Move to tackle all right with Knight

Steve Guiremand

Friday, April 15, 2005 | 10:23 a.m.

Jesse Knight probably had the least reason to be excited about the hiring of Mike Sanford as UNLV's new head football coach than any other Rebel.

After all, the senior from Pine View High School in St. George, Utah, was a backup tight end last year for the Rebels who specialized in blocking in two tight end sets. And Sanford was bringing down from Utah his popular spread option attack, which rarely uses even one tight end, let alone two.

Toss in the fact that 6-foot-8 senior Greg Estandia, a potential NFL draft pick, was returning from knee surgery along with 2004 starter Michael Freund at that position, and Knight's playing time looked very bleak to say the least.

Not any more.

The 6-foot-4, 271-pound Knight, who gave offensive tackle a try this spring at the urging of Sanford and Rebels offensive line coaches Gary Bernardi and Keith Uperesa, would start at that position if UNLV had a game today.

"Absolutely," Bernardi said.

Knight has made the most out of his opportunity which arose because last year's two starting tackles, Chris Bowser (two seperate shoulder surgeries) and Marco Guerra (broken leg and ankle), are both sitting out spring practice rehabbing their injuries. And another potential starting tackle, Tyler Crandall, who started the 2003 campaign but redshirted last season after undergoing back surgery, has been slowed by further back problems which may require another surgery.

Knight and junior Brandon Gray, a converted guard, are currently lining up at tackle on the first-team offense.

"He's handled (the move) like a champ," Sanford said. "He's done a great job.

"He's got a great shot to start (next season). To me the guys coming back have to compete to play. It's not like they're going to walk out there and start. The guys coming back have to compete and we're going to play the best five. And right now Jesse is one of the best five. No question about it."

UNLV coaches became intrigued with Knight during winter conditioning drills.

"He was one of the guys who stood out in the offseason program in every area --- agility, explosion, strength and work ethic," Bernardi said. "Because of what we're doing with the tight ends in this offense, we said let's just put him at tackle."

Bernardi said Knight didn't blink when asked his opinion of the move. But Knight, who played some offensive tackle in high school, admitted he was a little skeptical.

"They told me it was a great opportunity to get on the field and that's what I want to do," Knight said. "But I wasn't sure I would be able to do it."

For one thing, Knight doesn't have your prototypical offensive tackle size.

"The first thing I did is I went home and looked on the Internet at the size of other college tackles," Knight said. "And they were 6-foot-5 or 6-foot-6 and usually weighed 330 pounds or something."

But Sanford says Knight, who runs a 4.78 40, is ideally suited to play tackle in his offense.

"In this offense you don't need your tackles to be road-grading type guys," Sanford said. "They need to be athletic and they need to have some technique. He's learning. He's got a ways to go. But he's such a good athlete that he can make up for his lack of technique with his athletic ability."

"He's got outstanding feet and outstanding strength," Bernardi said. "He's grasped the offense and done a heckuva job. His work ethic is excellent."

Knight, who hopes to add another 10 pounds in the weight room this summer, knows he still has a long ways to go to earn a starting tackle job for the team's Sept. 3 opener at New Mexico.

"Being No. 1 really doesn't mean anything," he said. "Bowser and Crandall have both played before so I've got to really compete for the job and work hard coming into the fall. But I'm just glad that the coaches saw that I could actually play somewhere and gave me the chance. That's the biggest thing. They gave me the chance to get on the field."