UNLV spring recap Day 5: Sean Manuel and Tony Sanchez go way back

UNLV coach Tony Sanchez is starting to notice a pattern with his new assistant coach.

Sanchez reunited with Sean Manuel last month when he was named the director of football strength and conditioning for the Rebels.

Manuel had the same role at Bishop Gorman High School the past seven years, five of those with Sanchez as the head coach of the Gaels.

“I told (Manuel) why are you always following me when we’re about to start winning,” Sanchez said jokingly. “I was at Gorman one year before he joined and then we took off. He’s always around at the right time.”

Sanchez didn’t hire Manuel to be his good luck charm. The choice was easy for Sanchez when Keith Belton took the strength and conditioning job at USC.

“Coach Manuel is a junkie when it comes to knowing how the human body works,” Sanchez said. “He has all the credentials and certifications to match anyone.

“It’s not easy jumping into a new situation with 102 new faces to coach and teach, but I trust him. I told him to do what he does best.”

Sanchez and Manuel were roommates in college when they played for New Mexico State in the mid 1990s. Manuel joined Sanchez’s staff at California High School in San Ramon, California, for five seasons (2004-2008).

Manuel was a standout tight end for New Mexico State and was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the seventh round of the 1996 NFL draft. (Fun fact: Manuel’s twin brother, Sam, was also drafted by the 49ers in the seventh round. They were 15 picks apart.)

“I didn’t have a long career because of all my injuries,” Manuel said. “So when I stopped playing, I wanted to know what was going on with my body. I started taking all these classes and realized that I could have prevented these injuries.

“I was fascinated by all this information. From that point on, I wanted to help others sustained a long career the right way.”

THE HITS BEGIN FOR DAY 5

The Rebels were finally allowed to hit each other Friday for the first spring practice of full-pads with live tackling.

“We’re only five days in, we’ve installed a lot, so guys are doing a good job of really managing a lot of offense and defense early on,” Sanchez said. “We didn’t put it on slowly this year, so we just went ahead and unloaded it. We threw a lot at these guys for the first day, but there were a few missed tackles. We gotta get better with that.

“The good thing, as far as the runners go with ball security, we didn’t turn the ball over during those drills. You don’t want to be over physical in the spring, but you gotta do it enough to improve the tackling.”

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Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0492. Follow @gmanzano24 on Twitter.