Rebels drilling for Texas talent

ELY -- Galena Park is located in Harris County, Texas, a town of fewer than 11,000 that sweats in the summer just 12 miles outside of Houston. It served as a farming and ranching community back in the 1880s, transformed itself into a railroad stop and later became known for its refinery center.

It means something else to UNLV football today: a potential pipeline for talent.

North Shore High isn't East Dillon, and by the looks of things at fall camp here, Tim Riggins and Vince Howard aren't suiting up for the Rebels. But away from a fictional team and town is a real-life "Friday Night Lights" story, one that has delivered UNLV a few skilled players, with the hope of more to come.

Tim Cornett has dreams of setting all sorts of rushing records for the Rebels, and Devante Davis the same as a wide receiver. Their connection is Galena Park and North Shore, and the assistant coach who brought them to Las Vegas.

"North Shore is my old high school," Cedric Cormier said. "Going back to the mid-1990s, when one guy goes to a school, the next year another does and a few years later, you have five to six at a certain college.

"North Shore always has players. They've sent (14) guys to Division I schools the last few years. It's a tight-knit community that likes to see familiar faces. So if some of those faces are in Las Vegas, why not go there?"

Cormier is a product of the madness that is Texas prep football, and yet years before joining Bobby Hauck's staff at UNLV as its receivers coach, he chose to leave home. Hauck, then an assistant at Colorado, helped convince him to sign with the Buffaloes.

It's not always that easy.

Texas pulls on kids to stay home for college like a cowboy on the reins of his horse. There are plenty of options and more than enough capable high school players to fill rosters. It tugs at a kid's heart.

Cornett was once such a youngster, dreaming of growing up and slipping on the burnt orange jersey of the Longhorns. Two of his high school teammates went to Texas, and he had a scholarship offer from Houston.

But he knew that signing with UNLV meant an opportunity at immediate playing time and responded last season by becoming the school's first true freshman to lead the team in rushing (546 yards, eight total touchdowns). He is good today with a chance to be special later.

UNLV and great running backs aren't mentioned in the same book, never mind sentence. Ickey Woods led the country in rushing in 1987, and Mike Thomas is the school's career leader with 3,149 yards.

They are notable accomplishments but hardly staggering when compared with most others.

"I knew I could come here and help change a program," Cornett said. "(UNLV) hasn't been a dominant team, so I knew I could come and make a difference right away. Football is everything in Texas, but my (friends) knew UNLV was a Division I program that played good competition, so they were as happy for me leaving as I was for them staying home."

Davis tells a similar story, although he didn't grow up dreaming of wearing any specific uniform. He just wanted to play Division I football and, like Cornett did last season, should see significant time as a freshman.

Look. You can never sign enough quality skill, and Cornett and Davis, two of 13 players on UNLV's roster from Texas, own a lot. More importantly, they arrived with a mindset most players making the jump to college lack.

There is nothing UNLV will do this camp or demand from its players at any point that those raised on Texas prep football haven't experienced. They expect to work hard and win. Growing up, it's all most of them knew.

"With what they go through out there, with the intensity of those high schools in Texas, they experience the college routine on a year-round basis," Cormier said. "Mentally, as far as the grind, they're ready when they get here. Now, they're just going against guys a little bigger and stronger.

"I definitely think we can keep that pipeline open at North Shore and all around the state of Texas. There are players everywhere. The key is finding guys who want to get out of the state. If the high school coaches trust us, they'll send players out here."

A consistent flow of Texas talent.

The Rebels could do far worse.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.