Charles Whisnand
Easy targets. I don't like it when people take shots at easy targets. One of those easy targets is the University of Nevada football team for not making a serious effort to recruit local players.
Chris Ault just began his third tour of duty as Nevada's coach and despite taking the job in December - meaning he had less than two months to put together this year's recruiting class - there are some wolves already pouncing on the Wolf Pack.
There's no question that there are always going to be local players in every class that the Wolf Pack can do a better job of pursuing. Nobody's perfect.
"Recruiting is an imperfect science," said Douglas coach Mike Rippee, who understandably takes a diplomatic approach when talking about Nevada's recruiting or lack of recruiting of local players.
Yes, it's embarrassing to the Wolf Pack when schools like Fresno State and Boise State snatch players out of Nevada's backyard that go on to be standouts in their programs.
But I don't think anybody should be judged for how well they're going to recruit local players by what they've done in just a few months.
I have to admit, there are times when Nevada hasn't actively pursued a local player and I wondered why. But as Rippee put it, only the Wolf Pack staff "knows what their needs are and how to fill those needs. I just think everybody's too quick to criticize."
If former Hug stars Antoine Barlow and Greg Alexander qualify academically to play for the Wolf Pack in the near future, by my count that would be at least nine Nevada players who could be on the Wolf Pack roster. That means of the 85 scholarship players, more than 10 percent would be from Nevada.
For a program in Nevada's situation competing in the Western Athletic Conference, I don't think that would be a bad percentage at all. I can guarantee, if the Wolf Pack go on to win the WAC with several local players contributing significantly, nobody's going to care about what happened this past December, January or February. Or as Rippee put it, "If they win, then this all will be forgotten."
It does have to be pointed out that Ault has placed himself between a rock and a hard place. Although the season-ending 56-3 loss to Boise State certainly had much to do with Chris Tormey's firing, Ault made it clear that the gradual improvement that Tormey showed each year was not acceptable.
So Ault has put the pressure of winning quickly on himself. So instead of offering scholarships to local players who could eventually help the program in two to three years, Ault has been forced to offer scholarships to junior college players that are expected to help the program now.
Carson coach Shane Quilling agreed with that assessment. "I think without a doubt there's no question on that," he said. "Your base does have to be the freshmen, but sometimes you've got to have a quick fix. It's a tough job. They get fired if they don't win."
The end result is local players are given a chance to walk on with the opportunity to earn a scholarship. That's fine with Rippee who believes there are Nevada high school players who can play for the Wolf Pack, including some of his own.
"I do believe there are Nevada players who can play," he said. "I do believe that's been proven."
While Quilling said he believes Nevada has been fair to him for the most part, he admitted he thought the school should have offered linebacker John Stewart a scholarship. Nevada offered Stewart a chance to walk on. Stewart ended up accepting a scholarship to Weber State.
"I really thought John Stewart could play for them," Quilling said. "It's a judgement thing."
Rippee is fine with the walk-on, earn a scholarship offer. He said he believes a couple of his players will walk on at Nevada.
But Rippee also obviously admitted he'd rather that his players be offered scholarships. "All of the coaches would like to see our kids get scholarships," Rippee said. "We're all fighting for our kids.
"I believe I have some kids that can play at that level. We've got some good quality athletes."
Rippee, though, said the chance to walk on is just that - a chance - and that's all you can ask for is a chance.
"You can't take offense to it," said Rippee about not being offered a scholarship. "They don't accept everybody who wants to walk on. Take the opportunity and run with it and prove you can do it. I think we get a fair shot. I've never had any problem with coach Ault. He's a man of his word."
Charles Whisnand is the Nevada Appeal Sports Editor. Contact him at cwhisnand@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1214.
