A record-breaking start to senior year for Joe Hawley

Joe Hawley is all smiles after benching 455 pounds.

As a 260-pound freshman coming out of Esperanza High School in Yorba Linda, Calif., UNLV offensive guard Joe Hawley envisioned seeing his name one day on the team’s strength and conditioning record board in the Lied Athletic Complex.

Now he can look up and see it twice.

The 6-foot-3, 310-pound senior guard broke not one but two major team weight-lifting marks last week.

Hawley broke his weight class (281 pounds and above) mark in the bench press with a lift of 455 pounds, five pounds more than the previous mark held by Ahmad Miller. He also did 33 reps of 225 pounds to set another team mark in the Pro Bench.

“My goal was to get on that board,” Hawley, a preseason second team all-Mountain West Conference pick by Phil Steele’s magazine, said. “I knew I could do it.”

Hawley was benching “only” 425 pounds at the end of spring practice in April.

Joe Hawley makes it on the board.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to get to 455 then,” he said. “Then I benched 437 the week before (post-summer conditioning ended). That’s when I told myself I was going to go for it.

“It was hard. It was heavy. I was real surprised I got it.”

Hawley broke the mark after first tying it with a lift of 450 pounds. John Grieco, the team’s highly-regarded strength and conditioning coach, then added two more 2 1/2-pound weights on the bar.

“I was the last one to go,” Hawley said. “Everybody was watching. That kind of helped me. Everybody was there supporting me.”

Hawley was more surprised by doing his 33 reps of 225 pounds in the Pro Bench.

“We don’t really train for that now,” he said. “I know that is a (NFL) Combine kind of thing, but it’s not a big focus for our football team. To not really train for it and do that many is really good. Hopefully I can do even more at the end of the season when I train for it.”

Hawley doesn’t own the overall team record in the bench. That mark is still owned by former walk-on fullback James Kraham (467 pounds), a power-lifter who never played for the Rebels. So Hawley’s mark is a school record for any player who actually has lettered.

Other school records included:

* Sophomore linebacker Matt Kravetz (6-1, 245) of Durango High School doing 28 reps of 225, best ever for someone in the 226-255 weight class.

* Junior safety Calvin Randleman (6-0, 195) doing 22 reps in the Pro Bench to break the team record in his (181-200) weight class.

* Freshman linebacker Robert Adell (5-9, 210) of Green Valley High School clearing 400 pounds to break the record in the 201-225 weight class.

MORNING PRACTICE NOTES:

* Head coach Mike Sanford couldn’t have been happier with the weather that greeted his Scarlet team (mainly first and third team players) this morning at Rebel Park. Temperatures were in the mid-80’s with a nice cool breeze. “The weather was great this morning,” Sanford said. It was even better in Ely where the Rebels will train for 10 days starting Tuesday. Morning temperatures were in the 60’s there.

* WR Marcus Sullivan may not learn the results of his high school math proficiency exam until Wednesday according to Sanford. He won’t be admitted to UNLV until he passes that test.

* DT Malo Taumua reported no problems with the right hand he broke in June moving furniture. In fact, there is a large bump of bone mass where the break has healed. “It’s kind of like a club,” Taumua joked. The junior defensive tackle said he was told by doctors that the break would probably have required surgery if he had come in at the time of injury. Taumua waited almost three weeks before seeking treatment and by that time the injury was already healing properly on its own.

* Redshirt freshman tight end Alex Young, expected to compete for playing time this season, quit the team after one day of practice. “He just said he was tired of playing football,” Sanford said. Young had helped lead Modesto (Calif.) Central Catholic High School to three straight section titles and a three-year record of 37-3.