College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the UNLV Rebels season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– UNLV Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 4-8 overall, 2-6 in MW
Head Coach: Marcus Arroyo, 1st year
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 98
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 106
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 98
No one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: UNLV Rebels Offense 3 Things To Know
– New head coach Marcus Arroyo is an offensive-minded guy – he’s the former Oregon offensive coordinator – who should be able to get more out of an offense that only averaged 374 yards and 24 points per game. Offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas worked at Baylor for a few years as its OC, he has NFL experience, and now he’s going to to want to open things up a bit.
CFN in 60 Video: Cal Preview
Cal at UNLV, Aug. 29
– Settling on a quarterback is the first step, and UNLV has several good ones to choose from. Armani Rogers was the star get of a few years ago, and the 6-5, 225-pound senior has been explosive at times, but throwing on a consistent basis has been a problem. Max Gilliam became the guy in 2018, and 6-3 sophomore Kenyon Oblad took over last season and threw for over 2,000 yards with 18 scores and nine picks. However, Oblad isn’t a runner.
The X factor is TCU transfer Justin Rogers, a big-time get for the Horned Frogs who hasn’t been able to roll thanks to a knee injury. He might have to wait for his turn, though.
On the plus side for the offense, the receivers are there for anyone who’s going to throw it to them.
Seven of the top eight pass catchers are expected to be back, starting with 6-4 junior Randal Grimes – who caught 44 passes for 696 yard and seven scores – and with four other targets back who caught 20 passes or more. The tight end combination of Noah Bean and Giovanni Fauolo should help.
– The star of the show should once again be RB Charles Williams, a First Team All-Mountain West star who ran for 1,257 yards and 11 scores. There’s not a whole lot of developed depth behind him, but junior Chad Magyar returns after finishing second on the team for 369 yards and a score.
The O line wasn’t all that bad at keeping defenses out of the backfield, and it was great for the running game. Two starters are gone, but 6-3, 320-pound senior Julio Garcia is a good blaster for a big group that will average over 315 pounds per man.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: UNLV Rebels Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: UNLV Rebels Defense 3 Things To Know
– The defense didn’t generate any sort of a pass rush. It struggled against the run, it allowed 33 points per game, and now for good and for bad, new defensive coordinator Peter Hansen – a longtime Stanford linebacker coach – has a lot of work to do to find new, better parts.
Experience will be an early issue with four of the top five and six of the top nine tacklers done. However, the secondary has a few nice parts to work around with the return of Greg Francis at one safety job and Aaron Lewis is a good tackler at one of the corner gigs.
Now they need help from the pass rush.
– UNLV generated just 13 sacks on the season with no one coming up with more than two. The line has to generate more production from several spots, but there’s an active veteran in Kolo Uasike on the inside to work around. There’s not a ton of size, but finding two decent ends – TCU transfer Adam Plant will get a long look – who can consistently get into the backfield is Job One.
– The linebacking corps takes a hit with leading tackler Rayshad Jackson done along with third-leading tackler Javin White. Farrell Hester is a good-sized hitter in the middle, but the outside jobs are open with a slew of young players pushing for time. However, it’s a really, really thin corps – the recruiting class – like top get Brennon Scott – has to bring instant help.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top UNLV Rebels Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top UNLV Rebels Players
Best UNLV Rebels Offensive Player
RB Charles Williams, Sr.
Who was going to take over for Lexington Thomas? Williams was the No. 2 back, and last year he took over the offense with a team-high 1,257 yards and 11 touchdowns, averaging close to six yards per carry. The First Team All-Mountain West star isn’t that big, but he became a workhorse late in the season with two 100-yard days – both wins.
2. OG Julio Garcia, Sr.
3. WR Randal Grimes, Jr.
4. QB Armani Rogers, Sr.
5. QB Kenyon Oblad, Soph.
Best UNLV Rebels Defensive Player
S Greg Francis, Sr.
On a team that loses a whole slew of key defensive producers, the 6-2, 195-pound free safety will play a key role in the reload. The secondary is the one part with the experience, but Francis should be the standout in his final year after making 42 tackles with two broken up passes.
2. LB Farell Hester, Sr.
3. CB Aaron Lewis, Sr.
4. S Bryce Jackson, Jr.
5. DT Kolo Uasike, Sr.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: UNLV Rebels Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: UNLV Rebels Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The UNLV Rebels Offense
A third down conversion would be nice. The offense isn’t going to care too much about ball control under the new staff, but is has to keep things moving.
The Rebel offense under former head coach Tony Sanchez normally wasn’t too bad at keeping the chains moving, but last year was a different story.
UNLV had the third-worst offense in the country on third downs, converting a pathetic 28.5% of the time. It never hit 40% against any FBS team, and it didn’t get to 30%in five games – all losses.
Biggest Key To The UNLV Rebels Defense
Pass rush, pass rush, pass rush. It wasn’t as disastrous of a season getting to the quarterback as it was in 2017 with 11 sacks, but the 13 generated last season weren’t enough.
No one came up with more than two, and there was almost nothing happening during the season. The Rebels came up with four in the opener against Southern Utah, three in the regular season finale win over Nevada, and six in the ten games in between.
The defense five games without a sack. That obviously has to change.
And that means …
Key UNLV Rebels Player To A Successful Season
DE Nate Neal, Sr.
Someone has to get into the backfield and make offenses worry. The 6-3, 240-pound Neal, part of the recruiting class, a transfer or two, junior Jalen Graves – a pass rusher has to emerge on the end by anyone able to give it a shot.
Neal hasn’t been much of a playmaker so far – he came up with eight tackles with half a tackle for loss last season – but he’s a veteran who’ll get a shot to rise up into a role.
Key Game To The UNLV Rebels Season
Wyoming, Oct. 10
There’s a shot UNLV goes 0-5 to start the season before Wyoming comes to town. That’s not going to make things a whole lot easier.
The Cowboys are once again going to be solid, and they’ve had UNLV’s number with four wins in the last five games in the series. Last year they won 53-17, and this year it’ll be a measuring stick moment in Marcus Arroyo’s first run.
– UNLV Rebels Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 UNLV Fun Stats
– Punt Return Average: Opponents 11.21 – UNLV 2.45
– Fumbles: UNLV 17 (lost 6) – Opponents 12 (lost 5)
– Sacks: Opponents 29 for 169 yards – UNLV 12 for 81 yards
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: UNLV Rebels Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: UNLV Rebels Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
2013. That’s the last time UNLV came up with a winning season and went to a bowl game.
2000. That was the last time other than 2013 that UNLV came up with a winning season and a bowl game.
Tony Sanchez was a local high school coaching legend who just couldn’t get that engine to turn over. The program showed glimpses of potentially being good – it pushed San Diego State in a close fight, blew out Vanderbilt, and closed out with two wins – but is just couldn’t find any consistent success.
In comes 40-year-old Marcus Arroyo, the former San Jose State quarterback worked his way through the coaching ranks to become the offensive coordinator at Oregon over the last few seasons.
UNLV has its brand new head coach. It has its brand new stadium that’s relatively close to campus – at least compared to Sam Boyd Stadium. It has a full program reboot happening, but …
Set The UNLV Rebels Regular Season Win Total At … 3
Bet at BetMGM Win Total Line: 3.5
It’s possible UNLV is the underdog in all 12 games.
San Jose State is a road game, Colorado State is at home, and there’s going to be a few wins somewhere out of the blue, but it’s going to take a while for the lines to build up and for the schemes to start working.
In all ways, this is a rebuilding season. The payoff will come – it just might take another year to get it.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Schedule Analysis
