UNLV's Robinson looking for recruits to boost program

New UNLV football coach John Robinson had one word to describe his upcoming weekend.

"Active," he said as movers were packing some of his belongings Wednesday afternoon at his Laguna Niguel, Calif., townhouse.

Robinson and his wife, Linda, are scheduled to move into their new home in Green Valley on Friday. And if that isn't enough to keep them occupied, Robinson and his staff will be entertaining 16 recruits over the weekend.

This will be the first big recruiting weekend for Robinson since taking over for Jeff Horton in early December.

Included among the visitors will be Santa Monica (Calif.) Junior College quarterback Dylan Smith, Los Alamitos (Calif.) High School quarterback Ryan Hanson, Palomar (Calif.) JC running back Joe Hall and arguably the two top college prospects in Las Vegas this year, Cimarron-Memorial defensive lineman Kawika Sagapolu and teammate Arnold Parker, who wants to play outside linebacker in college.

"It'll get us started," Robinson, who has 19 scholarships available, said of the recruiting weekend. "This is the first time our staff will have been together. Everybody has kind of just been passing in the halls. A lot of them have been out on the road. We've been kind of a cell-phone kind of staff."

It's against NCAA rules for Robinson to comment about prospective recruits. But he did say he would like to bring in as many as three quarterbacks by the start of fall practice next August.

Ideally, at least one of those quarterbacks would be a junior college player. UNLV has only one returning quarterback -- sophomore Chris Hayward -- on scholarship.

"What we want to do is have a couple of people competing for the job next fall," Robinson said.

Smith (6-1, 180), who also is being recruited by Kansas, Tulane and James Madison, would figure to be a key recruit for the Rebels.

Dick Lascola, whose Scouting Evaluation Association publishes reports on high school and junior college prospects for 90 Division I colleges, had high praise for Smith.

"He's got a rocket for an arm," Lascola said. "He throws with a lot of authority. He's extremely quick and can run. When I first saw him play, I thought he could go to a school like Nebraska and run the option. I was really impressed with him."

Hanson (6-2, 200) was the Orange County Register's Offensive Player of the Year after completing 192 of 286 passes for 3,082 yards, 31 touchdowns and just three interceptions while leading the Griffins to a 12-1 record and the CIF Southern Section Division I semifinals, where they lost to eventual champion Santa Ana Mater Dei. He also is an excellent long-snapper and could step in immediately in that roll for the graduating Mike Leatham.

Another key recruit visiting this weekend is Hall (6-3, 260), a former prep teammate of UNLV's No. 1 prep basketball recruit, 6-7 swingman Jason Kapono, at Artesia (Calif.) High School.

Hall, like Hanson a good baseball prospect as well, is a tough between-the-tackles runner who helped lead Palomar to a stunning upset of the nation's No. 1 rated JC team at the time, Long Beach City College.

"He's the Ron Dayne of Palomar," Lascola said. "He's got a great low center of gravity. He just bulls his way through people. Once he gets going, he's a load."

Kansas State and Utah are among the other schools recruiting Hall.

Sagapolu (6-4, 280) and Parker (6-2, 210) met with Robinson on Monday night for the first time and came away impressed.

"He's a cool guy," Sagapolu said. "So far he's been truthful and straight up with me."

"It was nice to meet someone who is a big-time coach like him," Parker added. "I'm giving UNLV a lot more serious look now."

Sagapolu already has visited Oregon and Colorado State. He also has visits scheduled to Arizona State and BYU later this month.

Parker has visited Utah and also has trips lined up to Arizona State, Michigan State and BYU.

Sagapolu and Parker said they would probably take all five recruiting trips before making a decision.

The national letter-of-intent signing period begins on Feb. 3.

Rebel Recruits

Here are some of the players scheduled to take official recruiting trips to UNLV this weekend:

Name, Height, Weight, Position, School

Dylan Smith, 6-1, 180, QB, Santa Monica, Ca., JC

Ryan Hanson, 6-2, 200, QB, Los Alamitos, Ca., HS

Joe Hall, 6-3, 260, RB, Palomar, Ca., JC

Kawika Sagapolu, 6-4, 280, DL, Cimarron-Memorial HS

Arnold Parker, 6-2, 210, OLB, Cimarron-Memorial HS

Van Brown, 6-5, 230, TE, Alhambra, Ca., HS

Ryan Thompson, 6-0, 190, DB, Compton, Ca., HS

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