Goins finds home here

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Aug. 22, 2005 | 9:30 a.m.

Tim Goins is like thousands of people these days who visit Las Vegas on a vacation and then decide to make it their permanent residence.

The difference is that the 6-foot-4, 280-pound sophomore center from Madison, Ala., made the move to play college football for UNLV.

This despite scholarship offers from schools much closer to home like Southern Mississippi and Central Florida, and strong recruiting interest from Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and home state SEC powerhouse Auburn.

"My family took a vacation to Los Angeles to watch the (2003) Rose Bowl," Goins said, referring to Oklahoma's 34-14 victory against Washington State. "And my dad (Ferdinand) drove us out here so we could see Vegas, too. We had a spare (highlight) tape on me and he said, 'Hey, why don't we drop it off at UNLV?' "

Goins, a member of the Huntsville Times All-Metro Team after starring at Bob Jones High School, wasn't exactly overwhelmed by the idea.

"I said I don't even know where UNLV is," Goins recalled. "But I said we could do it."

Goins stopped by and checked out the Rebel Park practice facility as well as the Lied Athletic Complex, meeting former UNLV star Adam Seward in the process.

"Then we bumped into (former assistant head coach John) Jackson," Goins said. "He showed me around a little bit and told me he'd call me back if he liked my tape. But he said there was one condition. He said, 'If I offer you, will you come out here?"'

Goins thought it over for a few seconds and replied, "Yeah, I'll come.

"I was just kidding around with him though," Goins continued. "I was pretty much leaning toward Southern Miss at the time. But when we got back from our trip, Coach Jackson told me they were going to offer me a full scholarship. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a pretty good deal for me."

Turns out it was also a pretty good deal for the Rebels.

Goins, an electrical engineering major who earned Academic all-Mountain West Conference honors as a freshman, will replace Marcus Johnson as the team's starting center this fall and has already notched a spot on the team's Leadership Committee.

"He's from a part of the country where football is pretty important, you know?" UNLV head coach Mike Sanford said with a smile. "He's an extremely hard worker who loves football. And he's on the Leadership Committee as just a sophomore, which tells you something about how the team views him."

Goins, whose father works as an engineer for Chrysler in Huntsville, plays arguably the most demanding position in Sanford's vaunted Shotgun Spread Offense. Besides having to regularly block 300-pound nose guards, he also must make a good long snap to the quarterback on most plays. He's also responsible for making blocking calls for the offensive line.

"In this offense there's a lot of mental stuff that takes place for the center," Sanford said. "And he's really good at it."

Goins didn't play center in high school and came to UNLV expecting to play guard.

"But when I got here, Coach (Rob) Boras said, 'So are you ready to play center?' " Goins said. "I didn't know how to snap the ball or anything. It was a big change for me having to snap the ball, but I finally got to snapping it good."

But when Sanford replaced John Robinson as head coach last December, Goins had to learn how to make the long shotgun snap as well.

"I worked on it hard every day," Goins said. "Now it's like nothing. It's like playing a video game."

"He's done a good job snapping for the most part," Sanford said. "But that's one of those things where you have to be perfect on it."

Goins says he has no regrets moving from the deep south to hot desert of Southern Nevada.

"Besides my family, the only thing I miss is the food," he said. "Other than that I really like it out here. I'm just so thankful my parents took me on that trip because it turned out to be something that changed my life."