Nevada's Nick Fazekas could possibly announce his decision on his future early next week, according to coach Mark Fox.
"Nick had another workout yesterday and is probably a week away from a decision," Fox said. "His workouts have gone well."
Fazekas has until June 18 to withdraw from the draft and return to Nevada. A first-round pick gets a guaranteed three-year contract, and if Fazekas goes in the first round, it will probably be between the 25th and 30th pick.
Phoenix, Sacramento and Dallas are three teams where Fazekas' style of play would fit in nicely.
Fox also said that he hopes to have this year's schedule done by the end of the month. The Pack is well ahead of last year's pace. It added games after the school year started a year ago.
The Pack will play Saint Mary's, UNLV and the University of Pacific at home. Road games thus far will be at Akron, Louisiana-Lafayette, Santa Clara and Gonzaga. The latter game will be played at Key Arena in Seattle in late December. It's probable that Nevada will be on the road for the BracketBuster since they have hosted a game the past three years.
Nevada is also rumored to be entered in the one-day Pete Newell Classic, but Fox would not conform that
• Rory Hickok, Nevada's associate athletic director, said lawyers at Notre Dame are reviewing the contract for "language" vis-a-vis its proposed game with Nevada.
Once that is done, the final details for the 2009 game can be announced. It's the third of three "money" games that Nevada has undertaken. The Pack will play at Nebraska in 2007, Florida State in 2008 and Notre Dame. All three games are with guarantees of at least $500,000 apiece. The Pack has a home and home contract with Northwestern, a member of the Big Ten, in 2006 (home) and 2007 (away).
Hickok, who was at the NCAA golf championship last week, said he has been talking with Pac-10 and Big 12 schools about home and home agreements.
As far as the Pac-10 goes, I could see Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State possibly agreeing to a home and home. I don't see either of the Bay Area schools, the Arizona schools or the Los Angeles schools wanting to come to Nevada.
When Hickok talks about home and home with Big 12 schools, I think he's talking about teams like Kansas State, Iowa State and Baylor. Quite frankly, I don't see any of the others coming here.
• The WAC has two new football coaches this season - Dennis Erickson has returned to the University of Idaho in place of Nick Holt, who took an assistant coaching position with USC. Chris Peterson is the new head man at Boise State (former Broncos coach Dan Hawkins is now at Colorado). Peterson has been the Broncos' offensive coordinator the past several years.
Erickson's biggest problem will be luring more athletes to the Moscow campus. Idaho had some solid players a year ago, but were paper thin on both sides of the ball. I would expect UI to put up some good offensive numbers with Erickson calling the offensive shots.
The Broncos have always been a formidable offensive team, and I don't expect that to change. Jared Zabransky is back, and his ability to run and throw make him a tough assignment for any defense.
The annual WAC Media Day is July 25-26, and following that, the Appeal will run its annual team-by-team look around the WAC.
Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281