Santoro: Pack looking for someone to run with the ball

Sports Fodder:

One of the most important issues facing the Nevada Wolf Pack football team this fall will be how well it adjusts to life without Toa Taua and Devonte Lee. Taua and Lee, who rushed for a combined 5,483 yards and 59 touchdowns the last five (2018-22) seasons, are now merely names in the Pack record book. The two carried the ball a combined 1,200 times over the last five years, averaging 4.6 yards each carry and one touchdown every 20 carries. They will be missed. Taua and Lee, though, might be the most unappreciated star running back duo in Pack history. They were never the focus of the offense, playing supporting roles in coach Jay Norvell’s pass-happy Air Raid offense from 2018-21 and last year simply running for their lives in the mess that was the Pack offense of 2022. Lee, who ran for 1,486 yards and an efficient 26 touchdowns in his five seasons, was always just a supporting actor to Taua’s leading man role. He never got more than 85 carries in a season or more than 427 yards. But in a different era that emphasized the run he could have played the leading man. Taua, too, never got the ball as much as he should have, given the Pack’s obsession with passing. His 217 carries, 911 yards and 11 touchdowns last year were his career highs. His final numbers are noteworthy simply because he was gifted a fifth season of eligibility because of the 2020 pandemic year. He’s fifth in carries (855), sixth in yards (3,997) and ninth in rushing touchdowns (33) in Pack history. But he, too, was never the focus of the offense. That’s likely why their departure after 2022, like most everything that happened in 2022, was met by a collective shrug and barely noticed. They deserve more than a shrug and a pat on the back. They deserve to be remembered.

•••

Who will take over the Wolf Pack running duties this year? As things stand now, it appears the bulk of the carries in 2023 will go to transfers Sean Dollars (from Oregon) and Ashton Hayes (California). Dollars (5-doot-9, 195 pounds) spent four years at Oregon and only carried the ball  49 times for 316 yards and a touchdown. But he could be special. Oregon, after all, knows how to recruit explosive running backs. Hayes, the former McQueen and Damonte Ranch standout (5,340 career high school yards, 66 touchdowns) played in four games last year at Cal before redshirting. He, too, could be a hidden gem. Dollars and Hayes could very well make Pack fans forget Taua and Lee very quickly.

•••

The running game, of course, depends on the ability of the offensive line (a concern at Nevada in recent years) and the offensive coordinator’s commitment to the run (non-existent under Norvell from 2017-21 and barely noticeable last year). Without one or the other, well, it’s like running through speed bumps in a mall parking lot two days before Christmas. The Pack lost its two best offensive lineman this offseason to the transfer portal. Aaron Frost is now at Arizona State and Grant Starck is at Oregon State. The Wolf Pack also brought back Angus McClure to coach the offensive line this offseason. McClure coached Pack tight ends in 1996 (under coach Jeff Tisdel) and the offensive line in 2018 and 2019 (under Norvell) before leaving for Cal the last three years. So, the run game is starting over in almost every way possible. That usually is not a recipe for success right away.

•••

The Wolf Pack basketball team officially lost center Will Baker and backup guard Trey Pettigrew this past week. Baker signed with LSU while Pettigrew signed with Bradley. But Darrion Williams, last year’s Mountain West Freshman of the Year, is still bouncing around in the transfer portal like a sock in the dryer. Many internet reports, though, have Williams eventually signing with Iowa State, a campus he recently visited. Iowa State, which is coached by former UNLV head coach T.J. Otzelberger, recently signed former UNLV guard Keshon Gilbert. Gilbert was at Iowa State the same time as Williams (a graduate of Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas) earlier this month. That was probably not a coincidence. Williams could still come back to the Pack but that is highly unlikely. Williams might be waiting for UNLV or some Pac-12 school to jump into the picture.

•••

The transfer portal is tough on fans and a constant reminder that college sports has become professional sports with classrooms. College fans, with rare exceptions, didn’t have to deal with seeing their former heroes playing in another uniform. Now it happens often. Too often. Nobody knows that better than Nevada fans, who had to endure watching ex-Pack players Desmond Cambridge and Warren Washington help Arizona State eliminate the Wolf Pack from the NCAA tournament last month. Can you even imagine what it would have been like to see Nick Fazekas in another uniform playing against the Pack? What about Edgar Jones, Marcelus Kemp, Dario Hunt, Kevinn Pinkney or Deonte Burton? Maybe Cam Oliver would have loved the chance to transfer to a Power Five school to get more exposure instead of haphazardly jumping to the NBA draft and getting ignored. Be true to your school, Pack fans — not the carpetbagger players and coaches.

•••

The transfer portal simply ravages mid-major conferences. The Wolf Pack is certainly not the only Mountain West school to see some of its top players traipse merrily into the portal like Dorothy on the Yellow Brick Road. New Mexico lost Javonte Johnson, Josiah Allick and K.J. Jenkins. Wyoming lost Xavier DuSell, Jeremiah Oden, Noah Reynolds and Graham Ike. Ike, according to reports, will join Gonzaga. Utah State lost Steven Ashworth (Creighton), Sean Bairstow and Max Shulga. San Diego State lost Keshad Johnson and others. Colorado State lost John Tonje. Fresno State lost Jemarl Baker, Jordan Campbell, Jordan Brinson and Anthony Holland. UNLV lost Gilbert. The Mountain West Conference is really the Stepping Stone Conference. The conference logo should be a footprint on a rock.

•••

UNLV football is, it seems, creating a monster. The Rebels recently hired Arkansas defensive coordinator (and ex-Missouri head coach) Barry Odom as head coach. Odom named Brennan Marion, a former assistant at Texas, Pittsburgh and Hawaii, as his offensive coordinator. Marion is installing what he calls the “Go Go” offense at UNLV, a frenetic attack that is based on simply wearing down defenses physically. “We want to play fast,” Marion told the Las Vegas Sun recently. “It doesn’t stop. It’s every day. We don’t even take a break. We’re always gas.” The Rebel offense, of course, has always been gas, the unpleasant kind your uncle and grandfather is probably famous for. But this Rebel gas might be the kind that puts opponents to sleep forever. Something is happening down in Las Vegas and the Pack better take notice.

•••

Former Wolf Pack quarterback Carson Strong made his USFL debut last week for the Michigan Panthers. Strong completed all five of his passes for 34 yards in the Panthers’ 29-13 victory over the Houston Gamblers. It’s the first time he’s played in a regular-season game since he passed for four touchdowns in a 52-10 Wolf Pack win (remember when the Pack used to beat teams 52-10?) at Colorado State on Nov. 27, 2021. Wolf Pack football hit a brick wall after Nov. 27, 2021, and so did Strong’s career. He spent last year getting embarrassed by the NFL in the 2022 draft (when he was ignored) and then getting disrespected as a free agent by the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals, two teams that didn’t give him a fair chance. Hopefully, Strong’s career and the Wolf Pack football fortunes will experience a rebirth this summer and fall.