Spring practice winds down, not competition

April 2, 2009 by Matt Maxson 

Football team works with depleted roster in early practices

UNLV spring ball’s first scrimmage is in the books, but the team is pumped to get as much practice in before the annual Spring Game.

“It’s teaching me a lot,” sophomore wide receiver Phillip Payne said. “I am running a lot, because I have only been here a little bit.  I’m learning more, getting used to things and it is keeping me in shape. I’m really liking it.”

Payne was absent from last year’s spring practices as he was still attending Western High School, but for veteran head coach Mike Sanford this year’s practices are like the last four.

“I would say that we are going to continue to highlight competition at some positions,” Sanford said. “You know we have competition at running back, safety, at corner, at a lot of different places, interior offensive line, for the No. 2 positions on the defensive line up front. So the big thing is that we are going to continue to highlight competition on this team.”

Sanford has consistently stressed competition since he arrived at UNLV. It’s the reason Omar Clayton started over Travis Dixon, freshman wide receiver Payne got a starting job and how Dack Ishii got moved to punter his senior season.

The problem remains that without the class of incoming freshman, the competition circuit may have a few gaps.

“The biggest thing, we are going to try to bring them in this summer and get as many guys into summer school as we can,” Sanford said. “[It’s nice to] have them workout with us, and learn from the older players.  We can’t actually have them out on the field coaching them, but we can get them exposed to the program and get them in great shape so they get as much exposure to the offense and defense as possible.”

But even with the rosters deflated after senior departures and freshman yet to arrive, players still feel the necessity to perform.

“It’s real deep [at wide receiver]. Coach is always telling us, when they write depth charts, everything is erasable.  You could start today, then fall back, so it is always competition.”

Even the starting quarterback is feeling heat. After Friday’s scrimmage, third-string quarterback Les Obie was given the team’s offensive black jersey, an award given to the previous practice’s top performer.

But starting quarterback Omar Clayton feels that the team is improving and that Obie’s award just reminded the team of its commitment for every player to get better at each position.

“I think the best part about [spring practice] is our offensive coaches wanted to go over everything, everybody’s rules and special things that everybody needs to work on.

The team will return to practice after spring break and prepare for the April 17 Spring Game.