UNLV offense in good hands
Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of features on players from the various units on the UNLV football team. Today is a look at why expectations are high for the receivers.
ELY — It’s easy to understand why UNLV wouldn’t want to pay attention to preseason speculation about its football team — picked last in the Mountain West Conference.
The Rebels also apparently haven’t noticed the preseason talk that they own the conference’s best wide receivers.
When junior Casey Flair was told after Saturday afternoon’s practice the Rebels’ corps was so highly respected, the news was news to him.
"Honestly, I can say in our receiving corps you have a bunch of humble guys," Flair said. "No one’s big-headed. No one wants all the attention.
"Sure, we know people say we’re supposed to be good and all that, but in our receiving corps, we believe we’ve got to show it every Saturday. It doesn’t happen just because we did it last year and we’re supposed to be good."
There are reasons for the positive press.
One of those reasons is 6-foot-1-inch, 205-pound Ryan Wolfe, who led the conference with last season in average receiving yards per game at 75.9. He also set a Mountain West freshman record with 911 yards and was named league Freshman of the Year.
Perhaps Wolfe’s best play occurred when he outran New Mexico safety Quincy Black for a 75-yard touchdown. Black ran 4.42 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine in February.
"We’re busy talking about other ways to get the ball in (Wolfe’s) hands because we’ve got to use him," receivers coach Kris Cinkovich said. "He’s a huge weapon. He’s going to be busy on Saturdays."
The 6-1, 190-pound Flair was busy last season, finishing highest among Mountain West receivers in average catches per game at 5.6.
Phil Steele’s preview magazine rated UNLV’s receivers the best in the conference and No. 18 nationally. The Sporting News also placed the Rebels first in the conference, and Wolfe was a consensus first-team all-conference selection.
The respect goes beyond Wolfe and Flair. UNLV goes deep — counting on players such as 6-5, 220-pound sophomore Rodelin Anthony, 6-2, 195-pound senior Aaron Straiten and 6-1, 185-pound junior Renan Saint Preux, among others.
"If you’ve got a bunch of guys there and a kid’s playing and he’s not producing on a consistent basis, it’s somebody else’s turn to get a shot and see if they can," Cinkovich said. "It’s been a long struggle to get us to this level of depth, but we’re excited to have it."
The depth is starting to pay off. Cinkovich said Straiten started slowly but has come on to split first-team snaps with 5-10, 175-pound junior Gerold Rodriguez.
Rodriguez, an Arizona transfer, is one of two newcomers to the group. The other is 5-8, 175-pound Washington State transfer Lorenzo Bursey Jr. Both sat out last season under NCAA transfer rules.
"I think the first few days was a little more difficult in part just getting used to everyone," Wolfe said. "But by now we’ve been around each other for so long. It’s good to see new faces out there."
When the season starts Aug. 30 at Utah State, the veterans and newcomers will begin to show whether the preseason rankings were justified.
"It’s kind of good to see that people are actually noticing the kind of work that we’re putting in, but that’s as far as it goes," Wolfe said.