Star power and optimism at first UNLV football training camp practice

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Tony Sanchez is a perpetually energetic soul, so it was not a surprise to see him buzzing around UNLV’s first official training camp practice on Wednesday, encouraging players and imploring his charges to get it right.

It was a little surprising to see Flava Flav doing it, though.

The legendary rapper and Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee was a guest at Rebel Park to watch his nephew, freshman running back Rashad Walker, and Flav did his best to match Sanchez’s energy and positive attitude.

The former Public Enemy star stalked the sidelines, chatted up players and coaches and came away impressed by the Rebels.

“He’s the best, man,” Flav said of Sanchez. “I’ve been with coach Sanchez since Bishop Gorman. I came out here to support my godson and the team as well, and it’s great to be out here. I think this is going to be a real good year for UNLV.”

Sanchez was equally happy to be back on the field. UNLV lost four of its last five games in 2016 and finished with a 4-8 record, but with an upgrade at quarterback and experienced skill players returning, the Rebels could be poised for a winning season for the first time since 2013.

After the first day of camp, Sanchez was his usual excitable self.

“This is what we love,” Sanchez said. “You get a chance to get back on the field, spend time with the guys and just work on football and getting better. It’s a great group, it’s a committed group. We’ve got a long ways to go, but today was a good day and I’m glad it’s back.”

Sanchez said the game plan for the day was to work the players back into a daily routine. Though there was some sloppiness in execution, the coach said he could chalk it up to rust and live with it — for one day.

“Today we had a couple center-quarterback exchanges end up on the ground, you had a couple mesh-reads [fumbled],” he said. “It’s going to happen, right? I’ll give them a one-day pass, but they know starting tomorrow all hell is going to break loose when that stuff starts happening.

“We’re cleaning house right now,” Sanchez continued. “We’re cleaning up so when the pads go on and we start thumping around, everything looks sharp, it looks crisp and you see great transition from drill to drill.”

The focus early on in camp — and most likely throughout the season — will be on redshirt freshman quarterback Armani Rogers. The talented young gunslinger has the potential to be a program cornerstone, so the coaching staff is going to great lengths to prepare him to lead the team.

Sanchez said Rogers has earned the starting job and that there is a plan in place that should allow the young passer to win games even as he’s learning on the job.

“We’re more than ready to win,” Sanchez said. “As far as a freshman quarterback goes, we based it on his play in the spring. Obviously when we recruited him, we recruited him with the idea that he could one day be that guy, but if he didn’t perform last spring he wouldn’t be the guy getting the reps right now. He’s got to continue to improve and get better. He had a pretty good day today. There are some freshman things where he still is making a couple mistakes here and there. We kind of expect it. We have to do a really great job of being good teachers, kind of turning the volume down on him a little bit and not applying so much pressure so fast.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.