Rebels look to a healthy Paulo to bring the pain

By Ryan Greene

Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009 | 2:30 a.m.

At full strength, Ronnie Paulo is a dangerous man.

Just ask DeMarco Murray.

Murray — now a standout tailback for national power Oklahoma — was at one time making his name in the prep ranks at Bishop Gorman. It was then when he fell victim to Paulo's favorite hit of his pigskin career.

"He ran a counter, I was coming off the edge and just whacked him," the junior UNLV middle linebacker and Western High grad said. "He got up pretty frustrated and threw the ball at me.

"It felt the best."

Last year, in Paulo's first season as a starter for the Rebels, nothing felt that good.

Despite recording 90 tackles — second on the team — and two stops for loss over the course of 11 games played, the 6-foot-1, 240-pound hitter was merely a shell of the guy who once pounded Murray with authority as a teenager.

The season started with a bang, as Paulo posted a career-best 12 tackles in an opening night victory over Utah State at Sam Boyd Stadium.

But a week later against Utah, he suffered a badly sprained ankle, not too long after fellow linebacker Starr Fuimaono was lost for the season to a torn ACL. It would nag him the rest of the 2008 campaign. That would only be compounded later in the season by a strained MCL in his right knee against New Mexico.

"I really did what I could," Paulo said. "I have this motto: 'If you're hurt, you can still make the same plays you can when you're not hurt.'

"Obviously, that wasn't true."

Still, banged up late in the season, he managed 21 stops over the final two games against Wyoming and San Diego State.

Fast forward through some well-deserved time to heal up, and expectations are once again big for Paulo as the Rebels prepare for Saturday's 7 p.m. season opener against Sacramento State at Sam Boyd Stadium.

He's shown repeated flashes during fall camp of his potential as a hard-hitting, blitz-happy force at the center of the UNLV defense. On top of that, he's taken big steps in the mental process of becoming a quarterback for the defense, be it mastering the playbook or just improving his fundamentals.

"We're not having to correct him as much," UNLV defensive coordinator Dennis Therrell said. "Instead of now saying 'Get lined up over here,' he knows to line up over here and you can talk a little bit of the technical things like, 'This is where your hand needs to be, this is where your eyes need to be.' You start going into the smaller things. You've got to walk first."

The personnel changes around him will help make reaching that well-rounded potential possible.

With senior Jason Beauchamp and junior Malo Taumua manning the defensive end spots, their speed will be sandwiching senior Martin Tevaseu and junior Isaako Aaiutui in the middle of the line. Those two combine to weigh nearly 650 pounds, which will help free Paulo to make more plays, no matter where the ball is.

"They all revolve round him," Therrell said. "He's the tempo-setter, he's the guy. You look at all the great defenses. Look back at the '85 (Chicago) Bears. They had (Mike) Singletary sitting in there. He was the tempo-setter. They all rally around him and look to him."

Singletary was known as being one of the most cerebral middle linebackers of his generation, which sometimes masked just how ferocious he really was.

With Paulo, his outgoing, talkative nature on the field makes his presence tough not to feel. And Therrell adds that his overall health will only help, as blitzing Paulo and making him a force in the backfield was the plan last season before injuries devastated not just him, but the rest of the defense, to boot.

"I'm honestly putting myself up there to be one of the most vicious players in the game," Paulo said. "It's just what fuels me to play the game. I love aggression, and it drives me to play better."

It's typical at this point in the season for college football players — especially on the defensive side of the ball — to proclaim how much they want to play an actual game and get to hit someone other than their teammates.

That may be more true for Paulo than anyone else. During fall practices, he has made a habit of letting out grunts or yells in drills where he's closed in on an offensive opponent, only to have to hold up and avoid contact most of the time.

"Anytime we get in a scrimmage situation where he gets to hit someone and the enthusiasm after he hits them, because he's playing healthy, he feels like a different guy," said UNLV linebackers coach Jed Stugart.

That enthusiasm will be needed on a defense that badly needs to show more bite than it did a year ago in terms of its activity in the opponent's backfield.

The Rebels ranked 116th out of 119 FBS squads in 2008 in tackles for loss and 115th in sacks.

Beauchamp will still drop back and play some outside linebacker — a position where last year he led the Mountain West in tackles. Plus, having Fuimaono back at full strength won't hurt.

But a healthy Ronnie Paulo is expected not just to be the defensive quarterback, but also the lead enforcer.

"You'll see Starr, as far as making tackles, you'll see him make a lot of the tackles, but as far as sacks go, the middle linebacker is always blitzing," Beauchamp said. "I think that for the most part, I think it's the best thing for him and this team."

UNLV FOOTBALL NOTES

The Mike Sanford Radio Show will air from 7-8 p.m. Thursday on ESPN Radio 1100 AM ... UNLV is offering a $10 Red Zone Special to fans for Saturday's game and must be purchased by Friday night at midnight. Tickets can be purchased online at UNLVTickets.com, at the Thomas & Mack Box Office and by calling (702) 739-FANS. Tickets are $17 on the day of the game ... The Rebel Athletic Foundation will hold its first of four luncheons at noon Friday in the Thomas & Mack Center Board Room. Admission is $15 for the general public. The next luncheon will take place Sept. 18 ... The statuses for Saturday's game on running backs C.J. Cox (hamstring) and Imari Thompson (concussion), along with defensive end Preston Brooks (concussion) are still up in the air.