Players make last push to impress

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Aug. 26, 2005 | 10:01 a.m.

UNLV football coach Mike Sanford had originally intended to make his team's final full scrimmage of fall camp short and sweet and lasting only about 60 plays.

Instead, the Rebels more than doubled that amount in a scrimmage that lasted more than two hours without a break on Thursday night at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The good news, other than the fact it appeared the team escaped without any serious injuries, was that second- and third-team players got a lot of reps to show what they could do as Sanford focuses on who will earn the final spots on his travel squad for the Rebels' season-opener at New Mexico on Sept. 5.

In fact, key offensive starters like quarterback Shane Steichen, tight end Greg Estandia, running back Erick Jackson and wide receivers Tremayne Kirkland and Donell Wheaton, and defensive stalwarts like nose guard Howie Fuimaono and Beau Bell sat out the scrimmage after taking part in some non-contact drills beforehand.

"We're in a situation where our (first team) is getting better all the time during camp," Sanford said. "We've got a lot of really young players on the (second team) and we played them a lot tonight. We wanted them to get some opportunities to do some things."

The inexperience of the backups showed much of the night.

"It was a little bit like a fire drill, people running all over the place and not being where they're supposed to be," Sanford said. "That just shows we've got a lot of work to do there."

As for running about twice as many places as he had planned, Sanford said: "I just felt like we needed more work. This was game-time for a lot of these guys tonight. We've got some decisions based on tonight about traveling. We wanted guys to get some reps to evaluate."

Some of the players who took advantage of their prime-time opportunities:

The unofficial MVP, however, might have been sophomore placekicker Sergio Aguayo.

Aguayo, who did a nice job of filling in on kickoffs for injured Hubi Schulze Zumkley (groin), also connected on field goals from 52 and 57 yards.

The scrimmage officially marked the end of Sanford's first fall camp at UNLV. The Rebels moved out of their team hotel this morning and into their dorm rooms or apartments in preparation for the start of class on Monday.

"I think camp went great," senior left safety Joe Miklos said. "We had a great scrimmage out here. A lot of guys were getting fired up, especially on special teams. There was a lot of hitting out there. I'm really optimistic about what is going to happen in the future for this team."