Arizona QB Anu Solomon not expected to transfer to UNLV

Anu Solomon and Tony Sanchez won four state football titles together at Bishop Gorman High School, but a reunion isn’t expected to take place at UNLV.

Solomon, Arizona’s fourth-year junior quarterback, announced Tuesday on Instagram that he was leaving the Wildcats and will play his final season for a different program, leading to speculation by several media outlets that he would transfer to UNLV to play for his high school coach. But that’s unlikely to happen, according to a UNLV source.

Sanchez declined comment, and Solomon couldn’t be reached for comment.

The Rebels are expected to hand the reins of their offense next season to freshman quarterback Armani Rogers, a 6-foot-5-inch former four-star recruit who redshirted this season.

Quarterback Dalton Sneed announced this week that he’s leaving UNLV, but the Rebels still have a logjam under center, with former starting quarterbacks Johnny Stanton and Kurt Palandech on the roster and former Desert Pines quarterback Marckell Grayson set to arrive in the fall as an oral commit to the school’s 2017 recruiting class.

Solomon is scheduled to graduate in the spring, which will allow him to transfer to any school and be eligible to play immediately next season. The former four-star recruit won the Wildcats’ starting job as a redshirt freshman and threw for 3,793 yards and 28 touchdowns, but injuries slowed him in 2015 and 2016, when he missed several games and finished with one touchdown pass.

SANFORD AND SON

Former UNLV coach Mike Sanford resigned as Indiana State coach Friday after four seasons and is expected to join his son’s staff at Western Kentucky, Football Scoop reported. The Hilltoppers hired Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Sanford Jr. as their head coach on Wednesday.

As Rebels coach, Sanford compiled a 16-43 record in five seasons (2005 to 2009). He went 18-30 the past four seasons for the Sycamores, guiding them to an 8-6 record and their first Football Championship Subdivision playoff berth in 30 years in 2014 after going 1-11 in 2013.

This will be the first time Sanford and his son have coached on the same staff since Sanford Jr. started his coaching career as a graduate assistant on his father’s staff at UNLV in 2005.

NEXT MANN UP

Junior college defensive end Roger Mann has committed to the Rebels’ 2017 recruiting class, he announced on Twitter on Thursday night. The 6-foot-3-inch, 250-pound Mann earned all-conference honors this season as a sophomore at Palomar College in San Marcos, California. He attended Rancho Bernardo High in San Diego.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.