Marcus Sullivan sits out opening practice

RB Bradley Randle listens to some instruction from running backs coach DeAndre Smith on Thursday morning at Rebel Park.

UNLV held its first fall practice for newcomers this morning at Rebel Park and as expected it was rather unremarkable.

Much of the time was spent on how to do certain drills with a lot of emphasis on hustling from one drill station to another.

Two key newcomers — wide receiver Marcus Sullivan of Cheyenne High School and defensive end B.J. Bell — did not practice.

Bell, the younger brother of 2007 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Beau Bell, had an 8 a.m. summer school class and instead will work out tonight with the veterans at 6 p.m.

Sullivan, the 2008-09 Review Journal Athlete of the Year who is expected to make an immediate impact at wide receiver and on special teams, still has not been officially admitted by UNLV. The school is still awaiting the results of his state of Nevada high school math proficiency test that he took on July 14th. He has already met minimum NCAA entrance requirements but must pass the exam (as do all Nevada high school seniors) to earn his high school diploma.

Sanford said it could be up to a week before the proficiency test results are learned.

“It’s out of our hands,” Sanford said. “We’re hoping it’s soon.”

Sanford said he was generally pleased with the first practice for the newcomers.

“We were careful to do a lot of instruction and not run them into the ground,” Sanford said. “We’ve had a bad experience in the past with not many guys out here and just getting excited and running guys into the ground. We were careful today but got a lot done.”

Sanford singled out junior college corner Michael Grant for his performance.

“Mike Grant stood out today,” Sanford said. “He was the one that stood out as one who could make a contribution.”

Some other practice notes:

* RB Bradley Randle’s father, ex-big leaguer Lenny Randle, was on hand filming his son’s first practice and held court with the media.

* Three newcomers who passed the “look” test: Randle (much thicker than I thought), DB Courtney Bridget and OL Thomas Kilgore.

* Former NFL defensive line star Leon Lett is a volunteer assistant working with the defensive line. Assistant head coach Andre Patterson coached Lett both with the Cowboys and Broncos.

* The veterans are scheduled to practice tonight from 6 p.m. to 8:05 p.m.