Nevada opens season today at Mackay Stadium

Nevada (0-1, 0-0) opens its initial season in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) with TCU in the home opener today at 1:05 p.m. at Mackay Stadium (31,545).

TCU is ranked 22nd in both the AP and USA Today/Coaches' polls,

the highest-ranked I-A team to play in Mackay Stadium.

Nevada Coach Chris Tormey will make his home debut and fans can see the new FieldTurf in game action. The two schools meet for the first time and in a

conference battle, no less. Nevada's Davey O'Brien candidate

Davey O'Neill looks to get untracked after a sub-par performance at

Oregon last week. Three players suspended for the Oregon game

will be available for duty, including potential starters Christian

Broussard at rover, Jermaine Brown at wide receiver and reserve

free safety Justin Brown. TCU opens the 2000 campaign on the

road with Heisman hopeful LaDainian Tomlinson at tailback. A young but eager Wolf Pack squad

entertains the pre-season WAC favorite, one featuring 20 returning starters.

The Series This is the first meeting between the two schools and the two head coaches.

Radio/TV All Wolf Pack games are carried live on radio via KPTT (630 AM), Reno, with Dan Gustin,

now in his 25th year as the "voice of the Wolf Pack" and former Nevada assistant coach Bill Daniel

handling the play-by-play and color, respectively, along with Don Marchand handling sideline duty.

Wolf Pack games are aired 60-minutes prior to kickoff (noon airtime vs. TCU this week). There is no

local television for the TCU game but ESPN Regional will televise live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Radio via the Web and via the Phone With TRZ Sports There are alternative ways to follow the

Pack if you can't get to Mackay Stadium. You can go to the audio-visual link on the official athletic

website, www.nevadawolfpack.com on the front page and listen to the game. You can even listen

to archived games. Nevada has also aligned itself with TRZ Sports this year for radio broadcasts via

the phone for football in 2000 (men's and women's basketball as well baseball games will also be

available during their seasons). Just call 1-800-846-4700 and dial 1116 for Nevada football. Long

distance rates apply but rates decrease the longer one listens.

Coach Chris Tormey Beginning his first year at the helm is Chris Tormey (Idaho, `78, 33-24 in his

sixth year as a head coach). Following a successful five years at Idaho (33-23), the long-time

University of Washington assistant guided the Vandals to their first bowl game in 1998 when they

won the Big West Conference title and upset Southern Mississippi in the Humanitarian Bowl. He

also took Idaho to the I-AA playoffs in his first year, 1995. A Spokane, Wash., native, he was All-Big

Sky twice as a linebacker at Idaho. Born May 1, 1955, he and wife, Kellie, have two daughters,

Leah (10) and Emily (8). (Tormey quotes are noted later in this release).

Young and Restless Nineteen freshmen or red-shirt freshmen made their Nevada and college

playing debut (includes red-shirt sophomore Nate Burleson). Of that group, seven were starters and

eight true freshmen played their first college game. Brad Lindstrom at free safety was the lone true

freshman starter. Other frosh who saw action were freshman Alan Parker at right tackle, Defensively,

red-shirt freshmen Brant Hill at end and Isaiah Ross at tackle and red-shirt freshman inside

linebacker Jorge Cordova.

Transfers Fill Key Roles On offense, junior Scott Asai at tight end, junior wide receiver Mike

Crawford are the new faces and defensively, junior Dwight Lane at end provided starting roles for

the Wolf Pack at Oregon. Crawford led the team with three catches for 30 yards, including a

19-yarder, and Lane had three tackles, including one for lost yardage (-2).

Injury Update Leading up to the Oregon game, tight end Erick Streelman was expected to miss 2-3

more weeks. Streelman, who had been listed No. 1 on the depth chart, has a slight fracture in a

non-weight bearing bone. Also out this week are defensive end Leni Suiaunoa (left knee), out 3-5

more weeks, and linebacker Jeff Peterson (left hamstring), who could return this week vs. TCU. Also

expected back this week are cornerback Ronnie Hardiman (asthma) and Kika Kaululaau (abcess

tooth). Out for the season are freshman defensive end Joe Andrews (left shoulder) and sophomore

quarterback Zack Threadgill (left knee).

Season Tickets Season tickets are $100 for reserved seats and $60 for general admission and

Nevada faculty/staff may purchase reserved seats for $81. Individual game prices are $22 for

reserved adults and $17 reserved youths and seniors for TCU and San Jose State and $20 for

reserved adults and $15 for reserved youths and seniors for Colorado State, UTEP and Rice.

General admission for all five home games for adults are $14 and $12 for youths and seniors.

Youths are ages 4-17 and seniors are ages 62 and older. Children age three and under are free

(one per adult). Contact the Wolf Pack Athletic Ticket Office at (775) 348-PACK for ticket orders and

questions. The ticket office is open 9 to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and opens two hours

prior to kickoff for home games.

Silver Helmets Make Their Home Debut For the first time since 1975, the Wolf Pack will wear silver

helmets. They are emblazoned with a large, blue block "N" on each side.

