Nevada’s Romeo Doubs faces off against a San Jose State defender during the 2021 season.
Photo by Thomas Ranson.
Romeo Doubs seemingly hasn’t missed a step on his journey from the Pack to the Packers. The former Nevada Wolf Pack wide receiver has caught the attention of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers this summer in training camp.
“Every single day there’s been at least one kind of ‘wow’ play from him,” Rodgers said recently. “That’s rare from a young guy like that. We’ve had guys over the years kind of do that. But they’re all in the Top 10 in Packers receiving history.”
Doubs, who finished in the Top 10 in Nevada history for catches (225, 7th), receiving yards (3,322, 4th) and touchdown catches (26, 5th), was a fourth-round pick by the Packers last spring.
“Romeo is the first one in the building,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “I always see him in the weight room getting his body and mind ready.”
Veteran Packers receiver Randall Cobb has also been impressed with Doubs.
“He has a lot of intangibles,” Cobb said. “That’s potential. Nobody knows his ceiling yet.”
•••
Doubs this season will likely join 17 former Wolf Pack players who have caught a pass in the NFL. That group is led by Nate Burleson, who had 457 catches for 5,630 yards and 39 touchdowns for three teams from 2003-13. Rishard Matthews ranks second among the former Pack receivers in the NFL with 230 catches for 3,160 yards and 21 touchdowns.
The other notable Wolf Pack pass catchers in NFL history have been Horace Gillom (74 for 1,083 yards, three touchdowns), Virgil Green (102-1,145-7), Frank Hawkins (97-691-3), Marion Motley (85-1,107-7) and Sherman Howard (45-968-11).
•••
Former Wolf Pack tight end Cole Turner is also turning heads this summer in his first NFL training camp. Turner, who is currently nursing a sore hamstring and might not play in the Washington Commanders’ first preseason game against Carolina on Saturday, is fighting for a starting job right now.
Turner, like Doubs in Green Bay, is practically a lock to make the Washington roster to start the year. Turner, a fifth-round pick by the Commanders, has impressed this summer with his ability in the red zone, a skill he showed at Nevada by scoring a touchdown on 20 of his 117 Wolf Pack catches. Turner and Washington quarterback Carson Wentz have already developed a connection on and off the field.
“He talks to me a lot about stuff outside of football,” Turner said of Wentz. “I think we’ve built a little bit of chemistry off the field and that has translated to what we do on the field.”
One of the tight ends competing with Turner for playing time in Washington this summer is former UNLV quarterback Armani Rodgers. Rodgers played at UNLV from 2017-19 (he was the Mountain West Freshman of the Year in 2017) before transferring to Ohio to play tight end and wide receiver the last two years.
•••
Former Wolf Pack quarterback Carson Strong, who was not drafted this spring, is fighting to stay on the Eagles’ roster this season as the No. 3 quarterback behind starter Jaylen Hurts and backup Gardner Minshew. Strong, apparently, is not a sure thing to remain on the Eagles’ 53-man roster this season, even though the Eagles gave him $320,000 right after the draft as a free agent.
NBCsports.com reported this week that Reid Sinnett has “looked better than Strong” in the battle for the No. 3 job. Sinnett, who was acquired by the Eagles last October from Miami, has an experience advantage over Strong.
“You can tell Reid’s been here,” Eagles quarterback coach Brian Johnson said recently. “He’s much more comfortable in what we’re doing.”
Sinnett, like Strong, was not drafted (in 2021) out of San Diego and has never played in a NFL regular season game. NBCsports.com reported it is not known whether the Eagles will even keep three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster. It is also a possibility that Minshew, who will be a free agent after this season, will be traded before the season.
•••
There are few things in college sports as meaningless as preseason all-league teams and watch lists for postseason awards. But a few watch lists are meaningful because they help shine a light on players who might not get attention otherwise.
Wolf Pack defensive back Christian Swint, a backup for his three seasons (2019-21) at Nevada, is on the watch lists for the Wuerffel Trophy and All State AFCA Good Works Team, two awards based on community service. Swint, who played his first season at Riverside Community College in 2018, will wind up his Wolf Pack and college career this season.
He has already been awarded the Wolf Pack’s Give Back Like Jack Community Service Award and has devoted his time to helping others off the field as much as he has helping the Pack on the field. Swint, from Compton High in Southern California, is also a three-time member of the Academic All-Mountain West team and is a true role model for not only his teammates but all Nevada students.
•••
Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Rodolfo Castro, who has played just 53 games in the major leagues over the last two seasons, was pictured Tuesday night sliding into third as his cell phone fell out of his back pocket. Somewhere Ty Cobb is laughing and sharpening his spikes.
The 23-year-old Castro said after the game that he did not intend to have his cell phone in his back pocket during a game. Or maybe he meant he didn’t intend for it to fall out of his pocket. Nobody is quite sure. Castro, to his credit, did stop short of saying one of his teammates put the phone in his back pocket as a clubhouse prank.
Even Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale, who recently fell off his bicycle and broke his wrist and will miss the rest of the season, had to get a chuckle out of Castro’s cell phone incident. The phone falling out his pocket on the field is funny enough. But what if Castro, while standing at third or in the batter’s box, received a call? Would he have answered it? Was he planning on taking a selfie while on the bases and posting the photo on social media? And you thought baseball couldn’t relate to anyone under the age of 50.
•••
Former Wolf Pack coach Jay Norvell said at the Mountain West’s media days press conferences recently that, “I always wanted to coach someplace where I could recruit and people cared about the program.”
In one sentence the Colorado State coach took yet another well-placed jab at the Nevada Wolf Pack football program and its fans. Norvell has done nothing but criticize Nevada and its supporters in not-so-subtle ways since abandoning the program after last season.
Why is Norvell so mad at the Wolf Pack and its fans? Shouldn’t Wolf Pack fans be mad at Norvell after Mr. Grit coached one of the most talented and deepest rosters to a disappointing third-place finish in the West Division last year? Wolf Pack fans can tell Norvell in person on Oct. 7 at Mackay Stadium just how much they care about Wolf Pack football.
•••
Is it time the Mountain West gets new leadership? Or any leadership? Commissioner Craig Thompson stood in front of the media recently and basically threw up his arms and said, “We don’t have to do anything. Many of the things will have to be reactionary. They’re out of our control.”
Thompson was addressing the subject of the rapidly changing landscape of college football, with USC and UCLA heading to the Big Ten and Mountain West members San Diego State and Boise State as possible targets of the Pac-12. Thompson said he is just going to sit back and react to what happens. If you are wondering why the Mountain West becomes just a bit more meaningless every year, well, this is why.
Thompson also seems to be living in a fantasy world, where the Mountain West takes over the west coast as the Pac-12 falls into the Pacific Ocean, never to be heard from again.
“If you can imagine a world where we’re the only conference in the West playing in those windows (at night for television audiences), it increases our value,” Thompson said.
Right now we’re imagining a Mountain West with an actual proactive commissioner, one who doesn’t just sit back and collect his paycheck and one that shows true leadership.
