Home Cookin': Spring (football) in the air at Nevada

With a chill in the air and snow still neck deep in the Sierra mountains, a host of local talent has dug in for spring football drills at Nevada this week.

The Wolf Pack begins preparations for the 2008 season with more bowl aspirations and some individual honors in mind for regional prospects such as Dominic Green and Mike McCoy. And those two leaders will lean on each other to help the general cause.

Green is a returning All-Western Athletic Conference center from Jesuit High School. He's the anchor of a unit regarded as one of the nation's best last season. Green has started at every position on the line during his career, though he has emerged as a pro prospect in the middle with preseason All-America mention.

Fellow offensive lineman Alonzo Durham, also of Jesuit, returns after starting 13 games last season. McCoy of Colfax, meanwhile, could emerge as Nevada's leading receiver. He had 617 yards in 2007, including a 90-yard touchdown against Fresno State. In a spring game this month, McCoy hauled in a 65-yard touchdown reception.

Kevin Grimes of Bear River is a defensive back-special-teams ace who returns after being named Nevada's Special Teams Player of the Year for 2007. Also on defense is Kevin Basped, an end from Florin who started five of six games down the stretch for the Wolf Pack and had 50 tackles on the season, including a season-high eight against Boise State. Linebacker Ryan Coulson of Elk Grove is vying for a staring job under new defensive coordinator Nigel Burton, the former Bee Defensive Player of the Year from Jesuit who comes to Nevada after a coaching stop at Washington.

"We can be pretty good this year, but we have a lot of work to do," Nevada coach Chris Ault said.

Size abroad

Andy Shannon of El Camino and Brendan Lane of Rocklin will compete for Team USA in the Albert Schweitzer basketball tournament next week in Mannheim, Germany.

The tournament has been played since 1958 with an impressive alumni list that includes Magic Johnson, Arvidas Sabonis, Toni Kukoc, Drazen Petrovic, Dino Radja, Tim Duncan, Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki, Hedo Turkoglu, Mehmet Okur, Tony Parker and Boris Diaw.

Shannon and Lane are 6-foot-10 centers, though Lane also can shoot three-point baskets. A senior, Shannon helped lead El Camino to a No. 1 seed in the Northern California Division III playoffs, and Lane was instrumental in the Thunder winning the Division II section championship. A junior, Lane is a national recruit.

Diving to new heights

Andrew Skewes of Christian Brothers qualified for the NCAA Division II National Springboard Diving Championships last week in Missouri. The UC San Diego senior qualified for the 1- and 3-meter semifinals. He placed 13th in the 1-meter board and reached the 3-meter final, placing seventh to earn All-America status

Skewes was the Sac-Joaquin Section diving champion in 2001 and 2002 under coach Dede Crayne. After two years away from competition, he resumed his career at Mesa College in San Diego, where he won a state title and All-America honors in 2005. He was an All-American a year ago.

Preseason accolades

Three local prospects appear on Scout.com's list of the top 150 West Coast football players.

Oak Ridge wide receiver Brett Thompson is No. 57 on the list after pulling in 13 touchdown passes in 2007, El Dorado tight end Trevor Peterson is No. 103 after catching eight touchdowns, and Capital Christian wide receiver Spencer Hagan is No. 138 after catching 52 passes for 928 yards. Thompson has received a verbal offer from BYU, which earlier this decade gave former Oak Ridge All-American Austin Collie a scholarship.

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• Call The Bee's Joe Davidson, (916) 321-1280.