Nevada football coach Chris Ault kept repeating the same two words to his team following Monday?s practice.
Four hours.
With only two real practices left this week, that is all the on-field time the Wolf Pack has remaining to get ready for its season opener against Washington State on Friday at Mackay Stadium.
In those four hours, broken down into two-hour practices today and Wednesday before Thursday?s walk-though, Nevada can fine-tune the game plan and focus on getting its special teams up to par. But it can?t get any newfound depth in a secondary that?s been hampered, again, by injuries.
Starting cornerback Paul Pratt was lost for year during fall camp with a knee injury. Starting safety Nick Hawthrone missed practice time last week with a calf contusion, but was back at practice on Monday. Second-string safety Luke Lippincott has a sprained knee and is out at least this week, Ault said.
?Those injuries kind of hurt us,? said cornerback Joe Garcia, who is starting in Pratt?s spot. ?But we have to go with what we have got. I think we are ready.?
The thin Nevada secondary will likely be tested early and often by a Washington State passing attack that recorded three touchdowns through the air in a 38-26 win over Idaho last week. Michael Bumpus had eight catches for 88 yards and a TD while Jason Hill had five for 96 yards and two scores.
Garcia, a one-time UCLA corner who transferred to Nevada from Long Beach (Calif.) Community College, said he watched the Washington State-Idaho game ?from beginning to end, every minute of it.?
?They definitely have some skill players,? Garcia said. ?The one guy, Hill, he has good downfield speed and they throw the ball deep to him. As a team, skill-wise, they can make plays. You just have to make plays against them. Idaho had their chances and just messed up a couple times. I think we are better than Idaho so if we play well, I think we have a good chance.?
Entering fall camp, Ault said he liked the better depth his secondary had. After all, at the end of last season, Nevada only had four defensive backs healthy during the season finale against Boise State.
The depth took a major blow when Pratt went down, turning a nice position battle with Garcia into a secured job for the juco transfer. Then the situation worsened when Hawthrone and Lippincott went down last week.
Hawthrone is expected to play and if he does, the Pack has a nice first-string in the secondary with three returning starters ? Hawthrone and Roderick Stallings at safety, Keven Stanley at corner and the fleet-footed Garcia opposite Stanley.
But after that, Nevada has just one player, sophomore corner Shannon Sevor, with playing experience. Redshirt freshman De?Angelo Wilson and true freshman Michael Samples are the other backup cornerbacks. Redshirt freshman Matt Virden and juco-transfer Sergio Villasenor are the reserve safeties.
?They play good football, no doubt about that,? Stallings said of the Cougars. ?They have some good athletes. It is a big challenge for us. Our depth, hopefully everybody will be there. I think we will be OK. We have dealt with the depth ever since I have been here.?
Virden, a Bishop Manogue High product, has been impressive this fall.
?That Virden keeps showing up,? Ault said. ?He has done a very nice job. He might be the most improved secondary guy we have got.?
Garcia is the X factor. Ault said Garcia was ?neck-and-neck? with Pratt when the latter got hurt.
?He has great speed for us compared to last year,? Ault said. ?That allows us to do some different things in the secondary. We are very pleased with him. He is very intelligent and just a quality young man.?
All Nevada has to work with in terms of film is the tape of the Fox College Sports broadcast of Washington State?s game with Idaho last week. Teams usually exchange game film but since Nevada has not played this year, it had nothing to offer the Cougars in return. Ault said the Pack really can?t learn much from the TV tape.
?You see the fronts,? he said. ?But you don?t see much of the secondary play. You don?t see the routes and stuff. You are at the mercy of what you think they are trying to do. But it?s better than nothing.?
In other Pack news, the team continues to get bit by the injury bug, this time literally. Tight end and long-snapper Travis Branzell missed Monday?s practice after developing an infection from a spider bite. Ault said Branzell should be available for Friday?s game.
Four hours.
With only two real practices left this week, that is all the on-field time the Wolf Pack has remaining to get ready for its season opener against Washington State on Friday at Mackay Stadium.
In those four hours, broken down into two-hour practices today and Wednesday before Thursday?s walk-though, Nevada can fine-tune the game plan and focus on getting its special teams up to par. But it can?t get any newfound depth in a secondary that?s been hampered, again, by injuries.
Starting cornerback Paul Pratt was lost for year during fall camp with a knee injury. Starting safety Nick Hawthrone missed practice time last week with a calf contusion, but was back at practice on Monday. Second-string safety Luke Lippincott has a sprained knee and is out at least this week, Ault said.
?Those injuries kind of hurt us,? said cornerback Joe Garcia, who is starting in Pratt?s spot. ?But we have to go with what we have got. I think we are ready.?
The thin Nevada secondary will likely be tested early and often by a Washington State passing attack that recorded three touchdowns through the air in a 38-26 win over Idaho last week. Michael Bumpus had eight catches for 88 yards and a TD while Jason Hill had five for 96 yards and two scores.
Garcia, a one-time UCLA corner who transferred to Nevada from Long Beach (Calif.) Community College, said he watched the Washington State-Idaho game ?from beginning to end, every minute of it.?
?They definitely have some skill players,? Garcia said. ?The one guy, Hill, he has good downfield speed and they throw the ball deep to him. As a team, skill-wise, they can make plays. You just have to make plays against them. Idaho had their chances and just messed up a couple times. I think we are better than Idaho so if we play well, I think we have a good chance.?
Entering fall camp, Ault said he liked the better depth his secondary had. After all, at the end of last season, Nevada only had four defensive backs healthy during the season finale against Boise State.
The depth took a major blow when Pratt went down, turning a nice position battle with Garcia into a secured job for the juco transfer. Then the situation worsened when Hawthrone and Lippincott went down last week.
Hawthrone is expected to play and if he does, the Pack has a nice first-string in the secondary with three returning starters ? Hawthrone and Roderick Stallings at safety, Keven Stanley at corner and the fleet-footed Garcia opposite Stanley.
But after that, Nevada has just one player, sophomore corner Shannon Sevor, with playing experience. Redshirt freshman De?Angelo Wilson and true freshman Michael Samples are the other backup cornerbacks. Redshirt freshman Matt Virden and juco-transfer Sergio Villasenor are the reserve safeties.
?They play good football, no doubt about that,? Stallings said of the Cougars. ?They have some good athletes. It is a big challenge for us. Our depth, hopefully everybody will be there. I think we will be OK. We have dealt with the depth ever since I have been here.?
Virden, a Bishop Manogue High product, has been impressive this fall.
?That Virden keeps showing up,? Ault said. ?He has done a very nice job. He might be the most improved secondary guy we have got.?
Garcia is the X factor. Ault said Garcia was ?neck-and-neck? with Pratt when the latter got hurt.
?He has great speed for us compared to last year,? Ault said. ?That allows us to do some different things in the secondary. We are very pleased with him. He is very intelligent and just a quality young man.?
All Nevada has to work with in terms of film is the tape of the Fox College Sports broadcast of Washington State?s game with Idaho last week. Teams usually exchange game film but since Nevada has not played this year, it had nothing to offer the Cougars in return. Ault said the Pack really can?t learn much from the TV tape.
?You see the fronts,? he said. ?But you don?t see much of the secondary play. You don?t see the routes and stuff. You are at the mercy of what you think they are trying to do. But it?s better than nothing.?
In other Pack news, the team continues to get bit by the injury bug, this time literally. Tight end and long-snapper Travis Branzell missed Monday?s practice after developing an infection from a spider bite. Ault said Branzell should be available for Friday?s game.
