Notebook: Tight end position to again be prominent in UNLV offense

By Ryan Greene

Friday, Aug. 20, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

ELY — In the last two seasons as a tight end trapped in a spread offense, Austin Harrington knew that he basically had two functions on the football field: Either block or run a flavorless 5-yard out route.

Now, with first-year coach Bobby Hauck and his staff bringing a more well-rounded offense to UNLV, the junior from Grapevine, Texas, has found a second wind of sorts.

"Now that we have an offense that's looking to throw the ball to the tight end more, I think it gives us an edge," said Harrington, who was converted to tight end from defensive end during his redshirt year in 2007. "Now, I'm stretching the field, running fades and stuff in the end zone. It makes the game more exciting for me, makes me more excited to come to practice every day."

Harrington has repeatedly shown that boosted enthusiasm so far this fall, as he's in the mix in one of the most intriguing position battles in the Rebels' camp.

Vying for time are Harrington, who caught just two balls for nine yards in limited time last season, Orange County Community College transfer Anthony Vidal, whose resumé shows 25 catches for 311 yards and two scores in two years of juco ball and returning starter Kyle Watkins, who is battling a handful of nagging injuries.

"Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way," Harrington said of the competition. "If I didn't have these guys with me, my game wouldn't be as elevated as it is now."

Harrington has been one of the Rebels' more impressive pass-catchers so far in Ely, as the team's 11-day trip up north will come to a close following Saturday morning's scrimmage.

During Wednesday afternoon's full-pads practice, the competition looked to be as fierce as ever.

First, Vidal, made a twisting catch in the end zone to close out a route down the middle with a 20-yard score.

Just a handful of plays later, Harrington scored on a fade route along the right sideline, dragging his foot inbounds after making an acrobatic snag between two defenders.

"Maybe that was a first for me, that was a lot of fun," he joked. "I felt a little bit like (UNLV junior All-Mountain West receiver) Phillip Payne there for a second."

Watkins' reps have not been as plentiful, but he continued to hang around on Thursday with a pair of grabs from the junior quarterback Mike Clausen.

His ability to block and experience in that area could keep Watkins with some playing time, while Vidal and Harrington figure to duke it out the rest of the way through fall camp for the right to be a regular piece in UNLV's aerial attack.

"When they recruited me, they said the old offense was a spread and didn't use a tight end very much, and they were looking for a juco transfer to come in and help the team," said Vidal, who was also looking hard at North Texas and Western Kentucky. "Everyone's faster, stronger, bigger, smarter and there's a lot to learn."

Clausen coming on strong

Last week, when he was carted off with an apparent foot injury, Mike Clausen looked poised to miss some time and lose some ground in the race to start the Sept. 4 opener against Wisconsin.

Clausen missed roughly two days of team drills, and now a week later has made up whatever deficit was created behind senior Omar Clayton.

True to his word, Hauck has gone with a rotation between Clausen and Clayton working with the first team offense.

Earlier this week, Clayton was impressive during his stretch manning the potential starts, but Clausen looked to be in peak shape on both Wednesday and Thursday.

On Thursday, he showed nice touch and judgment on timing routes over the middle, completing five of his first six passes in 11-on-11 drills.

Saturday's scrimmage could be crucial for that battle.

Two-a-days done until next August

On Wednesday, UNLV had its final session of two-a-day practices.

That's not to say that the grueling part of training camp came to a close along with them, but it was clear that the players are now able to see the finish line of fall camp's most brutal stretch.

"The one-a-days are pretty hard," Hauck said. "Maybe there's something they can hang their hats on to signal that the end is near, but this next couple of days will show a lot about who we are, if we have the mental toughness to finish this thing."

Blue man group growing

The number of players who spent all or half of practice in a blue jersey and were limited in action grew to 11 on Thursday.

They included: Redshirt freshman safety John Therrell (head), redshirt freshman safety Courtney Bridget (undisclosed), senior cornerback Quinton Pointer (undisclosed), senior defensive end Daniel Mareko (undisclosed), senior defensive end Preston Brooks (undisclosed), junior running back C.J. Cox (undisclosed), freshman receiver Marcus Sullivan (head), freshman receiver Kurt Davis (undisclosed), junior receiver Mike Johnson (undisclosed), redshirt freshman cornerback Cedric Coleman (ankle) and sophomore receiver Mark Barefield (knee).