Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

UNLV FOOTBALL:

Clayton healthy, recharged as spring semester begins

Rebels quarterback wants a junior season he can consider a success

UNLV football

Steve Marcus

UNLV quarterback Omar Clayton passes against Utah State at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Killin Time: Omar Clayton

Christine Killimayer sits down with UNLV quarterback Omar Clayton.

It's almost as if it's not the same Omar Clayton.

Just a few days after winter conditioning -- and the spring semester at UNLV -- began, the Rebels' junior-to-be quarterback talks as if he's been given a fresh battery to power him.

Last season, between trying to do his part to keep a team that started 3-1 afloat, having to watch the season's final three games from the sidelines with a torn MCL and, well, the general burden that comes with being a Division I starting quarterback, he didn't say much.

He maintained a straight face, never got too high, never got too low.

Now, with a healthy knee and a month away from Las Vegas, he comes across as a refreshed young man with plenty on his mind.

"I definitely feel like it," he said. "You're at home for so long, you kind of get bored of going home for so long. I'm ready to get back to work. I'm glad I have a hard semester of school. I'm not gonna shy away from hard work, is what I'm saying, I guess."

Spring ball doesn't start for a bit, but Clayton's to-do list is already plenty full.

On top of 200-, 300- and 400-level political science classes, he's just now getting back to running and moving laterally on the right knee he injured against TCU on Nov. 1.

He also has to be one of the guys gathering his receivers and backs for throwing sessions on top of added film study.

"Quarterbacks have to," he said.

Even though redshirt freshman Mike Clausen led the Rebels to two wins in their final three games and kept them on the doorstep of a bowl berth, Clayton is coach Mike Sanford's guy heading into spring ball, no question.

He finished the season ranked 29th in the nation in passing efficiency at 140.5, compiling 1,894 yards with 18 scores to just four interceptions in nine games.

There are always areas needing improvement. Clayton said he'd like to see his 2008 completion percentage of 58.9 get boosted a tad, and also wants to be more of a threat with his legs. After rushing for 179 yards on 51 attempts in seven games (three starts) in 2007, he picked up only 163 yards on 67 rushes as a sophomore.

Sanford said he'd like to keep Clayton out of harm's way more, but the quarterback said he wants to re-establish the extra dimension, hitting the weights harder this offseason to prepare for absorbing punishment.

But the physical portion of being a quarterback will consume only a sliver of Clayton's time heading into 2009.

He had time to sit back and evaluate things over the past three months, between watching his team's bowl hopes slip away from the sideline in San Diego and flipping channels as several Mountain West teams UNLV came oh-so-close against played in nationally televised bowl games.

"If you had to get hurt at some point in the season, I guess it'd be better to get hurt towards the end of the season," Clayton said. "I would say the thing that I took most from watching those games is that it just proved that fact that we are capable. Because there's a large difference from saying we lose these games because they're better than us, or their skill level is higher than ours. And I definitely don't feel like that's the case at all."

Clayton's bowl season attention span didn't center solely on the Mountain West, though. While splitting the month off between his dad's place in Dallas and with friends back in Normal, Ill., he also kept a close eye on Heisman winner Sam Bradford of Oklahoma and Tim Tebow of Florida, who won college football's top honor a year ago and guided the Gators this season to the national title.

"You see those guys make great plays and win Heisman Trophies, and by no means is what they do easy," he said. "But if they weren't as intelligent in their systems and as knowledgeable as they are on defenses, knowing coverages and blitzes, then it wouldn't even be possible. Being a more knowledgeable player elevates your level of play."

Clayton said offensive coordinator Todd Berry, who originally brought him to UNLV as a walk-on from Normal Community High, wants to get his now-seasoned starter to the point where he doesn't need his direction on the field.

"And that's true, it is," Clayton continued. "I can definitely see a progression. We don't talk about just the basic things in film anymore when we watch, or correct things. He's able to go more in-depth. He calls it graduate school film class now. And that's where me and Mike (Clausen) are at right now.

"It's less about the play, and more about nuances of every play as it pertains to what we see on the other side of the ball."

A buzz can be felt already during winter conditioning, with no reluctancy on anyone's part to get back in the weight room.

It'll be a couple more weeks until he begins taking the reins in organizing sessions for he and his targets to get out on the field at Rebel Park. He wants to give all of his teammates -- and himself, of course -- time to adjust to their schedules for the semester and find routines.

It's the first step toward success, which is something Clayton, despite his strides in 2008, will stop short of calling his breakthrough sophomore campaign.

"I can't consider it a successful season, because we didn't win enough games," he said of the 5-7 finish. "There were times when I was definitely happy with how I played, but I can't consider my effort a winning effort. Success to me is winning."

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