UNLV football’s commitment list continues to grow before signing day

Tony Sanchez went from California to St. Louis to Atlanta and many stops in between during a five-day stretch last week to meet with recruits one last time before National Signing Day on Wednesday.

The UNLV coach had plenty to pitch to the potential Rebels with a new training facility in the works and a state-of-the-art stadium possibly set to open in 2020 — senior year for the class of 2017.

Oh, and the three-year extension Sanchez received last week doesn’t hurt, either.

“I’ve only slept in my bed twice in the last two weeks,” Sanchez said Friday. “It’s a grind, but I’m excited about the future. We have five years to do things right and help these recruits grow.”

Linebacker Spencer Katoanga of Air Force prep (Colorado) junior college is the latest player to give his oral commitment to the Rebels and said he was sold on Sanchez’s ability to network. Sanchez has raised more than $17 million for the training facility, which is expected to break ground in the spring.

“What coach Sanchez is doing excites me,” Katoanga said. “He knows how to network and get people behind him. When I heard all the things he was doing, I wanted to commit on the spot during my visit. UNLV is headed in the right direction.”

Sanchez and his staff have received oral commitments from about 18 players, including six this month. The number could change quickly with every recruit free to change their mind until it’s time to officially sign.

“My official visit to UNLV was amazing,” said Daniel Schoene, an offensive lineman at Bakersfield (California) High, who committed to the Rebels this month. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. My family went on a visit for my brother at Stanford and they didn’t even come close to UNLV.”

UNLV still has some work to do if it wants to top last year’s recruiting class when the Rebels were ranked 68th in the nation and third in the Mountain West by Rivals.com. UNLV landed 26 players and a school-record 10 three-star recruits, according to Rivals’ rankings.

This year, Rivals has UNLV ranked seventh in the conference with three three-star recruits. The Rebels have six three-star recruits listed on 247Sports.com and four on Scout.com.

Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0492. Follow @gmanzano24 on Twitter.