Baby-faced Gaston plays like ‘beast’

UNLV defensive tackle Tyler Gaston's 6-foot-3-inch, 265-pound frame becomes more intimidating the closer he gets.

The same can't be said of the sophomore's baby face, which conceals the intensity that has helped him to climb to No. 1 on the depth chart.

"He's got the look in his eye," Rebels defensive tackles coach Michael Gray said. "He wants to learn. He wants to be pushed.

"We stay on top of him. He thought we were picking on him at first. But he likes it. He responds. We see potential. Sometimes they don't know how far they can go. You've got to push them to the brink."

Elvin Dick saw Gaston's competitiveness when he took over as Rancho High School's coach in 2008. He saw a player who practiced and played with an edge. As a senior in 2009, Gaston had 86 tackles and eight sacks.

"Off the field, he's one of the most humble kids you'll meet," Dick said. "When he crosses the lines, he has a chip on his shoulder, but not in a bad way.

"He would make plays 25 yards away that a defensive end or defensive tackle had no business making."

Rancho won just two games in Gaston's senior year, so college recruiters weren't filing into Dick's office.

But coach Bobby Hauck had just arrived at UNLV and wanted to make an early statement by stressing local recruiting. He had some unexpected competition for Gaston, though.

Washington defensive coordinator Nick Holt, a former UNLV graduate assistant, was in town and saw Gaston play basketball. Intrigued by Gaston's athleticism, Holt asked to see videotape from the football season, which confirmed Holt's belief: Gaston had potential.

But Washington was more interested in another player. Recruiting Gaston would be Plan B.

Hauck made recruiting Gaston a priority, and on a late-January recruiting visit with the Rebels, the coach pulled him aside, Gaston said, "and told me how bad he wanted me, that it would be an honor for me to come here and support my city. And I bought into that."

In the end, Washington got its player and so did UNLV. But what if the Huskies had offered him a scholarship?

"That's Pac-10," Gaston said. "I would've had to consider it."

UNLV would have preferred to redshirt Gaston last season and let him grow up physically, but the Rebels had little depth at tackle and pressed him into action beginning Oct. 9 at West Virginia. He made one tackle in reserve duty.

"That's a tough game to get thrown into, but he battled through it," Gray said. "He saw what it takes to go on the road and focus."

Gaston improved from that first game, and though he didn't play the first five games and never started, his three tackles for loss tied for sixth on the team.

Now he's a starting tackle, but it's a long time until the Sept. 3 season opener at Wisconsin.

Hauck has shown he will play the guys who perform best, so the animal behind that baby face will have to keep showing up in practice if Gaston wants to keep his hold on the top spot.

"You've got to be a humble, respectful guy off the field, but you've got to be a beast on the field," Gaston said. "Every play you make, every good thing you do is going to be announced on TV, on ESPN or later on when you watch film. That's what I think about."

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914.