Preseason bonding

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 | 7:25 a.m.

The historic mining town of Ely is about 240 miles north of Las Vegas and, according to White Pine County's Tourism and Recreation Web site, one of the area's more popular outdoor pursuits is catching guppies at the local swimming hole.

In other words, UNLV head football coach Mike Sanford figured, it's the perfect place to sequester a college football team for 12 days during preseason camp in August. Since he took the UNLV job 16 months ago, Sanford said he has been looking for a suitable place - away from the Southern Nevada heat - to hold a portion of the Rebels' preseason camp.

Sanford finally settled on Ely (6,400 feet above sea level) and its 80-degree summer days after several other options failed to pan out.

The Rebels will report to camp Aug. 6 and spend five days working out at Rebel Park on campus. The team will leave for Ely on Aug. 11 and return to Las Vegas on Aug. 23 - 10 days before its season opener at home against Idaho State.

But escaping the Las Vegas heat is only one of the reasons Sanford said he is holding the bulk of the Rebels' preseason camp in Ely.

"I think it's a bonding experience for our team - to go away and be out of their normal atmosphere where there are no distractions," Sanford said. "I really believe our team needs to get away and really get to know each other and develop a real team attitude.

"Another (benefit) is the altitude; at 6,400 feet and you train there for 12 days, there's going to be some positive return on the investment of working out at altitude."

Not to mention being able to hold practices at civil hours - something Sanford was unable to do last summer when the team held camp at UNLV.

"We'll be able to practice from 9:30 to 11:30 in the morning, which you can't do here, and 3 to 5 in the afternoon," Sanford said. "You could do that (in Las Vegas), but it would be stupid to do it as far as getting a lot out of your players.

"You can get back to more normal eating times, more sleep, more rest for the players - there are just a lot of (advantages)."

Spring fling

Sanford said he felt good about the progress his team made during its three-week spring camp, which concluded with Friday's annual Spring Game.

"I feel like we got a lot of work for a lot of new players," said Sanford, who welcomes 53 incoming players this season. "We're a different team - the face of our team has changed a lot.

"Mentally, we're better off (than we were a year ago). As far as knowing what to do and how to do it and understanding our scheme, we're a lot better off, and I think we've got better players."

Teams on UNLV's schedule this season that were bowl eligible a year ago

UNLV's turnover margin in 2005, which ranked 100th (of 117) in Division IA

Quarterback sacks allowed by UNLV's defense in 2005