Going back to the farm pays off for Pierucci

Unlike most of his UNLV football teammates, linebacker Jerrad Pierucci decided to go home this past summer and work out on his own.

Nothing personal. Pierucci, who has been a part of just four victories in his 30 games as a Rebel the past three years, just needed to get away.

How badly? The Pierucci family lives on a farm in Shafter, Calif., not exactly known for its wild nightlife or world class entertainment.

"I needed a break," Pierucci, the team's active leader in career tackles with 184, said. "I needed to get my mind straight. I needed to re-dedicate myself to what I was doing. And I could only find that with myself."

So he did a few chores on the family farm. He worked out every afternoon. Instead of bar-hopping with his buddies, he stayed home with his parents. And instead of scarfing down junk food, his mom, Gail, fixed him healthy meals each day.

"I didn't have anything to worry about," Pierucci said. "No bills, no nothing. I just sat around and ate and worked out and enjoyed myself."

Whatever Pierucci did, it seems to have worked wonders.

Pierucci, who weighed 238 at the start of fall camp a year ago, came in at a trim 225 this year. Perhaps more importantly, he has caught his new coaches' eyes for his on-the-field leadership and play.

"He's in the best shape in the seven months I've been here," said UNLV linebackers coach Joe Barry. "And it's showing because he's playing his butt off.

"The thing I like about him is that I don't have to yell at him and be on him every five minutes. He does things on his own. He practices real hard and that's the key because if you do that, playing in the game is easy."

"I think I found a peace with myself at home," Pierucci said. "It gave me a chance to live a normal life and just kind of let myself get back into (football). I think it helped me a lot."

He gave his mom a big assist for his weight loss.

"She's really into eating right," he said. "I take a lot of vitamins and she helped me out there. It's hard. It's expensive to eat right."

Pierucci, who will be starting for his third straight year at linebacker for UNLV, feels his weight loss will translate into an improved senior season.

"I felt that my speed had slipped and that was stopping me from making a lot of big plays I would have made if I was lighter," he said. "I think being lighter is going to help me this season."

"I expect a big year out of him," Barry said. "He's a senior and I look to him for leadership. He's got to be a bell cow for our defense. Guys have got to look at him and the way he practices and say, 'Hey, I've got to step it up and practice just like 55 does.' "

* MEDIA BLITZ: Besides coaching two-a-day workouts this week, UNLV coach John Robinson is busy doing interviews with a number of prominent members of the national media as well.

Longtime Orange County Register columnist Steve Bisheff spent Monday afternoon with Robinson. Today, Steve Wieberg of USA Today and Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune interviewed Robinson. National college football writer Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times stops by on Wednesday. And following night practice on Thursday night, Robinson will pose for USA Today photographers on The Strip.

* FOOTBALL FAMILY: Football is definitely in the bloodlines of UNLV linebacker coach Joe Barry.

Barry, who played college football at both Michigan and USC, is the son of Mike Barry, the offensive line coach at defending national champion Tennessee. And his mother, Jane Barry, is the secretary for new Colorado coach Gary Barnett. Barry's father-in-law is Rod Marinelli, the defensive line coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"We have all the media guides on a coffee table at our house," Barry said. "Little Camryn Grace (Joe and Christine Barry's first child who was born on April 14th) is going to be a football girl."

* RADIO DEAL FINALIZED: Only two weeks before the start of the football season, UNLV finally has a radio deal to broadcast its games.

A press conference has been called for today at Sunset Station hotel-casino to announce the winning bidder, which is expected to be 920 AM. Robinson is also expected to hold a weekly coaches' show on the same station on Monday nights at the Sunset Station brewery.

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