Columnist Ron Kantowski: Ecstasy and agony for UNLV football

Friday, Sept. 2, 2005 | 9:45 a.m.

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

It was The Ecstasy and the Agony for USC East -- er, the UNLV football team -- this week.

On Wednesday, the Junior Trojans officially announced that Eric Wright, who started four games at cornerback for the real ones last year, will transfer here. He is the second high-profile Southern Cal recruit to relocate to Las Vegas since fall camp started, joining quarterback Rocky Hinds. Normally, that would be considered a good thing, and it still very well might, although both have issues.

In Hinds' case, it's a bum right knee on which he had more minor surgery last week. But that's a relatively common problem in this day and age of college football.

Sadly so is being accused of date rape, a nefarious charge which hastened Wright's departure from the land of Troy.

Wright, who made an interception in the Trojans' 55-19 national-championship clinching victory against Oklahoma in last season's Orange Bowl, was arrested March 26 in Los Angeles on suspicion of rape. But charges were never filed, with insufficient evidence said to be the cause.

As far as circumstantial evidence, there was a lot of it. Police found 136 Ecstasy tablets in the apartment Wright shared with a teammate, which, as far as national championship souvenirs go, is a lot more significant than a hard-bound edition of Sports Illustrated.

As so often is the case when famous athletes become involved in infamous acts, this one has turned into a case of he didn't say, she didn't say.

UNLV coach Mike Sanford requested that reporters not ask Wright specific questions about his past and Wright didn't specifically address it, other than to say he didn't feel like he needed to convince anybody of anything.

While I wasn't among his inquisitors, perhaps a simple denial (if he didn't do it) or an apology (if for nothing else, for putting himself in a awkward situation) would have made the situation seem a little less tawdry.

Sanford and his boss, athletic director Mike Hamrick, said they did an extensive background check on Wright that did not turn up any additional red flags.

In a best-case scenario, Wright, who will still have two years of eligibility after sitting this one out, will toe the straight and narrow, like Randy Moss did at Marshall, and this blemish on his past will be dismissed as a one-off misunderstanding between young adults with raging hormones.

But in a worst-case scenario? Well, should that happen, there will be some more tough questions. Only next time, they will have to be answered instead of ignored.

So that about covers the Ecstasy. The Agony is that for only the second time in its history, UNLV will open the season on Monday against a conference opponent, and a good one at that.

As Sanford said, he could think of better circumstances under which to make his head coaching debut than on the road against a heavily favored New Mexico team that will blitz your socks off.

"That's a lot different than opening at home against Utah State," he said, perhaps forgetting that the Rebels will play those very same Aggies on Sept. 24, and that bulletin boards come in all shapes and sizes at the Logan Wal-Mart.

What Sanford wasn't forgetting is that he's already been there, done that. Two years ago, he was the offensive coordinator at Utah which unveiled its revolutionary shotgun spread offense against Utah State and struggled in the first half before going on to win 40-20.

It's basically the same offense the Rebels hope to execute against the Lobos on Monday.

Believe it or not, Sanford said the Rebels seem to have a better understanding of the offense than the Utes did at this juncture two years ago. That might be a good omen, in that the 2003 Utes went 10-2 and won the Mountain West.

Of course, running the intricate Utah offense with UNLV players, many of whom struggled to grasp the concepts of John Robinson's not-so-intricate offense last year, probably won't result in overnight success.

Sanford admits that adjustments have been made to suit the Rebels' personnel, or lack of it. For instance, while Shane Steichen appears to be a much-improved quarterback, he doesn't exactly put one in mind of Alex Smith, his Utah counterpart who went No. 1 in the most recent NFL draft

"It's an excellent offense, a tough one to stop," Sanford said. "But you've got to be able to execute it.

"I believe we are a little bit ahead of where we were the first year at Utah. But we'll find out on Monday."

Hopefully, Rebels fans aren't expecting Sanford to turn water into wine, or, in keeping with the theme of the practice week, agony into ecstasy in Albuquerque. Or for that matter, anywhere else the schedule takes them.

But if they can win four games and at least look interesting in losing the other seven, that would certainly be something for UNLV supporters to be ecstatic about.

At least until USC East takes the field in 2006.