Monday, April 8, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
While the Oakland Athletics were pulling triple plays at Cashman Field Sunday, UNLV football coach Jeff Horton was trying to come up with a triple play of his own to prevent his Rebels from going through another embarrassing season.
Spring drills kick off today at Rebel Park and Horton's triple play is this:
* Find a quarterback who can lead the team to a few victories and stay healthy.
* Put together a defense that surrenders fewer than 534 yards and 47 points a game.
* Rekindle the winning attitude of two years ago.
If Horton can pull it off, he'll be a strong candidate for coach of the year in the Western Athletic Conference. But because triple plays are so rare, Horton will try to chip away at all three areas and make some progress between now and April 27, when the team holds its spring game.
"Obviously, we were disappointed with the final outcome of the season," he said of UNLV's dismal 2-9 campaign in 1995. "We knew we were going to struggle, but we didn't expect it would be so severe a test.
"All of us around here are ready to put it behind us."
It's likely the quarterback situation will not be resolved in the spring. But Horton has said he definitely wants a pecking order to be established so that when fall drills start in August, everyone will know where they stand.
On paper, the early edge goes to sophomore redshirt Kevin Crook, only because he's the lone quarterback with any experience at the Division I level. Crook started the 52-14 loss at San Jose State last October.
Former Green Valley star Jon Denton figures to get a long look. The 6-foot-3 freshman redshirted last year but hardcore fans may remember an intrasquad scrimmage last year where Denton moved the team quickly and effortlessly.
Then there's Kevin McCarthy, a 6-2 freshman from Pocatello, Idaho. McCarthy actually was part of the 1995 UNLV recruiting class and already is enrolled at UNLV. Horton said McCarthy's competitiveness will make him a factor in the three-man race.
Horton doesn't want to see a repeat of last year's QB musical chairs, when Jared Brown and Jason Davis alternated.
"They'll all get equal reps," Horton said. "We'll find out who leads the team the best, who is the most productive, who makes the fewest turnovers.
"The guy who can do that the best will be our man."
As for trying to shut down the other team, Horton is hoping his young secondary will build on last year's humbling experiences and mature quicker than initially hoped for.
Quincy Sanders and Bobby Coffman weren't expected to play a lot as freshmen, but wound up starting. With seniors Jermaine Webster and Dan Stewart back there with them, they could become a good unit.
They'll be tested all year long, beginning Aug. 31 when Tennessee's Peyton Manning launches his rockets all over Neyland Stadium.
Horton is hoping experience and physical growth will help put a stop to the Rebels' churning out of opposition Heisman Trophy candidates every Saturday.
"Obviously, all we can do on defense is get better."
Horton's hope is the influx of defensive players (19 of UNLV's 25-man recruiting class plays defense) will create enough competition in practice to carry over to game day.
And if positive results emerge, perhaps the team will gain some confidence as it embarks on its maiden voyage through the WAC.
The first thing Horton did when he took over for Jim Strong in November 1993, was to make his players believe they were winners, despite coming off a 3-8 campaign.
That challenge is back for a team which went 2-9 and suffered more than its share of embarrassing defeats following a Big West Conference and Las Vegas Bowl championship season the year before.
"We want to show improvement and be more competitive," Horton said. "I don't know how many wins or losses that translates into, but that is how we'll judge if the team is headed in the right direction."
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