Rebels straightforward with approach to running the football
The first-half numbers two weeks ago at Idaho looked respectable enough — Lexington Thomas had rushed for 55 yards, averaging 5.5 per carry — but for UNLV football coach Tony Sanchez, they weren’t good enough.
He told Thomas to stop trying to fake out defenders and beat them with his speed. Thomas did just that in the second half, producing touchdown runs of 60 and 62 yards as the Rebels pulled away for a 44-16 victory.
“I forget how fast I am sometimes, but on those plays, I knew for sure,” Thomas said. “The holes were that big. If I shoot through this as fast as I can, no one’s going to catch me.”
A physical, straight-at-you running style is what UNLV relies upon. That approach has led to the Rebels averaging 350.5 yards entering Saturday’s 9 a.m. PDT game at No. 10 Ohio State, a statistic that ranks fourth nationally.
It was that type of approach Sanchez had in mind when he took over the program in December 2014 and added Barney Cotton and John Garrison, who both were on Nebraska’s staff since 2008. Cotton is UNLV’s offensive coordinator, and Garrison is the offensive line coach and run game coordinator.
In their final two seasons at Nebraska, Cotton and Garrison oversaw a running game that featured Ameer Abdullah, who rushed for 1,690 yards in 2013 and 1,523 yards in 2014.
“You definitely want to make sure that you hire people that have very similar philosophies,” Sanchez said. “You don’t want to micromanage everything, but you want to know there’s a philosophy that matches the way you feel about the game of football. It’s kind of funny, because I’m an ex-wide receiver, and going around watching a ton of college programs, I knew that if you ever wanted to build a solid program, you’ve got to be able to run the football at some point.
“Especially coming in here to UNLV, the situation that we were in, I knew that if we would ever get ourselves out of the mud, then we were going to have to teach these guys to be a physical group, and you do that by running the football.”
Getting better every year
In the season before Sanchez and the Nebraska assistants arrived, the Rebels averaged 129.2 yards on the ground. That number increased to 193.2 in the first season under the new regime, UNLV’s highest in 13 years. The Rebels averaged 241.5 yards last season, their best in 37 years.
Should the current average remain in place throughout the season, it would blow away UNLV’s record of 303.1 set in 1974.
Cotton said the key is establishing toughness.
“You do it by expectations,” Cotton said. “You do it by repetitions in practice. You do it by setting standards on how you practice. There’s always a finish to every drill. We talk about running backs how far they finish, receivers how far they finish after they catch the ball, how linemen finish their drills and how they’ve got to push guys. You have to have a purpose, and you have to set an accountable standard. Eventually, those things kind of set in with guys.”
No team can put together a strong running game without an excellent offensive line.
Four starters are back from last season’s line, which helped UNLV average 5.6 yards per carry. That average is up to 7.3 this season, with Thomas averaging 9.0.
Along with rebuilding the line with players they inherited, Rebels coaches had to find new linemen, which meant trying to discern which recruits had the toughness they desired.
“You love to watch (recruits) practice,” Garrison said. “You love to get them to camp because you like to put them in situations to see if they’re going to compete. The other thing you look at, does he play another sport? Is he a kid that wants to play basketball? Does he wrestle? Is he a competitive guy, or is he just a big guy who goes out for football because somebody told him to? Finding that competitive edge is important, and dissecting that is a big part of it.”
At 5 feet 9 inches and 170 pounds, Thomas doesn’t look like the type of physical back required for this offense, but he said he prefers running between the tackles. And that is where Thomas has found most of his success.
The Rebels’ offense faces a tremendous challenge Saturday in gaining yards up the middle. Ohio State has what could be the nation’s best defensive line, and last Saturday, the Buckeyes held run-heavy Army to 158 yards rushing below its season average.
“It’s an amazing challenge,” UNLV left tackle Kyle Saxelid said. “We want a good challenge. We want to show that, yeah, we are a good offensive line.”
With a running game that can compete with any team.
More Rebels: Follow all of our UNLV coverage online at reviewjournal.com/Rebels and @RJRebels on Twitter.
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.
On the run
UNLV's top five TD runs over the past two seasons:
Sept. 9, 2017 — Lexington Thomas rushed for 60 and 62 yards against Idaho. Both were zone read plays with a pass to a tight end as an option. Quarterback Armani Rogers read the defensive end both times and made the decision to hand off to Thomas, who quickly hit the holes and broke free.
Oct. 29, 2016 — Charles Williams rushed for 75 yards against San Jose State. It was a simple handoff, but with a stretch to the outside to look for an opening, which he found and broke into the open field.
Sept. 24, 2016 — Thomas rushed 55 yards against Idaho. Almost exactly the same as the plays against Idaho on Sept. 9.
Sept. 17, 2016 — Thomas rushed for 85 yards against Central Michigan. Quarterback Johnny Stanton read the defensive tackle rather than the end. When the tackle waited for the quarterback to make a move, the ball went to Thomas, who stretched the play outside, where he found an opening to cut up field.
— Mark Anderson Review-Journal
