Junior duo working at new positions

UNLV's football media guide lists Malo Taumua at defensive tackle and Isaako Aaitui at defensive end, just where both juniors ended the spring.

But they might not finish preseason camp in those spots. Taumua is working at end and Aaitui at tackle.

Coach Mike Sanford, however, cautioned Friday that nothing was finalized.

"I can't be definitive with how we'll do it," Sanford said. "It's going to be how our health holds up and the development of some younger players and how they all do and how that fits in with the whole thing."

Taumua put in the work to learn a new position, watching plenty of videotape during the summer and studying the techniques and plays.

"I like to work in space," Taumua said of playing end. "It gives me freedom."

This hasn't been the smoothest summer for Taumua, who broke his right hand in mid-June while helping friends move. He was carrying a couch when the hand got jammed against the corner of a door.

Taumua went three weeks before discovering the hand was broken. He wore a cast for another two weeks, and the injury now is healed.

• VOTING FOR THE MWC -- Sanford didn't reveal much about his ballot in USA Today's preseason poll but noted he voted defending national champion Florida No. 1 and three Mountain West Conference schools higher than where they were ranked.

Texas Christian was No. 17 in the coaches' poll, followed by Utah at No. 18 and Brigham Young at No. 24.

"I think they are better than what they ended up," said Sanford, the first UNLV coach to vote in the poll since Jeff Horton in 1998.

• THIS AND THAT -- Sanford said he probably would know Wednesday or Thursday if incoming freshman wide receiver Marcus Sullivan is eligible. Sullivan, who went to Cheyenne High School, is waiting for results of the state-required math proficiency test. ... Redshirt freshman Alex Young, who was to be part of a four-player race for starting tight end, quit the team.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Read the latest practice reports at lvrj.com/blogs/unlv_sports.