Columnist Ron Kantowski: Hinds has made a believer out of me

Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005 | 10 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

As I left the first day of UNLV football practice Tuesday and drove by the Thomas & Mack Center box office, I noticed a fan striding up to the window and reaching for his wallet.

I'm not sure if this guy was at practice, too. But if he was, it's a safe bet he was inquiring about tickets for the 2006 football season.

This was roughly 15 minutes after Rocky 3 -- highly touted Southern Cal transfer Rocky Hinds, who has been assigned jersey No. 3 -- had flipped a 60-yard touchdown pass to fellow newcomer Corey Anderson that appeared about as effortless as Lance Armstrong pedaling his bicycle to the store for a loaf of bread.

A couple of minutes later, first-year coach Mike Sanford blew his whistle. It seemed like a good way to end practice. On this particular morning, it simply wasn't going to get any better than that.

I have to be honest. Having been one of those who rang the bell so loudly on Jason Thomas' bandwagon when he transferred here from USC a few seasons back, I had set out for practice to talk some sense into some of my colleagues who already had anointed Hinds the savior of the program when he becomes eligible next year.

Pass the holy water, boys. You have my blessing.

While one long touchdown pass on the first day of fall practice against a secondary that is still waiting for its collective voice to change isn't exactly Billy Graham stuff, even a New York Jets scout (remember Ken O'Brien instead of Dan Marino in the '83 draft?) could tell that Hinds is the real deal.

Unlike Shane Steichen and Jarrod Jackson, the two guys Sanford is stuck with at quarterback this year, Hinds is big (6-foot-4, 220 pounds) and fast (10.47 in the 100 meters). I know, so was Thomas. But based on what I saw Tuesday, Hinds' mechanics already are far superior. Three jab steps into the pocket, plant the right foot, get rid of the ball with a quick release. You could tell that Hinds has spent a lot of time on the practice field with Norm Chow, the architect of the prolific offense that carried SC to the past two national championships.

Jason Thomas was the polar opposite. He'd take one step back and if the quarterback draw wasn't there, he'd scramble around until Nate Turner could get semi-open. Then he'd either fire a 70-yard retrorocket downfield (sophomore season) or, after his nagging shoulder injury wouldn't go away (junior and senior seasons), shot put the ball, usually off the wrong foot, into the middle of the defense and hope that Turner would somehow catch it.

Thomas' mechanics were so awful that John Robinson hired a full-time assistant to iron them out. But Vince Alcalde was no Norm Chow, although to be honest, I'm not sure Jesse James and the Monster Garage crew had the mechanical know-how for the job.

Even though he failed to live up to the unrealistic expectations that we in the media created, even his biggest detractors would admit that Jason Thomas was a great athlete. Rocky Hinds, however, looks like a great quarterback, or at least a pretty good one. There's a big difference.

When I asked Sanford about his first impression of Hinds as a Rebel -- as a Utah assistant, he had scouted him when Hinds was rated the top prospect in California at St. Bernard High School in Playa del Rey in 2003 -- he grinned like Sylvester the cat, were he ever to catch Tweety-Bird from behind.

"I think he has a chance to be a real good player," Sanford said with one of those hashmark-to-hashmark smiles that had understatement written all over it.

You could almost see him counting the lucky stars that figured in Hinds choosing UNLV over Texas after Pete Carroll put him in the No. 3 slot on the depth chart behind Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart and heir apparent John David Booty. But at the same time, you could also tell that Sanford was trying to temper his enthusiasm, lest he contribute to the kind of hype that ultimately led to Thomas becoming a clipboard carrier in AFL2.

Although Sanford would not comment for the record about what happened here in the past, rest assured that somebody has filled him in.

So he won't be comparing Hinds to Alex Smith, last year's Utah quarterback and the top player picked in the NFL draft, at least not for now.

"Here's what I would prefer to be quoted on," Sanford said. "I think that he has a lot of ability. It's very obvious. What he's gotta do is work hard to become a great quarterback. If he works hard to become a great quarterback, then he has the chance to be one. It just doesn't happen because you are a good athlete or because you are big and can run."

Of course, those of us who covered Jason Thomas already knew that.