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Player Spotlight: QB Omar Clayton, UNLV Rebels
By Jason Roberts | August 8, 2008
In the aftermath of the shocking announcement by UNLV head coach Mike Sanford that former quarterback Travis Dixon would be shifted to the defensive side of the ball as a safety, we bring you a Player Spotlight on sophomore quarterback Omar Clayton.
Clayton made his debut in the middle of last season as a true freshman walk-on who was highly inexperienced (he was #5 on the depth chart at the start of the Rebels’ 2007 season), but brought a degree of enthusiasm and athleticism unlike that under both Dixon and Rocky Hinds. Against Colorado State, he was electric despite committing four turnovers in the first half to the Rams,. By the end of the contest he was the first UNLV quarterback ever to pass for at least 300 yards and rush for at least 100 yards in the same game.
His second start, a game against the Wyoming Cowboys in late October had little reminiscent of the jaw-dropping performance he had a week earlier against CSU. In this game, he completed just 54% of his pass attempts, going 21-of-39 for 223 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions while finishing the day with negative yardage on the ground.
Two weeks later, against the San Diego State Aztecs, he started an impressive 5-of-7 passing for 22 yards and rushing six times for 17 yards,. However, Clayton went down with a broken right hand and would leave the game done for the season.
Despite the injury to his rest, the mystique surrounding Clayton failed to subside. Many faithful to the UNLV football program remained impressed with the work that Dixon put in to close out the 2007 season (503 yards passing, four touchdowns, and only two interceptions over the Rebels last three games of the year), but couldn’t help discussing what might have been if Clayton had remained healthy and grown more confident with increased exposure to the game time environment while playing under center.
Those same types of questions continued to surround the dual-threat quarterback heading into this past spring. Clayton, seemingly knowing the weight of the program which was being transferred now squarely on his shoulders, responded with great character and finished off spring scrimmages with a 9-of-11, 108 yard and two touchdown passing performance in the Rebels’ annual spring game.
Clayton was enticed to the UNLV campus, in the heart of this Nevada desert oasis, by UNLV offensive coordinator Todd Berry (former coach of Illinois State, near to where Clayton was raised and played high school football). With him having been named starter early on in camp (Sanford originally told reporters it would be at least the second week of fall practice before he would try to name a starting quarterback), he now looks to benefit from additional time with first-team offense…game-breaking wideout Casey Flair, in particular. That being the case, all expectations are that Clayton will continue to grow and mature on a UNLV squad that now has the offensive weaponry to improve vastly upon a 2-11 season last year.
Clayton is a playmaker whether using his strong arm to deliver the ball downfield or taking off out of the pocket in a flat-open sprint to avoid pursuing defenders and move the ball for positive yards,. Thanks to this recent development at UNLV, he should suddenly find his fantasy stock rising upward swiftly, with team owners likely to regard the sophomore quarterback as one of the most exciting and potentially influential statistical players out of the MWC that will be available come draft day.
Topics: College Football, Jason Roberts, MWC, Player Spotlight, Quarterback |
September 27th, 2008 at 3:05 am
[...] Original post: Player Spotlight: QB Omar Clayton, UNLV Rebels [...]
October 28th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
[...] Our own Jason Roberts was right on when he did this preseason Player Spotlight on Omar Clayton from UNLV . Watching UNLV give BYU a run was nice….what was nicer was validating our [...]