Hands-on approach special to Hauck

ELY -- It's become a daily post-practice routine.

The special teams players all meet with Bobby Hauck to run drills.

Hauck is listed in UNLV's football media guide as not only the head coach but also the special teams coordinator.

He likes that it affords him an opportunity to work with players individually, rather than his usual post overseeing the entire team while his assistants handle most of the one-on-one instruction.

"It, selfishly, gives me a chance to coach, to be involved in the actual coaching aspect," Hauck said. "The second part is I really get hands-on time with every guy on the team every week, so I have a player-coach relationship with every player on the team."

Hauck was known as a special teams maven during his previous seven seasons as Montana's head coach. The Grizzlies led the Big Sky Conference last season in kickoff returns (24.6-yard average) and ranked second in punt returns (15.8) and net punting (37.5).

Now Hauck is trying to improve UNLV's special teams, which have been solid but far from spectacular.

The Rebels' return teams ranked in the middle of the Mountain West Conference last season, though then-senior Kyle Watson averaged 42.6 yards per punt and made all 37 extra points and 9 of 14 field goals.

Hauck showed his commitment to improving UNLV's special teams when he signed former Green Valley High School kicker and punter Nolan Kohorst to a scholarship. In college, kickers and punters are often walk-ons.

Kohorst is competing against two seniors for jobs, kicker Ben Jaekle from Bonanza High School and punter Brendon Lamers.

Hauck said the kicking job might not be settled by the Rebels' season opener against Wisconsin on Sept. 4 at Sam Boyd Stadium and that both Kohorst and Jaekle could play. He expects to name UNLV's punter that week.

Hauck is auditioning several players to return kickoffs and punts.

Junior Deante Purvis averaged 23.3 yards per kickoff return last season, including a 94-yard touchdown against Brigham Young.

But his TD underscored the Rebels' futility on returns, as it was their first kickoff return score since 1999.

"I've learned a lot of techniques from the new coaching staff," Purvis said. "(Hauck's) been showing me. He probably would return a punt if he could."

Hauck hasn't tried that in camp, but his fingerprints are all over the special teams.

He will take a player aside, as he did with sophomore Andrew Mack about a week ago, and show him the proper blocking technique during a return.

Sometimes Hauck drops a ball to the turf as if it had just been blocked on a field-goal try. The drill calls for players to keep a teammate from touching the ball and possibly creating a turnover.

"If your head coach is so involved in special teams, it's important to everyone else on the team," Kohorst said.

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