Healthy UNLV receiver Payne back in stride

No one was covering Phillip Payne on the first day of summer workouts as he went into his break on an out pattern and felt a snap in his right foot.

"It was just an awkward plant," quarterback Caleb Herring said. "I didn't think it was a big deal."

Payne also didn't think the injury was serious, and he tried to run again. When Payne realized he couldn't go, he and his UNLV teammates knew he'd better take off the rest of that early June day.

A day later came the news Payne had broken the foot, and suddenly the Rebels' top wide receiver was in danger of having to take a previously unused redshirt and delay his senior football season by a year.

Payne, of course, returned in time to play this season, a surprising and welcome development for UNLV, which visits Washington State at 2 p.m. Saturday.

"If he had been on schedule, we would've redshirted him," coach Bobby Hauck said. "We didn't really expect him to go until the middle of October."

So how did Payne get back so quickly? He credited UNLV's trainers, and Hauck agreed but noted some players are incredibly fast healers.

Payne underwent surgery the week following the injury, was in a splint for three more weeks and a cast for another three weeks before he could even begin rehabilitation.

The downtime allowed Payne to spend a lot of time in thought, and the idea of not playing this season was unsettling.

"I just wanted to be out there, so it was frustrating," he said. "I wanted to get myself back, and it was slow at first."

Payne had to learn how to walk in a boot, which was balky and uncomfortable and not easy with a weakened right calf.

He was still in the boot when training camp opened Aug. 9, but even getting out of the boot five days later provided him little reassurance.

"I basically had my mind on redshirting," Payne said.

Payne didn't start to believe until Aug. 20 that he would be ready for the season when he began running in straight lines and zig-zag formations. When the foot didn't give him many problems, Payne dressed in full uniform for practice the next day.

On one play, he even leaped to try to catch a pass.

He still, however, had to prove he could play in a game without any significant effects.

But Payne's early problems in the Rebels' 51-17 loss at Wisconsin on Sept. 1 had little to do with his feet. His usually reliable hands let him down twice, including a pass down the right sideline that he dropped on third-and-18 near the first-down marker deep in Badgers territory.

"I was looking for the first down," Payne said. "I took my eyes off (the ball)."

Wide receivers coach Cedric Cormier knew he didn't have to get on Payne too much for the drops.

"It definitely fired him up," Cormier said.

Payne responded by showing in the second half the talent that has made him one of the top receivers in UNLV history. He made a spectacular touchdown catch in the left side of the end zone by reaching high for the ball and just getting his right foot down on the turf.

"That's the Phillip Payne we all love around here," Cormier said, "not the first-half Payne."

That reception gave Payne 20 career touchdown catches, just four behind the school record owned by Henry Bailey.

It figures to be Payne's record by the end of the season, barring further injury, and without waiting a year to get it.

"Initially, I definitely thought he was done," Cormier said. "I know it was important, he wanted to come back, and he worked his way into it."

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.