Wolf Pack On TV The Pack will be featured at least seven times on live regional or local television

as the various networks and entities complete their schedules. Included in the TV schedule are five

local appearances, featuring four games on Reno's KOLO News Channel 8, Nevada's local

television partner, and one contest via FOX Sports Bay Area (Channel 31 in Reno). Nevada will also

be shown twice in visiting markets with a game on the FOX Sports Net property in Colorado and

once on ESPN Regional in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. KOLO-TV News Channel 8 will televise four

Nevada road games to the Reno-Sparks area in 2000, including at Wyoming Sept. 23, at UNLV

Oct. 7, at Fresno State Oct. 14 and at Hawaii Nov. 11. The Nevada-SMU game Oct. 28 will be

featured on FOX Sports Net in both the Dallas and Reno areas, shown locally on Channel 31 FOX

Sports Bay Area, as part of the WAC's conference-wide television contract. Additionally, the

Colorado State game here Sept. 30 will be sent back to the Fort Collins area via FOX's regional

affiliate in Colorado and ESPN Regional will televise the Pack's home and WAC opener here vs.

TCU, Sept. 9, sending it back to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Various announce teams will work the

Wolf Pack games with Dan Gustin, who gives up his radio announcing during telecasts, joining

KOLO-TV Sports Director Dana Wagner providing either color or sideline reports.

Coaching Staff Phil Earley will direct the offense and coach the quarterbacks, Jim Mastro, assistant

head coach, will coach the running backs, Jim House, the lone returning coach from Jeff Tisdel's

staff, will coach guards and centers, Bill Tripp will coach the tackles and tight ends and D.J.

McCarthy will oversee wide receivers. Defensively, Jeff Mills will coordinate the schemes and work

with outside linebackers, Kim McCloud will coach the defensive backs, Mike Tuiasosopo will coach

the defensive line and Mark Johnson will coach inside linebackers and special teams. Graduate

assistants are Doug Lichtenberger (offense) and Frank Sandomenico (defense).

This Week in the WAC TCU visits Nevada for the first league game (1:05 p.m.) followed by SMU at

UTEP at 7:05 p.m. MST. Rice journeys to Michigan, Fresno State visits UCLA, San Jose State hops

on 101 to take on rival Stanford, Portland State flies to Hawaii and Tulsa entertains Oklahoma State

in an in-state rivalry.

Down the Road September 16 games include Northwestern at TCU, SMU at North Carolina St.,

UTEP at Texas A&M, S. Utah at San Jose State and the lone conference contest has Tulsa at

Rice.

WAC Standings School All W L WAC W L Rice 1 0 0 0 SMU 1 0 0 0 Hawaii 0 0 0 0 TCU 0 0 0 0

Nevada 0 1 0 0 Fresno State 0 1 0 0 San Jose State 0 1 0 0 Tulsa 0 1 0 0 UTEP 0 1 0 0

David Neill Update Though he had his lowest yardage total in a game in which he saw significant

playing time (8-30-3, 108 yards), he did throw more interceptions on one other occasion. However,

that was two years ago vs. New Mexico State when he completed 30 of 57 passes for an NCAA

freshman record 611 yards. Still, the Davey O'Brien candidate has proven time and again he is

among the nation's elite quarterbacks. Though he was sacked seven times at Oregon, his net

rushing yardage was just minus 18 yards. The junior from Newhall, Calif., is a two-time All Big West

selection and was named to the pre-season All WAC first team. A detailed bio of Neill is contained

later in this release.

Defense Improves Though they gave up 36 points and 456 total yards, the defense was caught in

some short field situations and kept the Wolf Pack within striking distance until the waning moments

of the third quarter at Oregon. Though they did give up three plays over 50 yards (two passes and

one run), they did force two fumbles (Leyva, Bates) and recovered one (Leyva) in addition to

nabbing one interception (Cruz).

Mr. Jones Derek Jones, who lost the starting punting role to Mike Phiilips during fall drills, regained

that role with his first punt Saturday (and Nevada's second punt of the day), a 40-yarder. He

knocked down a 49-yarder later and averaged 42.2 yards on six attempts. The red-shirt freshman is

a 6-3, 210-pound native of Reno (McQueen High).

Tormey Quotes:

On Oregon game..."I think there were some good things, we played an awful lot of young players

that just gave us a frame of reference as to where we are. We didn't know anything about our team

going in so now we have an idea of where we are and what we need to improve on. As the game

went on, you could see our young guys gain some confidence, start to step up and make some

plays and start to believe they can play at this level."

On the defense..."There were a lot of good things by our defense but we gave up three plays over

50 yards. If you take those away, we held a PAC-10 team under 300 yards total offense. They kept

us in the game for most of three quarters."

On TCU..."TCU is probably the best visiting team that's ever played in Mackay Stadium. On paper,

they are the best team we will play this year, certainly better than Oregon."

Offense LT 75 - Clark Roosendaal, 6-6, 302, Sr-2V 69 - Matt Cannon, 6-4, 276, Jr.

