… and bad news

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2005 | 9:16 a.m.

Alvin Marshall finally got the call he had been waiting for from his cardiologist on Monday afternoon.

One look at his teary-eyed face revealed he didn't get the news he had hoped to hear.

The senior wide receiver from Los Angeles, who has undergone an extensive series of tests for chest pains the past four months, was told he would not be cleared to play football this season with the Rebels.

"That's it. I'm through," Marshall told a group of reporters who had just finished interviewing newest Rebel Rocky Hinds in the same hallway in the Lied Athletic Complex. "They won't let me play."

Less than a hour earlier Marshall, the team's top returning receiver after grabbing 37 passes a year ago, had told the same media group he remained confident he would play this season despite having to walk around with a heart monitor the past couple of weeks.

"(The doctor) said my heartbeat wasn't pumping out as much blood as it should be for me to be playing football," said Marshall, who is going to become a father of a son in the fall. "I told myself that whatever (the doctor) said I was going to do. So right now I'm going to hang up my cleats.

"It's real tough. With the new coaching staff and the players that I've been with for a couple of years ..."

Marshall's voice began to crack as he tried to finish his thought.

"It's just kind of hard to let my team know I won't be able to play football with them this year."

"It's (a decision) we've been waiting for for a long time," UNLV head coach Mike Sanford said. "We held him out of spring practice. There were a lot of issues along the way. It just kept going on and on. I'm very disappointed because I really thought he was going to be an asset to our team. ... It's not a big shock but I thought it was moving in the right direction and they were going to release him."

Sanford said sophomore Tremayne Kirkland, who sat out the 2004 season with a badly separated shoulder, will likely become the starter at the H-Back spot.

"He's been dismissed for violating team policy," Sanford said.

Tagoai said he is going to petition the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility. The NCAA recently OK'd a similiar request by Rebels defensive end Pete Dunbar, who missed back-to-back seasons thanks to knee and sports hernia surgeries.