Wednesday practice notes: UNLV starting CB Quinton Pointer dislocates elbow, out 2-4 weeks

By Ryan Greene

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008 | 9:51 a.m.

Quinton Pointer, a sophomore cornerback who started eight games a year ago for UNLV, was carted off the practice field Wednesday morning at Rebel Park.

The Cape Coral, Fla., native was on a cart with two members of the team's training staff, with an air cast covering his left forearm. He appeared to be in significant pain, as the injury was a result of a collision going for a ball over the middle during 7-on-7 passing drills.

Rebels coach Mike Sanford said after practice that the prognosis is a dislocated left elbow. Pointer was loaded onto an ambulance about 30 minutes after being carted off to head to the hospital for x-rays. Sanford said later in the day the results showed no broken bones, and Pointer will miss 2-4 weeks of action. There are 24 days to go until the Aug. 30 opener.

"Obviously, it's very frustrating and disappointing, and I feel bad for him, but we've just got to see how the thing comes out," Sanford said. "We've got to evaluate. We're in a process of evaluating who our third corner was going to be when you look at Pointer and Geoff Howard. We're in the process of evaluating who our third and fourth corners were before this happened, so this is going to speed that whole process up.

Sanford said he doesn't know who the candidates are just yet, and it won't be discussed a ton until following today's evening practice session.

Backup quarterback Mike Clausen, who watched the play from the side, said it appeared that as part of the collision, Pointer was pulled down to the ground and landed awkwardly on his arm.

Today is the team's first day in partial pads, as the players are sporting shoulder pads and helmets.

Pointer registered 50 tackles as a freshman last year and this season is a preseason third team All-MWC selection by Athlon. He also recorded two picks and a fumble recovery in 2007. Regarded as one of the team's fastest players, Pointer is expected to be the centerpiece of the secondary this season.

Other notes from Wednesday ...

-Two more newcomers made their presences felt, in the form of defensive linement Martin Tevaseu and Lale Taiese. Tevaseu is a 6-foot-3, 320-pound junior who transferred in from Santa Rosa JC. He was formerly an Arizona State signee. Taiese comes from Laney College, the same juco which produced current Rebels offensive stalwart Frank Summers.

-Both of UNLV's top two quarterbacks looked strong in the morning session, which was their final split squad practice before the entire team practices together on campus Thursday and Friday. Starter Omar Clayton finished the practice by completing a pair of nice passes in 11-on-11 drills. First was a lofted toss placed perfectly down the left sideline into the hands of Tate Knutson. Then came a flip to Casey Flair while throwing against his body on a rollout to the right.

Backup Mike Clausen's best moments came during one-on-one drills while flashing what the coaches have told him is his obvious specialty - the long ball. The highlight was a 40-yard fade toss down the right sideline to a diving Flair.

"Coach said that's my plus - my deep ball," Clausen said. "Good turn on it, good placement, good all that, so I just kind of try to perfect it as best I can.""

-Observations during the final moments of the evening practice indicate that this team is beyond ready to start hitting in full pads come Friday. Besides from a couple of loud plastic-on-plastic smacking sounds Wednesday, a fair amount of trash talk ensued in 11-on-11 in the closing minutes. The loudest voice of the bunch? Junior linebacker Heivaha Mafi.