LG 70 - Turner Graham, 6-2, 293, Jr. 63 - Kika Kaululaau, 6-0, 305, Jr.-TR

C 66 - Cody Johnson, 6-4, 270, So.-1V 74 - Matt Tarver, 6-3, 280, Jr.-SQ

RG 65 - Sean Folweiler, 6-3, 275, Jr. 67 - John Tennert, 6-3, 288, Fr.

RT 77 - Alan Parker, 6-6, 290, Fr.-RS 76 - Nick Rae, 6-3, 295, Jr. 71 - Brian Barnes, 6-6, 302,

So.-Sq.-RS

TE 84 - Scott Asai, 6-3, 235, Jr. 46 - Reggie Kinlaw II, 6-2, 225, Fr.-RS 99 - Tyler Tapp, 6-7, 280,

Fr.-HS 88 - Jason Johnson, 6-5, 215, Fr.-RS

H 28 - Mike Crawford, 5-9, 168, Jr.-Tr. 15 - Mo Jones, 6-1, 185, Jr.-2V 81 - T.W. Cunningham, 5-11,

193, Sr.- 2V-RS

Z 9 - Tim Fleming, 6-1, 165, Fr.-RS 86 - Willie Johnson, 6-4, 183, Fr.

QB 11 - David Neill, 6-5, 202, Jr.-2V 10 - Brett Staninger, 6-3, 204, So. 16 - Matt Gotta, 5-11, 180,

Fr.-RS

RB 5 - Adrien Dugas, 5-10, 185, Sr.-3V 4 - Johnnie Holmes, 5-9, 165, So.-1V 32 - Marquis Starks,

5-10, 186, Fr.-RS 34 - Jesse Twist, 5-9, 205, Jr.-SQ-RS

X 80 - Nate Burleson, 6-2, 169, So.-RS 3 - Jermaine Brown, 5-11, 175, So.-1V-RS 12 - Aaron

Carter, 6-2, 185, So.-1V

Defense E 92 - Brant Hill, 6-4, 240, Fr.-RS 49 - Steve Sylvester, 6-4, 235, Jr.

T 90 - Horacio Leyva, 6-4, 250, Jr.-2V 98 - Sione Fehoko, 6-3, 285, Fr.-RS 94 - Pat Estes, 6-2, 275,

Jr.-2V-RS

T 97 - Isaiah Ross, 6-3, 305, Fr.-RS 58 - Derek Kennard, Jr., 6-1, 235, Fr.-HS 99 - Andrew Lee, 6-2,

270, Jr.-SQ

E 18 - Dwight Lane, 6-2, 235, Jr.-TR 91 - Mike Yenick, 6-2, 235, Fr.-HS

MLB 48 - Josh Smith, 6-1, 235, Sr.-2V-RS 54 - Bert Schenone, 6-1, 235, So.-1V 53 - Jesse

Adarme, 6-0, 215, Fr.-HS

ILB 55 - Jorge Cordova, 6-2, 235, Fr.-RS 51 - Daryl Towns, 6-0, 212, Fr.

OLB 44 - Darren Taylor, 6-1, 235, Sr.-1V-JC-RS 19 - Carl LaGrone, 6-5, 210, Fr.-RS

ROV 25 - Paul Jolley, 5-11, 205, So.-1V-RS 22 - Christian Broussard, 6-0, 195, Sr.-3V 29 -

Humphrey Garrett, 5-9, 185, Fr.-HS

RC 2 - Del Bates, 5-11, 170, Sr.-1V-RS 1 - Leondre Lewis, 5-10, 165, Fr.-RS

LC 17 - Domonic Cruz, 5-9, 180, So.-RS-SQ 7 - Aaron Dean, 5-10, 170, So.-1V-RS 6 - Ronnie

Hardiman, 6-0, 170, Fr.-RS

FS 30 - Brad Lindstrom, 6-1, 193, Fr.-HS 35 - Maurice Townsell, 6-1, 180, Fr.-RS Kicking Specialists

PK 16 - Mike Phillips, 5-10, 170, Sr.-1V 26 - Ray Sanchez, 5-9, 170, So.-1V KO 16 - Mike Phillips,

5-10, 170, Sr.-1V 26 - Ray Sanchez, 5-9, 170, So.-1V P 37 - Derek Jones, 6-3, 210, So.-1V-RS 16 -

Mike Phillips, 5-10, 170, Sr.-1V

Other Specialists KOR 4 - Johnnie Holmes, 5-9, 165, So.-1V 2 - Del Bates, 5-11, 170, Sr.-2V-RS PR

4 - Johnnie Holmes, 5-9, 165, So.-1V 25 - Paul Jolley, 5-11, 205, So.-1V-RS SS-FG 74 - Matt

Tarver, 6-1, 282, Fr.-RS 16 - Mike Phillips, 5-10, 170, Sr.-1V LS-P 38 - Joe Herzog, 6-0, 200, So.-1V

Hold 81 - T.W. Cunningham, 5-11, 170, Sr.-2V 15 - Mo Jones, 6-1, 185, Jr.-2V

Updated 9/3/00