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Notebook: Cream beginning to rise as Hauck’s camp intensifies

First-year coach looking for players to push through rigorous camp rather than simply survive

Mountain West Conference Media Day

Leila Navidi

UNLV coach Bobby Hauck speaks to the local media during Mountain West Conference media day at Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas Tuesday, July 27, 2010.

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ELY — The heavy breathing, by the end of Sunday's three-hour UNLV football practice in Ely, could be heard from 100 feet away.

Two guys vomited during the afternoon session in surprisingly hot conditions.

Emotions ran higher and higher as it progressed.

Welcome to that point of a typical Bobby Hauck fall camp.

The Rebels are not only learning that first-hand, but by talking to graduate assistant coach Mike Ferriter, who played for Hauck from 2005-08 at Montana.

"He said the practices (during the season) will be this hard, but the games will be super, super easy (compared to them)," senior running back Channing Trotter said.

Following Sunday's practice, the Rebels have six more days to go before getting next Sunday off. That said, this is when there is a clear distinction between two groups within the roster.

"It's one thing we talked about with our team yesterday is some guys are fighting through it, and some guys are trying to find a way to survive, rather than be an improver," he analyzed. "We're trying to get everyone moved into the improver category and the go-get-it category instead of the survivor category."

From an observer's standpoint, there hasn't been a day more defining of who's who so far this camp than on Sunday, when the tempo was at a constant high level, with little rest.

"It's by far the most intense (camp) I've been through," said Trotter, who has been with the program since 2006.

Added senior safety Mike Grant: "You can see a lot of guys starting to break down and feel it, but as coach Hauck said, you have to keep pushing through. Where we're trying to go, this is how it needs to be."

Injury updates

— One notable sight at Sunday's practice was sophomore running back Imari Thompson hobbling around on crutches, nursing a right ankle injury.

Thompson, who was given a medical redshirt after three games in 2008 with an ankle injury, was hurt late in Saturday's afternoon session. Hauck said he will go back to Las Vegas on Monday to undergo an MRI.

— In blue jerseys and not participating on Sunday were sophomore receiver Mark Barefield (knee), freshman receiver Marcus Sullivan (undisclosed), junior running back C.J. Cox (ankle) and redshirt freshman safety John Therrell (head).

— Returning to team drills was junior quarterback Mike Clausen, who was held out of 11-on-11s on Saturday after being carted off the field with a foot/ankle woe on Friday. He showed no signs of being slowed, ripping off a couple of nice runs.

Trotter feeling the heat

There's nothing to read into who is getting more reps than the others day by day among the handful of running backs competing for playing time.

Hauck has said that several will play this season, and the reps at practice on a daily basis are determined by a rotation.

Redshirt freshman Bradley Randle has shown incredible heart the past couple of days, limping noticeably but refusing to pull himself off the field and, instead, turning in some impressive reps.

Getting more action now with Thompson and Cox sidelined is speedy freshman Tim Cornett.

But, still, the guy who feels like he has more to prove than anyone is Trotter, who turned in a strong effort Sunday. It was his day to take the brunt of the reps out of the backfield, and his solid afternoon was highlighted by a 14-yard run in full-contact drills, in which he stumbled for three extra yards after trucking over freshman defensive back Eric Tuiloma.

"It's been a battle the entire camp, and I feel like I have to start separating myself," said Trotter, who has turned in a mixed bag of results this fall. "I've been having a good day, then a bad day, then a good day, then a bad day, and I just decided I have to turn it on. I'm a senior, I have to be a leader. I just feel like everybody's tired and trying to make it through, and I need to step up and get everybody fired up.

"I'm trying to make some big plays and big hits to get everyone fired up. I thought I brought some energy to the team today."

Trotter has long had a knack for running much bigger than his 5-foot-9, 200-pound frame would indicate. Despite being sparsely used in the shotgun spread under former coach Mike Sanford, he was UNLV's leading rusher a year ago, with 541 yards and nine scores coming on 114 carries.

Interior trials

Hauck has made it no secret he wants to develop good depth across the board, and that is especially true on the offensive line.

Senior John Gianninoto, who started all 12 games last season for the Rebels at center, took some reps at guard on Sunday, as sophomore Alex Mack was given some looks at center.

Hauck added that the coaching staff wants to have its five best linemen on the field at any given time, and given the fact that injuries will creep up, his goal is for all linemen to have the ability to play multiple positions.

Plays of the day

On the defensive side of the ball, senior linebacker Calvin Randleman, who appears to be firmly set with the No. 1 defense after impressing the staff throughout the spring and fall camps, jumped a Clausen pass and returned it to the house for a score during 11-on-11 drills.

The offensive highlight of the day was a twisting touchdown grab by preseason All-Mountain West receiver Phillip Payne to close out the day for the No. 1 offense. It came during an overtime 11-on-11 drill, though the play had a bit of an asterisk to it.

Payne grabbed the Omar Clayton pass in front of Grant, who could have unloaded on the 6-foot-3 junior and forced an incompletion, but he wisely backed off.

"It's practice, he's one of our good players," he said of what could have been a dangerous, upending collision. "You don't want to run all the way through him, but I would have tried to separate him from the ball (in a game)."

The play also lost a bit of luster in Hauck's eyes not for anything that Payne or Grant did, but for the fact that senior Ben Jaekle missed the ensuing extra point attempt, banging it off the left upright.

"You can't miss a PAT in overtime," he said. "That'll cost you games."

When the No. 2 offense scored moments later, freshman Nolan Kohorst made his point-after attempt. Jaekle, who is still rounding back into form after breaking his left leg playing intramural softball in the spring, is competing with Kohorst for place-kicking duties.

Wisconsin injury note

The Rebels will host No. 12 Wisconsin at Sam Boyd Stadium on Sept. 4 in the season opener, and the Badgers found out this weekend that they'll be coming to the desert down a man.

Sophomore outside linebacker Mike Taylor, who was arguably the team's best linebacker before suffering a torn ACL in his right knee mid-way through last season, will miss the game at UNLV. He will undergo a minor operation on the same knee on Tuesday.

"I hope to be back before Big Ten starts hopefully," Taylor told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Sunday at the team's annual media day. "If it takes longer than that, I'm going to do whatever I can to get healthy."

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