Armani Rogers set to make most anticipated UNLV start in 17 years

As Mark Wallington, who is in his 25th year of handling media relations for UNLV’s football team, introduced quarterback Armani Rogers on Tuesday, he noted it was the first time he could remember bringing a freshman to the weekly news conference.

Few UNLV players have attracted as much attention entering a season, and certainly no quarterback since 2000 when Southern California transfer Jason Thomas prepared to take his first snaps.

“Everybody expected me to come take a program they didn’t expect to do well to a new level,” Thomas said. “So that was a little bit of pressure, but at that time my confidence was so high that I felt like I could do anything.”

Rogers and Thomas have some similarities — dual-threat quarterbacks with the ability to hit a receiver 60 yards downfield and the build of the prototypical high-end QB (Thomas at 6 feet 4 inches and 230 pounds and Rogers at 6-5, 225).

And, like Thomas, Rebels fans are pinning their hopes on Rogers being the player to take the program to heights it has seldom reached. The first real clue on whether Rogers will be that guy is at 6 p.m. Saturday when the Rebels open their season against Howard at Sam Boyd Stadium.

“I’m going to be pretty amped up, but I have to keep it composed,” Rogers said. “I don’t want to go out there and be too fired up and start overthinking. That’s when everything goes downhill.”

Focus on Rogers

All eyes have been on Rogers, an ESPN four-star recruit, from the moment he committed to UNLV in January 2016 out of Los Angeles’ Hamilton High School.

After redshirting last season, Rogers earned the starting job in the spring and built on that play in training camp. Coaches gave him the entire playbook from the beginning.

“What I’ve seen from Armani is huge maturity in the one year he’s been here,” offensive left tackle Kyle Saxelid said. “He’s reading defenses better. He’s making good calls. He’s got a heck of an arm. I’m seeing an athlete. It’s fun to block for a guy like that.”

Though much is expected of Rogers, he’s in a situation where he’s surrounded by a strong running game, outstanding receivers and an offensive line that returns four starters.

But that doesn’t mean he will only hand off and throw screen passes.

“We’re going to take some shots,” coach Tony Sanchez said. “We’ll be explosive. We’re not going to be overly conservative. We feel comfortable enough with Armani that I think he’s going to be able to handle a lot more than people think.”

Something that jumps out immediately about Rogers is his quiet confidence. Ask him about a preseason magazine comparing him to Cam Newton and he doesn’t run from it, but he offers more of a shrug than a smile.

He has a well-intentioned friend in Arizona who emails him links to stories written about him.

“I leave it alone and try to stay focused,” Rogers said. “But then I appreciate (the friend), so it’s like you get the best of both worlds.”

Having perspective

Thomas knows about the hype, and though the spotlight of social media wasn’t around when he played, he can relate to what Rogers is experiencing.

“I would tell him to stay humble,” Thomas said. “I think that’s one of the things that I regret is letting all the hubbub about who I was and who I was going to be get ahead of what I was doing day to day. My dad used to tell me the people you see on the way up are the same people you see on the way down.”

The hubbub surrounded Thomas from the moment he said he was transferring from USC.

When Thomas got his chance as the sophomore starter, he was impressive immediately, taking off on a 45-yard touchdown run in the 2000 opener at Iowa State.

He kept UNLV, only two years removed from going 0-11, in bowl contention throughout the season. The Rebels needed to win their final three games to get in — and all were decided late. Thomas threw a touchdown pass with 18 seconds left to beat New Mexico, UNLV cornerback Amar Brisco returned an interception 72 yards for a touchdown to win at San Diego State, and the defense denied what would have been the tying 2-point conversion by host Hawaii.

Then in the Las Vegas Bowl, Thomas passed for 217 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-14 victory over Arkansas. He delivered the game’s signature play, a 54-yard strike for a touchdown that broke a tie in the third quarter.

“We were running the ball and throwing the ball, and the defense was getting stops,” Thomas said. “I think that let people in the country know we were for real.”

After that triumph, ESPN NFL draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. called Thomas the nation’s top prospect.

What was unknown to all but a few people was that Thomas had played with a torn labrum. That injury would come back to haunt him, and neither he nor the Rebels were quite the same after that 2000 season.

“Most players would not have played that season,” Thomas said. “They would’ve sat out, which probably would’ve been the prudent thing for me to do, but hindsight is 20/20. I did play, and I dealt with the cards that I was dealt after that, but I’m happy with where I am in my life. I wouldn’t change a thing. The best thing that UNLV gave me was my wife.”

He and his wife, Blair, a former Rebels volleyball player, live in Oklahoma City, where he is a juvenile probation officer and she is an oral surgeon. Thomas also has a side business; he helped invent a training belt called resistance360 that allows complete body movement with resistance.

Thomas has the perspective of a 37-year-old who didn’t live out his NFL dream, but he has two kids in Oklahoma City and a daughter, Jalynn, from a previous relationship who plays volleyball at Bishop Gorman High School.

“If you played in the league for 10 years, you’re not going to be a football player forever,” Thomas said. “You’re going to have to transition, and that transition is not easy for a lot of people. So I’m blessed I was able to make that transition. I’m married to someone who remembers who I was. I still have a part of that with me every single day.”

Who knows how this season and beyond will turn out for Rogers? He’s getting ready to find out, and he’ll be judged on those results.

“All the hype and the talk and things like that, they’re fun for things like this (news conference),” Sanchez said. “None of that hurts you or helps you when you’re on the field.”

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.