REBELS BRING OUT THE BOXING GLOVES

Thursday morning marked the first time the entire UNLV football team has practiced together during fall camp.
It also marked the first time the boxing gloves came out, though it was not a result of tensions running high.
The gloves are part of defensive line coach Andre Patterson’s teaching tools.
Patterson also carries around a long stick with a football on it each day at practice. He uses it to simulate the snap as he runs his charges through drills. He says he doesn’t really have a name for the contraption.
“I just say ‘Give me my snapper’ and they know what I’m talking about,” he laughed.
Thursday, Patterson pulled out the boxing gloves for a few hand drills with his linemen.
Half of the linemen put on the gloves to simulate how an offensive lineman tries to use his hands to punch the defensive line in pass protection.
“(The gloves) enable them to punch their hands out there real quick and real hard, then when they get in the game, the offensive linemen are punching much slower,” Patterson said.
He has been using the gloves for several years.
“It’s a drill I came up with a long time ago when I was coaching with the Vikings,” he said. “We have about six or seven drills we do with those things. Today, was their first experience with them.”
Patterson is in his first year as UNLV’s defensive line coach. He last worked in the same capacity with the Denver Broncos in 2005 and 2006. He held the same position with the Browns, Cowboys, Vikings and Patriots before that. His one stint as a head coach was at Cal Poly from 1994 to 1996.

SIDELINE VIEW

The team went longer with the 11-on-11 session than they have in the first few practices. Again, the players were in just helmets and shoulder pads with shorts.
Omar Clayton started things off with a deep pass down the right sideline that was barely overthrown. He ran a quarterback draw on the next play for a very short gain. C.J. Cox ran up the middle for another short gain. On Clayton’s final play, Frank Summers ran around right end down the sideline for a big gain.
Mike Clausen came in and ran a draw to Summers out of the shotgun for five yards. He then threw a perfect pass on a deep slant downfield that was dropped by Phillip Payne.
Dack Ishii came in for one play. He threw a pass right on target down the left side that freshman receiver Gordy Cooper dropped.
Clayton returned and handed to Summers for a gain of about eight yards. He then found Rodelin Anthony deep down the middle behind the defense for the biggest gain of the practice. Summers then found some running room up the middle for a big gain.
Clausen returned and handed to Channing Trotter for about 10 yards on the left side. He then overthrew everyone on what appeared to be a miscommunication.
Ishii came back in for one play, which was a Cox run up the middle that was stuffed behind the line.
Clayton returned and threw an interception to the left side. Linebacker Wiselet Rouzard came up with the pick and took it back for a touchdown.
He said it was a result of a lot of hard work in the offseason.
“That’s just knowledge of the defense,” he said. “I just executed the defensive scheme. It’s been by far the toughest summer we’ve had since I’ve been here. I’ve had so many reps. I just know exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
The final two plays of the session were a throw to the left that Casey Flair caught a few steps out of bounds and a keeper to the right that picked up a few yards.

UP NEXT

The team dons full pads for the first time Friday with just a 9 a.m. practice on the schedule.