Sanchez makes good on promise to UNLV football players

Yes, it’s different.

In a football and Hakkasan sort of way.

It’s a little Nicki Minaj one minute and some Brooks & Dunn the next. It’s Elvis, followed by Big & Rich. Quarterbacks make drops to Avicii singing about waking me up when it’s all over, and kickers boot field goals to the Swedish House Mafia about heartbreak upon that hill across the blue lake.

Don’t you worry, don’t you worry, child.

Tony Sanchez has a little something for everyone.

“We have a diverse locker room, so we’re going to have a diverse music selection,” he said. “I choose the music. It’s different every day. Old hip-hop, new hip-hop, and we have to get some country in there. That’s what I’m talking about.”

His team practices like he talks. Fast and spirited. Spring ball is underway at UNLV for a first-year coach whose story about the high school legend driving across town to try to revive a college program viewed as perished on the national scene has been recounted countless times the past few months.

Newspapers. Magazines. Internet. Television. Radio.

The Rebels haven’t received this much attention across any football landscape since Ickey Woods first shuffled for the Bengals and someone mentioned where he attended school. Sanchez will bring credibility to UNLV if he wins; he already has brought it a truckload of intrigue.

“It has been crazy,” he said. “Meetings, interviews, logistics, all the things that go into getting this turned around. I knew it would be chaotic, from ending the (high school) season to hiring a staff to jumping into recruiting. We’ve had a lot of unofficial visits from kids. We’ve been banging those out. Normally, you would get some time off around the holidays, but I haven’t had two straight days off in a long time.

“We have work to do. You have to grind to get things done. We don’t need days off.”

The cameras and notebooks and sit-downs to tell the tale of how he went from piling up state titles at Bishop Gorman to figuring out how he might beat the likes of UCLA and Michigan in the coming season have decreased for now and been replaced with the sort of refuge all coaches seek.

The music at his practices is loud and the pace swift.

They sure do cram a lot into a few hours.

But this is what he promised his players when first standing in front of them, that nothing meaningful is constructed with a leisurely attitude. Trust is built over time for a majority of kids who were recruited to UNLV and nurtured the past several years by a different coach, but one thing they can’t ignore is the passion and intensity Sanchez and his staff bring to the field. They get after it, is right.

I’m not sure the Rebels will be the Mountain West’s best at anything next season, but they have a chance to be when it comes to effort.

“(Sanchez) told us from that very first meeting he is a high energy guy, and he sure didn’t lie,” senior defensive back Peni Vea said. “It’s a new coaching staff, but as each day passes and the more and more we work with them, it seems as though we have been together for a while. New staff. Old staff. It doesn’t matter. If you’re willing to work hard and give it your all and want to be a winner, that’s what matters. For a senior like me, this is the last time around. The last ride through. Time flies.

“We’re always on the move. Guys are flying around. There is a lot of excitement. We’re always doing something. (Sanchez) is very confident. That allows us to trust him.”

The Rebels will wear full pads for the first time Saturday, when you can really expect Sanchez to amp things up. There are positions to win and lots to clean up from the first few days of spring drills. The new coach told his team he would allow for a bit of a grace period regarding things like ball exchanges and mental lapses when learning a new scheme, but sure as speakers are blaring a tune from the Foo Fighters, Sanchez doesn’t appear to be the type for such periods to last long.

Despite the song, he doesn’t want heroes.

He just wants some players.

“We want things done fast,” Sanchez said. “At the end of the day, it’s a violent game. Now, with (full pads on Saturday), it’s not only about alignment and technique. It’s about, who’s the tough guys? Who wants to mix it up? We have to find that and encourage that and get a team that plays hard.

“I love being around the guys, getting to know them in the football sense. Being on the field is refreshing. It really is.”

Macklemore is now playing.

I have a feeling if Tony Sanchez has his way, UNLV really will fight ‘til it’s over.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on “Gridlock,” ESPN 1100 and 100.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.