Hauck calls first pads practice ‘ragged’

UNLV’s football team went into pads today for the first time, and coach Bobby Hauck called it "ragged."

“Just a rough day for everybody,” tailback Channing Trotter said. “You’ve just got to get used to the tempo. It’s a lot tougher than it was before.”

Hauck said some of the problems could be attributed to the players trying to grasp so much new information.

“That’s got to be part of it, understanding exactly what we want out of them, understanding the scheme,” Hauck said.

LOOKING FAR AHEAD

The Rebels sometimes placed a tight end in the backfield with a tailback as a way of already preparing their defense for the Sept. 4 opener against Wisconsin.

“We play some I-formation teams, in particular Wisconsin the first game, where we’ve got to manufacture that this spring,” Hauck said. “The time to do it’s now. If we don’t, we’ll be a soft team and won’t be able to handle (the look). The week we play them … can’t be the first time we see that.”

ANOTHER DIFFERENT LOOK

UNLV is beginning to add more of the run-based attack to the spread, and the quarterbacks took some snaps from under center.

"We’re trying to implement some of that," Hauck said. "We’re trying to get a feel for how successful some of that’s going to be being that the guys haven’t done it in a while. Predominately during spring, you’re going to see us experiment with some things. It’s our chance to tinker with things a little bit, too."

One experiment is giving Courtney Bridget a shot at safety. He practiced at cornerback while redshirting last season.

"We’ll move some guys around this spring," Hauck said. "We’ll flip some sides of the ball after spring break. We’ll look at some guys."

The Rebels practice through next week before taking a week off for spring break. They are off today, but return to Rebel Park at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.