Standing 5-foot-7 and weighing just 175 pounds, Erick Jackson sometimes gets confused for UNLV's other Smurfish tailback, 5-foot-6, 165-pound Dominique Dorsey.
"Actually, a lot of times people come up to me and ask, 'Are you Dominique Dorsey?' " said Jackson, a redshirt freshman from Palmdale, Calif. "Sometimes I say 'yeah' and sometimes I say 'no.' It depends on what kind of mood I'm in."
And that was even before Jackson did a pretty fair Dorsey impression on the football field during the Rebels' scrimmage on Saturday night.
With Dorsey (hamstring) and No. 1 tailback Larry Croom (hamstring) both on the sideline resting minor injuries, Jackson made the most of his playing chance by leading all runners with 91 yards on just eight carries, including a dazzling 48-yard touchdown.
For someone who figured to be no better than a fifth-string tailback behind Croom, Dorsey, junior college transfer Alvin Marshall and senior Deon Burnett, Jackson is doing his best to get on the field as a kick returner and backup tailback in fall camp.
"Any way I can get on the field is fine with me," Jackson said. "I don't care what it is. I'm going to try my hardest."
"He's just got a tremendous heart," linebacker Adam Seward said. "He's unbelievably fast. He's so quick and he's so small. He wears those ankle braces (because) I think he's worried his ankles are going to fall apart cutting like that. When he was on the scout team last year he didn't say anything and he'd just come out and run the ball hard every day. When he gets going there's few guys who have his speed who can stop him."
Jackson starred at tiny Paraclete High School in Palmdale and helped lead the Spirits to a CIF Southern Section record five consecutive Division 11 title. However, because of his size -- or lack of it -- he wasn't recruited.
"A couple of black schools wanted me to come out and walk on," he said. "I put up some good numbers but I was from a small school and I'm a smaller type back."
UNLV, about a 3 1/2-hour drive from his home, also asked him to try walking on and Jackson accepted. Why?
"John Robinson," Jackson said. "He plays smaller-type backs. I wanted a chance to play so I came here to try and get a scholarship."
Saturday night's scrimmage certainly didn't hurt Jackson's case.
"Right now it's in the makings," he said. "I've been practicing hard and they're looking to see what they can do for me."
"It's done," Libonati said. "Now all that needs to be done is the stenciling of the sidelines and the numbers and the logo. We finished laying down the field on Wednesday or Thursday. Now we are just working on the finer details of dressing the field."
A ribbon-cutting ceremony signaling the completion of the project will probably take place in about a week when UNLV will also likely practice on it for the first time
"We're not in any rush," Libonati said noting the first game against Toledo on Aug. 29 is still 11 days away."
A 6-foot-8, 240-pounder, Estandia caught two passes for 86 yards, including a 70-yard play-action pass from starting Kurt Nantkes over a wide-open middle. He was even more impressive on special teams, twice coming up the middle to block field goal attempts.
Besides having long arms to go with his height, Estandia also possesses good timing and leaping ability from his high school basketball days.
Eagen left the field on crutches but said optimistically he would "be back for Toledo." He strained ligaments in his ankle and shin area and also strained his Achilles' tendon. However, it could have been worse.
"I thought I snapped it in half," Eagen said. "When it happened I heard a loud pop. But luckily I didn't break anything."
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