UNLV football team succeeds at avoiding fumbles

Lock the rock.

That’s the mantra UNLV senior running back David Greene lives by on the football field, where the Rebels have been one of the top teams in the country in recent years at holding on to the ball.

“The No. 1 cardinal rule is ball security. We’re taught that as soon as we step foot here,” Greene said. “They give you the goal sheet, and No. 1 is ‘ball security,’ in bold letters with an exclamation point.

“Take care of the ball, lock the rock tight and hold on to it with your life, basically.”

UNLV is tied for fourth in the nation in fewest fumbles lost this season, with only two in eight games, after losing one on a questionable call in Saturday’s game against Colorado State. Quarterback Dalton Sneed was credited with a fumble after he threw an apparent incompletion to running back Lexington Thomas that was ruled a lateral and a fumble recovered by the Rams.

The Rebels tied for fourth best in the country with only four fumbles lost last season, a year after setting a school record with only three in 2014. UNLV’s previous record was five fumbles lost in 2013 and 2009.

Since the start of the 2009 season, the Rebels have lost only 38 fumbles in 96 games, an average of only 1.2 fumbles lost every three games.

“Our ability to hold on to the football has really kept us in a lot of games and hasn’t put us in a lot of jeopardy, and that’s important for us right now as we continue to grow,” UNLV coach Tony Sanchez said. “And even when you’re a successful team, that gives you an ability to sustain success.

“It’s something our guys take a lot of pride in, but we never stop talking about it, we never stop showing film on it and we never stop stressing it.”

Sanchez hasn’t followed the lead of James Caan’s character in the film “The Program” and forced players who fumble to carry a football around campus while their teammates try to knock the ball loose. But there are consequences for players who can’t hold on to the ball.

“It’s one lap around both (practice) fields and, if coach is not having a good day, he might make you keep running,” Greene said. “So lock the rock.”

Sanchez said: “We don’t have to tell them anymore. A ball goes on the ground, you tuck it and you run. They know.”

Greene also played under previous UNLV coach Bobby Hauck, who stressed keeping an airtight grip.

“He made you do a lot of pushups in front of the team,” Greene said. “Not necessarily if you fumble, but he would have a picture, and if you got any air between the football and your ribs, he’d make you do pushups. That’s one thing I take from him: no air.”

Greene said he and his fellow backs focus on the fundamental five points of pressure when carrying the ball: fingertips, palm, forearm, biceps and chest.

Incredibly, Rebels running backs have lost only two fumbles in almost three calendar years, with quarterbacks losing most of them. Thomas lost the ball after a 7-yard rush against San Diego State on Nov. 21, 2015 — two years to the day that UNLV had last lost a fumble on a running back carry (a span of 646 carries). Thomas was fighting for extra yards when the ball was knocked loose.

“I was trying to do too much,” he said. “I was a freshman trying to make a play.”

Thomas said ball security is drilled into players during practice.

“The way we practice, the defense comes at you when the whistle’s blown. All 11 guys are on the ball trying to strip you at one time,” he said. “That’s one thing that helps you hold on to the ball.”

Another is getting the message constantly drilled into his head.

“Ball security, that’s the No. 1 thing. Don’t turn the ball over,” Thomas said. “That’s what we preach every day — before the game, after the game, during the game — ball security.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.