Watching as another starts could be best thing for UNLV QB Armani Rogers

Take a minute and allow these facts to digest: Since 2004, the final year for John Robinson as UNLV’s head football coach, the Rebels have offered nine different seasons in which they didn’t win consecutive games.

Only once in that time — which will be forever known among scholars and annalists for generations to come as the prodigiously majestic Heart of Dallas Bowl appearance of 2013 — have they won at least three straight.

When it comes to momentum and UNLV, the part about always having greater goals usually means being able to sing the fight song enough each season so as not to forget the words.

It’s an unremarkable history that has made Tony Sanchez’s decision about who to start at quarterback against Brigham Young on Friday night and perhaps for the rest of this year incredibly easy, his team having discovered late-season life and not about to test its fortitude by benching the one player most responsible for the sudden upswing.

Johnny Stanton more than deserves to remain running UNLV’s offense, the senior’s play in victories against Fresno State and Hawaii having revived what was another season going nowhere — you remember the second half against Utah State, right? — to one that still has the Rebels very much alive for bowl eligibility with three remaining games.

It’s the first week of November and UNLV at 4-5 isn’t out of the post-season picture.

That’s progress around here.

But even more of a no-brainer than Stanton keeping his place atop the depth chart is this: If he approaches the situation with a positive outlook, if he embraces it as an opportunity to continue his growth as a player, this could unquestionably be the best thing for Armani Rogers.

The redshirt freshman was, until suffering a concussion in that 52-28 thumping of a loss to the Aggies, the program’s present at quarterback. He steadfastly remains its future, a player who in eight games of action displayed enough of a skill set to suggest the promise and potential coaches have raved about is more certainty than not.

But football is a tough, violent game in which nobody is promised the next snap. Rogers, for obvious reasons if you watched UNLV at the sport’s most important position over recent seasons, was all but christened this year’s starter dating back to his sitting out in 2016.

Folks couldn’t wait until it was his turn.

It will be again, and there’s every chance Rogers will continue to see time Friday and beyond as this season winds to a close, but it’s never a bad thing for someone so young and talented to be reminded of football’s cruel realities.

It makes the best ones hungrier, more determined, far better for it.

His size and athleticism and ability to create positive yardage on broken plays are unmissable traits, but so too is the fact Rogers is far from a polished passer in terms off timing and accuracy and reading coverages. He misses lots of open guys or never sees them. Watching for a time now can help with that.

“It really is one of the eye-openers, where we talk about a culture of competition that’s alive and well,” Sanchez said. “No matter what’s going on, whether it’s an injury or not, there is always someone behind you.

“It’s funny. You look back at the beginning of the year, and our starting tailback was Charles Williams over Lexington Thomas. But then Charles goes down and now (Thomas) is the guy with (1,063) yards with three games to go.

“It’s the same situation (at quarterback). We have seen glimpses of the greatness Armani can have, but he now knows there are things he needs to keep working on and grinding through. We’re always going to recruit that position and bring in talented guys to push him. He can never be satisfied. Our job is to recruit every spot on the roster. Their job is make sure we can’t do it.”

Stanton was the easy call this week. UNLV has a chance to win its third straight game Friday, something that has occurred in just one season since Smarty Jones was winning the Kentucky Derby and “Shrek 2” was dominating the box office.

UNLV’s offense hasn’t at any point this season looked better than it does now. Stanton is a major reason.

But more than anything, the position’s future that remains Armani Rogers can benefit from this sudden shift. If he approaches it the right way, this will help him more than he could imagine.

Football is really hard, even for the most physically blessed.

Sometimes, it’s not a bad thing to be reminded of that.

Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.