Rebels’ ‘Flight Crew’ of receivers ready to match soaring expectations

From two-time NFL Pro Bowler Keenan McCardell in the 1980s to Rebels junior wide receiver Devonte Boyd, UNLV has produced a plethora of prolific pass catchers.

Boyd, who has the most receiving yards through his sophomore season of any player in school history with 1,884, might end up being the best of them all. Likewise, with the preseason first team All-Mountain West pick leading the way, the Rebels might end up having the top receiving corps in the conference and beyond this season.

“We want to be the best in the country,” Boyd said.

That task became more difficult Friday, when returning starter Kendal Keys had season-ending surgery to repair a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee. Last season, the junior had 43 receptions, 515 yards and six touchdowns, including three at Colorado State, and was expected to join forces with Boyd to form arguably the best duo in the MW.

“He’s a great player. You don’t have a lot of big 6-foot-4, 200-pound wide receivers,” UNLV coach Tony Sanchez said. “You feel really bad for him because he worked so hard but we have a talented group. We’re much deeper. They’ll step up and pick up the slack and we’ll be good to go.”

While Boyd is the only upperclassmen remaining on the receiving corps that calls itself “The Flight Crew,” the group still should be among the best in the conference if projected starters Darren Woods Jr., a redshirt freshman, and Brandon Presley, a sophomore returnee, live up to lofty expectations.

“Presley and Woods have taken a whole other step,” Sanchez said. “Those guys have been so impressive in camp. They’re going to have great years.”

Before Keys got hurt, Sanchez put Presley and Woods in the exact same category as Keys and Boyd, a Biletnikoff Award candidate as college football’s best receiver.

“Those four guys are all just as good,” he said. “They’re all big, strong, physical guys. They all have good hands and they all can run after the catch.

“Woods can be as good as anybody in this conference.”

True freshman Mekhi Stevenson also is expected to add electricity to the potentially explosive unit, and 5-foot-5-inch redshirt freshman walk-on Allan Cui and true freshman Elijah Trosclair will be in the mix as well.

“Mekhi Stevenson makes one big play every day,” Rebels wide receivers coach Cedric Cormier said. “He brings some added juice to the group and some youthful enthusiasm, because he’s a real exciting kid.

“Cui is the smallest guy on the team but he has the biggest heart and probably plays the hardest out of all of them.”

Presley will replace Keys as a starter. He played sparingly as a true freshman last season, when he had a TD catch in the finale at Wyoming. Presley was a record-setting prep receiver in Temecula, Calif., where he set an Inland Empire mark with 43 TD catches.

“I’m a firm believer there’s no such things as (Nos.) 1s or 2s, because in the game you’re all 1s,” Cormier said. “That’s the attitude in our room. When you go in the game, that’s all 1s now. I’ve got 100 percent faith in those guys.”

Presley, who also will serve as the team’s top punt returner (Stevenson is No. 2), said Boyd and Keys helped prepare him and Woods for bigger roles.

“It just became a mindset with me and Woods that we had to step up to another level to help the team,” Presley said. “Competing with Devonte and Kendal helped us get to their level.”

The chiseled Woods has taken that competition to another level, setting his sights squarely on Boyd’s school freshman receiving records for receptions (65) and yards (980) while trying to beat Boyd — his training camp roommate — at everything from sprints to the study room.

“Darren Woods has been trying to take my spot since I met him,” Boyd said with a laugh. “Every time we do sprints, he lines up next to me. Even if we go two yards. Everything we do, he always tries to outdo me.

“I like it. It’s fun. He ain’t gonna win, but that’s cute.”

Said Woods: “My dad always told me when I was growing up playing football, ‘If there’s 100 good guys out there, you don’t have to worry about two through 100, you’ve just got to go out there and beat No. 1. That way, you’re No. 1.’ Devonte, he’s No. 1.”

Boyd, who has 119 career receptions, 11 TDs and eight 100-yard receiving games, is on pace to break Ryan Wolfe’s UNLV career records for receiving yards (3,495) and 100-yard games (12) and move into second place in receptions behind Wolfe (283), who played for the Rebels from 2006 to 2009.

“Boyd has a knack for making a play,” Cormier said. “He’s not the biggest, he’s not the strongest and he’s not the fastest. But when the ball’s in the air, he has a knack for being able to go and make a big play for us.”

A Basic High School graduate, Boyd admired former UNLV wideouts Phillip Payne — who has the school record for career TD catches with 26 — and Devante Davis, who is second in career receiving yards (2,785), third in TD catches (22) and fourth in receptions (186).

Davis was a senior at UNLV when Boyd was a freshman and essentially passed him the baton as Payne did to him and Wolfe to Payne and so forth.

“He taught me a lot of stuff, how to work and how to get the edge on a lot of guys,” Boyd said of Davis. “I always had a good work ethic but he helped me turn it up even more. He let me know I was competing against guys around the country, not just guys on my team.”

Now the elder statesmen of the Rebels’ young receiving corps, Boyd takes pride in being a leader and mentor to the underclassmen.

“That’s definitely a big deal for me, because Devante did it for me so me and Kendal will do it for them,” he said. “Eventually, we’ll leave and they’ll do it for someone else and when they graduate, it’ll keep getting passed down.”

Boyd said he plans to play his heart out for Keys this season and expects his younger teammates to do the same.

“All those young guys, they’ve got to step up big time and they know that,” he said. “I think they’re ready. They better be ready.”

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