Notebook: Payne quietly taking big strides in 2009

By Ryan Greene

Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 | 2:25 a.m.

Amidst all of the talk of uncharacteristic turnovers, a porous defense and a head coach on the hot seat, there always has to be a feel-good story or two somewhere in there.

For the 2-5 UNLV football team, one of those positives has been the play of sophomore receiver Phillip Payne, who last year emerged as one of college football's top young threats to finish the job inside of the opponent's 20-yard line.

This season, opponents have gone to great lengths to limit the effectiveness of the fade route in the red zone, but Payne has simply excelled elsewhere.

"He's developing, becoming a real good route runner," UNLV receivers coach Kris Cinkovich said. "We knew we'd have to find other ways to get him the ball, and I'm pretty confident that we have. He's caught a variety of different passes. He's becoming better on the short and intermediate balls, catching it and running it, making guys miss.

"That's a part of his game that he needed to develop, and it appears that he's starting to."

Through seven games, Payne is second behind senior stalwart Ryan Wolfe on the team in receptions (45), receiving yards (463) and receiving yards per game (66.3). His four touchdown grabs are tied for second on the squad.

Payne's 6.43 receptions per game are tied for 27th in the FBS ranks, while the 45 grabs already have exceeded the 29 he had in nine games last season.

In other words, he's fit into the No. 2 receiver role in smooth fashion.

Despite the numbers, he doesn't fully agree.

"I think I'm doing all right, but however I'm doing, we're not getting wins," the 6-foot-3 Payne said. "So I'm pretty sure I can do better. I don't look at stats. The most important stat is the 'W.' If people say I'm doing good, I don't think so, because we're not getting wins."

So Payne may not be convinced, but anyone who watched him as a freshman and compared it to 2009 game film can see the obvious difference.

Maybe the biggest sign of his maturing into a reliable veteran receiver — other than his visible versatility — is the ability he's shown to make smart decisions once getting the ball in his hands on the heels of suffering two massive hits a year ago.

Against BYU in 2008, a vicious head-to-head hit from defensive back Andrew Rich took Payne out for two weeks with concussion-like symptoms. A full blown concussion came upon his return against New Mexico, who the Rebels travel to face this weekend in Albuquerque at 5 p.m.

Since then, he's taught himself how to avoid unnecessary contact, opting to take the ground if he's wrapped up low or step out of bounds if the benefit of staying in will be minimal.

"I think it's part of his growth as a player and being around players like Ryan (Wolfe) this year, Casey (Flair) last year, knowing it's a long season and you don't need to take unnecessary hits," Cinkovich said. "There's a line between being tough and being smart. You certainly want to be tough and appear that way to your teammates, but you don't want to take blows that aren't going to do you any good."

Tevaseu mourning

UNLV senior defensive tackle Martin Tevaseu's status for this weekend's game against New Mexico is still unknown.

The 6-foot-2, 340-pound starter headed back to the Bay Area after his 19-year-old sister, Zsorhzinnia, was killed in a car accident over the weekend.

Tevaseu has 16 tackles this season for the Rebels.

Porterie to start

Interim head coach George Barlow — who will wear the headset on Saturday for the Lobos in place of the suspended Mike Locksley — announced earlier this week that senior Donovan Porterie will remain the team's starting quarterback.

Through six games, Porterie has completed 60.3 percent o his passes for 1,098 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions.

There had been rumblings coming out of the Lobos' bye week that the keys to the offense may have been getting handed to redshirt freshman B.R. Holbrook, who has appeared in two games this season for New Mexico. Holbrook got the Lobos' spread offense down pat as a prep QB at Hart (Calif.) High, the same school which produced UNLV star wideout Ryan Wolfe.

UNLV injury updates

Junior linebacker Ronnie Paulo (shoulder) practiced at full speed again on Wednesday, and should be a go for Saturday's game after missing last Saturday's 35-15 loss to Utah.

Despite missing a game, Paulo is fourth on the team in tackles (37) and is second in tackles for loss (3.5).

Also back is sophomore tight end Kyle Watkins, who missed the Utah game with a sprained ankle. He has three catches for 24 yards so far in 2009.

As for the up-and-down senior season of senior receiver Rodelin Anthony, he's struggled in practice this week while recovering from an ankle injury and is still questionable for this week.

Anthony missed two games with a concussion, then hurt his ankle against BYU. In four games as a senior, he has 12 catches for 194 yards and four TDs. His presence has been sorely missed in three of UNLV's last four contests in the red zone with double teams being applied to Payne.