," Robinson nodded in deference to his little big man on campus.
Yes, UNLV football fans, there is a Santa Claus. Only this year, he's disguised as an elf.
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