The Nevada football season is finally upon us, as training camp began on Wednesday in Reno. Coach Polian held his first press conference of the 2015 season yesterday, and he discussed a range of topics regarding his football team.
He was not worried about the fitness of the team after the conditioning test they had in the morning.
"I would tell you that 98% of the team breezed through it," said Polian.
He was also very excited to get out on the field and get going. "We have our set of issues just like everybody else does," said Polian. "But the only way to begin to answer those is to get out there and compete."
It's no secret that Wolf Pack have their fair share of position battles, but the most notable is the battle for the starting quarterback job.
"The quarterback can't make bad decisions and turn the ball over," said Polian. "It's really about who makes the offense better by their presence, and who gives us the best chance to be productive."
The coach hope that after two weeks of practices, one of the players will have separated themselves.
"For the first week of training camp, we're gonna have a ton of reps," said Polian. "That's a benefit for the quarterback battle."
Speaking of quarterbacks, Polian had no update on recent transfer QB Austin Kafentzis.
"It's an ongoing process there's conversations that are ongoing between us, the NCAA, and Wisconsin," said Polian. "The way we're going to handle this football wise, is we're going to make sure he gets enough reps here until the decision is made, if they did come back and say he is eligible to play immediately that we would have given him a fair opportunity to put himself in the mix for the job."
While it is unlikely Kafentzis could win the starting job with such little experience in the pistol offense, he would definitely add a new wrinkle into the already-intriguing battle.
Kafentzis was not the only new addition that Polian spoke about, as he remained high on the walk-on freshman from Las Vegas, Maliek Broady.
"We're very excited about Maliek's presence here with our team," said Polian. "He came here as a non-scholarship player, but I am very excited about him and really think someday he's going to play significant minutes here."
The team also added a kicker in Specer Petit, who will not only be insurance behind Brent Zuso, but could be the kicker of the future for Nevada.
The coach also detailed the injury situation heading into camp, and we may have a winner for the offseason's dumbest injury. Kam Richardson, a 6-7 receiver, broke his big toe after walking into a curb while looking at his cellphone.
Coach Polian admitted that, "This is my first experience with a cellphone related injury."
"Young people put your cellphones down," joked Polian.
Continuing on the injury front, RS So. Travis Wilson who is coming off hamstring strain did not participate in the conditioning test, but was running on the side.
Hasaan Henderson sent home with upper respiratory infection for precautionary reasons. Henderson missed the end of last season after injuring his neck against Air Force, but Polian said that the big wideout is ready to go for camp.
"[Hasaan Henderson] has been cleared, we sent all of his films out, had a final evaluation done, by some of the top medical people in the west, and then we sent the results out to some of our friends in the NFL that looked at everything," said Polian. "They all agreed that he is 100% ready to go."
On a personal note, Polian announced that he will not be at practice from Thursday to Saturday, as he will be in Canton, Ohio, for his father's induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Associate head coach Jim Hofher will fill in for Polian while he is out.
Training camp always brings back the football talk, and marks the end of the long offseason. While we're still a ways away from the real football starting, it is surely better than nothing.