The junior running back suffered a serious ankle injury in 2017, but now has produced two consecutive 100-yard games to begin the season.
Ed Graney
Ed Graney is a sports columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, covering a variety of topics and the Las Vegas sports scene.
egraney@reviewjournal.com … @edgraney on Twitter. 702-383-4618
One step forward is yet again three steps back, the latest example being a 43-17 blowout loss to Arkansas State before an announced gathering of 18,742 on Saturday night.
Numbers rarely lie and those of the junior quarterback Armani Rogers suggest bowl eligibility for the Rebels in 2019 will be directly linked to whether or not he has grown into a more accurate passer.
The Rebels need junior college star linebacker Vic Viramontes to translate his confidence off the field to a huddle.
The Rebels will have to prove history and the Mountain West preseason media poll wrong, a forecast that has UNLV finishing fifth in the six-team West Division.
Already, the new UNLV football complex has paid off with several commitments for the 2020 recruiting class, pledges from the sorts of players who likely would have never considered the Rebels if not for such dedication to an on-campus facility.
A potential site for a College Football Playoff championship game will soon host the NFL and UNLV football, along with a new-and-much-improved Las Vegas Bowl.
The UNLV team that will compete at the Spring Showcase at noon Saturday at Johann Memorial Field is better and deeper and more prepared than any others coach Tony Sanchez has offered.
The Rebels on Saturday night began what they hope will be a wave of momentum heading into next football season in the most memorable and impressive of ways, rallying from a 23-point deficit to defeat UNR 34-29 before an announced gathering of 19,921 at Sam Boyd Stadium.
One of the main problems with UNLV athletics, perhaps the central one, is the fact it either doesn’t realize or accept its place in today’s world of collegiate athletics.
Here’s the part often lost in the suggestion that UNLV would be better off without major college football: Such a move wouldn’t come without serious consequences.
The talk of losing out is over, and the uncertainty of Tony Sanchez’s job status unquestionably should be paused, after the Rebels rallied to defeat 23-point favorite San Diego State 27-24 on Saturday night.
Lorenzo Fertitta doubles down on support for Sanchez receiving a fifth season and time in the football complex that will bear the family name.
UNLV dropped its fifth straight Saturday, this a 50-37 decision to San Jose State, after which a majority of the announced gathering of 16,165 were able to cheer victory for the first time in 2018.
Thoughts of regaining its footing and possibly again creating a legitimate path to bowl eligibility were pretty much crushed Friday night when UNLV fell to Air Force 41-35 at Sam Boyd Stadium.
