--The Rebels must replace 2007 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Beau Bell at weakside linebacker and junior Jason Beauchamp, who had 43 tackles and a sack as a sophomore, performed well in that role in the spring. Head coach Mike Sanford believes the overall linebacking unit, led by underrated junior strongside backer Starr Fuimaono, will be better.

--QB Rocky Hinds, a highly touted transfer from USC who started in 2006, is still enrolled at UNLV but is no longer part of the team. Hinds has torn the ACL in his right knee three times during his career, including last year during the first week of fall camp.

SPRING MOVERS

DT Jacob Hales -- Hales, who turns 26 on Sept. 8, briefly contemplated giving up football after last season but decided to return for his senior year. The Rebels are certainly glad the 6-5, 290-pounder did. He was the unofficial MVP of spring practice, earning the vaunted black jersey as the top performer in practice in four of the team's 15 workouts. That easily ranked as the best on the team.

DE Thor Pili -- Big things were expected last season from the former prep All-American who began his career at Oregon. However, he was slowed by a broken wrist suffered during fall camp and never really performed at a high level. A healthy Pili earned a starting defensive end job in the spring and even garnered a black jersey as the team's best performer in one workout.

RG Joe Hawley -- The hard-nosed junior moved from his starting center position to his more natural guard spot and quickly emerged as the leader of an improving offensive line.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"We did a ranking of the players on our team, and we had three defensive linemen and three offensive linemen in our top 10. That's a good sign." -- UNLV head coach Mike Sanford, on his team's much improved line play this spring.

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