Dollars brings blue collar mentality and winning attitude to Nevada football team

Sean Dollars looked around the field after the first day of football practice and smiled, saying he feels right at home with the Wolf Pack, thanks to already knowing most of the Nevada players and to the mostly barren landscape on the hills north of the field. Dollars, who transferred to Nevada after being at Oregon the past four seasons, remarked on the lack of trees around the area, and said that was one of the selling points for him to join the Wolf Pack. It's not as strange as it sounds. Dollars grew up in arid Rancho Cucamonga in Southern California, west of Los Angeles, where he was a highly-touted running back at Mater Dei High School. "This has been amazing. It's way different than Oregon, and I like it," Dollars said, smiling. "I'm a city guy, the Inland Empire. I like seeing buildings and I'm not too much of a forest guy. When it comes to mental health, this is way better." His first two football seasons at Oregon were limited. He had seven carries for 81 yards as a freshman in 2019, then eight carries for 87 yards in 2020, a season cut short by the pandemic. He sat out the 2021 season with an injury, then showed some hints of his explosiveness last season as he played in 12 games and rushed for 188 yards, along with 16 receptions for 143 yards. Dollars, who was a highly touted back in high school, will have two seasons of eligibility at Nevada. At Mater Dei, Dollars was the No. 2-ranked all-purpose back in the 247Sports composite ranking and was a consensus four-star prospect by ESPN, Rivals and 247Sports. He was ranked the No. 74 overall prospect in the nation, No. 2 all-purpose back and the No. 10 player in California by Rivals. After a recent practice, Dollars reiterated how much he likes the atmosphere at Nevada. He laughed and said he likes seeing people out and walking around, which was unusual at Oregon. "I see people outside at 11 p.m., not everybody is inside their house," he said, smiling "I love it, I really do, especially the guys I play on this team with. I know 95 percent of these kids on the team. It didn't take that long to get adjusted to everybody on this team." He knows them from high high school, summer camps and from his time at Oregon. Dollars said he already feels comfortable with the Wolf Pack coaches also. "I'm comfortable when people believe in me and believe in my work and I believe all these teammates believe in me," Dollars said. Winning mentality Dollars played on a CIF Open section championship team at Mater Dei and was on some highly-ranked Oregon football teams. He wants to bring that winning mentality to the Wolf Pack. "I've been winning my whole life and I just want to turn this program around," Dollars said. "My personal goals are the teams goals. If I go out there and do what I need to do, like I've been doing my whole life, everything will work out." Nevada is coming off a 2-10 season, after winning its first two games last fall. Dollars hopes to transfer some of the knowledge he picked up at Oregon to the Wolf Pack's younger players. "I understand how it is as a young guy. But I've been in this position before," Dollars said. "I told one of the young guys, 'I'm doing the exact same things that you're doing, but you're just trying to get by right now.' You're never going to get anywhere in life just trying to get by. You've got work hard." He said players are sometimes more open to constructive criticism from a fellow player than from a coach. He should get a chance to show his skills this fall. But Dollars will have competition as he is part a 10-running back field for the Wolf Pack, all of whom are trying to replace five-year players Toa Taua and Devonte Lee. McQueen graduate Ashton Hayes is one of those 10 backs, after transferring from Cal, and Wesley Kommer and Cross Patton return after both played sparingly for Nevada last season. Dollars said the Wolf Pack players seem willing to put in the work required to erase the bad memories of last season. "We have a blue collar mentality," he said. "I know the taste from last year was really bad in their mouths and I know they don't want to go through that again." Nevada concludes spring practice with a scrimmage on April 22 at Mackay Stadium. The season begins Sept. 2 at USC.