Flair works his way into Sanford’s lineup

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Aug. 19, 2005 | 10:04 a.m.

As he gets ready to practice each day at Rebel Park, Casey Flair can gaze out and see a skyline that features a number of billion-dollar hotels that help make up the famous Las Vegas Strip.

It's a little different type of landscape from what the sure-handed redshirt freshman wide receiver grew up around in his hometown of Anchorage, Alaska.

"I didn't know that they had structures that big," Flair, the 2003 Alaska offensive player of the year at state champion East High School, said.

So you might say there was a little bit of a transition period involved when Flair took up former Rebel head coach John Robinson's offer to walk on at UNLV.

"Definitely when it came to the weather," Flair said. "Up in Alaska, it's 60 or 70 degrees right now. And when I got here it was 100."

And instead of looking at the bright lights of The Strip each night, Flair had his own version of The Wild Kingdom in his backyard.

"We'd get moose in our backyard," he said. "But in Alaska everybody gets moose in their backyard. But we didn't have any bears or stuff like that."

Flair left the cool and scenic Great White North for the heat of Sin City for one main reason -- football.

Despite being selected to compete in the prestigious U.S. Army All-American Game in San Antonio after catching 59 passes for 1,237 yards and 20 touchdowns as a senior, Flair didn't receive one college scholarship offer.

"I had no recruiting trips, no offers," he said. "It was a little hard on me because I had worked really hard through high school and got to that level of All-American."

So Flair took matters into his own hands and sent copies of his highlight tape to colleges. Most passed.

"Then I talked to Coach Robinson and I told him I just wanted a chance," Flair said. "He told me to come down and walk on and, if I did well enough, he'd give me a scholarship."

Flair did just that last year and garnered attention throughout the 2004 season with a number of memorable catches for the scout team. Robinson decided to retire at the end of the season but new Rebel head coach Mike Sanford elected to honor Robinson's non-binding commitment to Flair.

Turns out it was a pretty good move on Sanford's part.

Flair is currently practicing with the first team offense at the Z wide receiver spot and is the frontrunner to start at that position when UNLV opens its season on Sept. 5 at New Mexico.

"He's doing a nice job," Sanford said. "He's doing everything that he's been asked to do. He's working extremely hard. He had a great summer here."

Flair is battling sophomore wide receiver Marques Johnson and true freshman Justin Marvel for the starting spot. And Johnson, who missed all of spring practice recovering from wrist surgery, is expected to be sidelined until next week with a dislocated finger suffered in practice on Wednesday.

"He's smart," Sanford said of Flair. "He does things right. And he catches the ball."

Good qualities indeed for a college wide receiver ... no matter what state he's from.