Rebels' Pak proud to wear No. 19

MESQUITE --- Look out quickly at the UNLV offense working out at Virgin Valley High School here and you can't help but notice it.

Uniform No. 19, Jon Denton's old number.

Only this time you won't see No. 19 standing around with the other quarterbacks. Bong Kuk Pak, a 6-1, 195-pound junior walk-on from Las Vegas High School and College of the Desert in Palm Springs who inherited Denton's number, plays wide receiver for the Rebels.

Still, the ghost of Jon Denton remains around Camp Mesquite.

"Yeah, players call me Jon Denton, Jr., Little J.D., stuff like that," Pak says. "They joke around with me about it."

Pak, a former first team all-Sunrise Division quarterback at Las Vegas High, said he is "honored" to be issued Denton's jersey.

"I'm proud to wear it because of Jon Denton's accomplishments at UNLV and the records he shattered here," he said. "It really is an honor to wear his jersey on the field."

Pak, whose parents run a Las Vegas dry cleaning buisness, moved to Las Vegas at the age of five from South Korea. He knew virtually no English when he entered elementary school.

"It was very difficult," he said. "People used to always says racial slurs and stuff. But when I started to play football, it helped me to fit in the group a little better."

Ironically, long before he was hearing "Little J.D." and other Denton references from his teammates, Pak had another nickname: Steve.

So how does a guy named Bong Kuk Pak earn a nickname like "Steve" anyway?

"When I was going to elementary school, a lot of people were mispronouncing my name," Pak said. "I started attending this Korean church and all the Koreans had English nicknames. I decided to pick a simple name like Steve and everyone started calling me that."

Until coming to UNLV, Pak had been a pretty fair quarterback. He threw nine touchdown passes in a prep game for the Wildcats, then led College of the Desert to a school-record 16 wins and a Foothill Conference championship in two years as a starter there.

He briefly attended Division II Tarleton State University in Texas last year before deciding to return home and walk on for the Rebels.

"He's a good athlete who runs a lot better than people think," UNLV head coach Jeff Horton said.

"We didn't have a lot of numbers at wide receiver and thought he could contribute there for us. I think he can be spot player there for us. When he realizes he can be a wide receiver here, I think he'll continue to get better."

Pak still holds out hope that the quarterback-thin Rebels might still give him a shot at that position.

"I've been trying to lobby the players and start my campaign," Pak said with a smile. "But the coaches here have a lot of plans for Kevin Crook. I would love to move back to quarterback, but that's up to the coaches."

According to Horton, the chances of that happening are pretty slim.

"Probably not," Horton said. "Unless we have a major crisis there because of injuries, (Pak) will stay at wide receiver."

* REBEL NOTES: UNLV will hold a morning workout at Virgin Valley High School Tuesday morning, then break camp and return to UNLV that afternoon. After a single workout on Wednesday, the team will continue two-a-day workouts on Thursday and Friday at Rebel Field. ... After an unimpressive showing in a scrimmage here Saturday morning, look for the offense to get most of the attention in practice this week. New offensive coordinator Buzz Preston was not a happy camper after the Rebel offense gave up 12 sacks and managed just one touchdown in the defense-dominated scrimmage. When asked who played well for the offense, Preston replied, "No one. Honestly, it was a total collapse. We didn't come out with the effort I thought we would have. I'd knew we'd make some mistakes, but I didn't think we'd come out with the lack of intensity that we did." ... An interesting battle for the starting right tackle spot features mammoth 6-8, 330-pound sophomore Blake Livingood of Globe, Ariz., battling redshirt freshman Brian Hart (6-5, 290) of Fountain Valley, Calif. Horton called Livingood "one of the most improved players in the camp." Hart has had to sit out several practices because of problems with the heat here. ... Horton said he would not release his two-deep until the middle of next week.

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