Holdover UNLV assistant Cormier fits in well with Sanchez

Most new football coaches often will keep one or two assistants from the previous regime.

Wide receivers coach Cedric Cormier was that assistant at UNLV, retained after Tony Sanchez left Bishop Gorman High School in December for the Rebels.

Cormier oversaw UNLV’s best and most consistent position group, and he was responsible for recruiting and signing some of the program’s best players.

“I’d always heard great things about him,” Sanchez said. “He had always produced great players. He wanted to stay, and I talked to him and immediately you could tell he’s a hard-working, genuine guy. Everyone that I knew talked about him and had said great things.

“I’ll be honest with you, the entire time at Gorman, he’s the one guy who always reached out and would always say, ‘Good luck.’ We kind of kept that relationship.”

Cormier said he has adapted quickly to working with a new staff.

“Everyone has fit in good,” he said. “No egos. It’s a bunch of guys that are just hungry to work.”

Under Cormier, the receivers have been a reliable unit, led by players such as Devante Davis and Devonte Boyd. Cormier recruits the Houston area, where he was largely responsible for signing stars such as Davis and running back Tim Cornett, two record-setting players.

“It feels real good to be back out here,” Cormier said. “I credit that to the players I’ve had out here the last five years. It’s been a pretty good group, and good players make good coaches.”

■ CHANGING SPOTS — Sanchez didn’t have to guess whether junior Marc Philippi might be a good fit at fullback rather than linebacker.

Sanchez already knew because he had coached Philippi at Gorman.

“Most people don’t have that experience of having your high school coach as your college head coach, but I like it,” Philippi said. “I have a lot of respect for him. I’m excited he’s coaching me again.”

Philippi (5 feet 10 inches, 220 pounds) played in all but one game last season, making 32 tackles, including one for a loss. He also intercepted a pass.

Moving to fullback probably wouldn’t have been an option had previous coach Bobby Hauck kept his job because the Rebels would have run the spread offense. Sanchez’s preference is to operate a power offense. How much Sanchez will be able to run a power offense next season is uncertain because he takes over a program built on the spread.

“A lot of what we do this year is going to depend on personnel,” Sanchez said. “Do we have a line that’s physical enough to run the power? We hope so, but we don’t know that yet. If we don’t, we’re not going to bang our head into a brick wall just because we’re trying to make philosophies work.”

■ GETTING PHYSICAL — UNLV went into shoulder pads Friday at Rebel Park, and the team did its first serious hitting of the spring session, which began Monday.

“It could’ve been a little cleaner, a little sharper,” Sanchez said. “There were some things we definitely need to clean up. But now that we’re getting into it, we tell them all the time we put the highest premium on being physical. We’ll get in and watch the film and figure out who wants to mix it up and who doesn’t.”

The hitting will get more serious when the Rebels go into full pads at 9 a.m. today. A 20-minute scrimmage-like session will take place late in practice, which is scheduled to end at 11 a.m.

UNLV also will practice Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then take a week off for spring break.

All practices are open to the public.

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.