UCLA Football Preview: UNLV Rebels Have A Very Effective Running Game
The mantra "Line wins game." will likely prove itself again tomorrow.
Of the three quarterbacks who threw passes for UNLV last season only Cameron Friel remains on the roster. Matthew Sluka redshirted and choose to transfer to James Madison and last year’s starter Hajj-Malik Williams was a senior last year.
Considering that Friel threw just six passes last season as a redshirt junior and only 67 passes during his first four years of the program, it probably isn’t a surprise that Dan Mullen and staff went out and recruited a pair of transfer quarterbacks and that those guys are both ahead of Friel on the Rebel depth chart.
Quarterbacks
The Rebels starting quarterback in both of their games this season has been Anthony Colandrea. The junior from St. Petersburg, Florida joins UNLV after playing two seasons at the University of Virginia. So far this season, Colandrea has completed 34 of his 44 pass attempts for 444 yards with three touchdowns and an interception.
Colandrea has also run the ball 19 times for 119 net yards with a touchdown.
Backing up Colandrea, the Rebels have former Michigan quarterback Alex Orji. So far this year, Orji has played sparingly. He’s completed all three passes he’s thrown for 37 yards. He has also run nine time for 41 yards and a touchdown.
Running Game
In addition to using the quarterbacks to run the ball, UNLV’s offense has focused on the running game about 62% of the time. Even in a close game against Idaho State, the Rebels still stuck to the run a lot more than going to the pass.
Considering last weekend’s UCLA game, there is absolutely no reason to think that the Rebels will be looking to change that up this week.
Jai’Den Thomas is UNLV’s leading rusher this year. After two games, he’s run the ball 19 times for 212 yards. Interestingly, he has not lost a yard on any of the rush attempts. That doesn’t bode well for a UCLA defense which couldn’t stop the run at all against Utah last weekend. Thomas is averaging an amazing 11.2 yards per carry and he’s scored four touchdowns. Of course, his average is boosted significantly by the fact that his longest of the season was a 70-yard touchdown in the second quarter against Idaho State. Even without that run, he’s still averaging 7.89 ypc. So, he’s going to be a force the Bruins will need to reckon with.
UNLV’s other running back is little more down to earth. Senior Keyvone Lee has carried 12 times for 47 net yards. That means he’s averaging 3.9 yards per carry, which is pretty average for a college running, though it would probably make him UCLA’s starter based on what the Bruin running backs did, or failed to do, last week.
Passing Game
The UNLV receivers are led by senior Jaden Bradley. He’s caught about a third of the passes completed by Rebel quarterbacks for a total of 12 receptions. At the same time, his 256 receiving yards is more than half of the team’s total receiving yards. He’s averaging 21.3 yards per reception, though he has only taken one to the house for a touchdown.
Senior transfer JoJo Earle is the Rebels’ next most reliable receiver. He has six receptions for 65 yards. Meanwhile, the guy he platoons with DeAngelo Irvin, Jr. has caught three passes for 31 yards and a touchdown.
Troy Omeire, a senior transfer who previously played a year at Texas and the last two seasons at Arizona State, has made four catches for 28 yards.
The Rebels’ other passing touchdown was caught by DaeDae Reynolds, who has two receptions this season for 21 yards. Reynolds previously played for Dan Mullen at Florida before spending the last two seasons at Pitt.
UNLV also likes to throw to Thomas coming out of the backfield. He’s made five receptions for 19 yards.
Offensive Line
There’s a lot of beef on the Rebel offensive line. Every starter on the line is tipping the scales in excess of 300 pounds.
On top of that, there is a lot of experience on the line. The three interior linemen are all senior transfers. Reid Williams, who comes from Chatanooga, will start at center while North Carolina transfer Malik McGowan and former Bruin Alani Makihele will start at the two guards. Makihele returns to UNLV after joining the Bruins last year from UNLV.
The starting tackles will be juniors Will Thomas and Austin Boyd. Both saw significant playing time the past two season. Thomas played in 12 games in 2023 and five last year before going down with an injury while Boyd played in all 28 games the Rebels played during that time.
Bottom Line
The bottom line here is simple: UNLV has an effective running game due in large part, pun intended, to their big offensive line as well as running back Jai’Den Thomas.
After what we witnessed last week against Utah, the Bruins are going to need to do a much better job of stopping the running game including both Thomas and Colandrea.
Unless something significant has changed, that seems like it will make it another long night for the Bruins.
Go Bruins.
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Hopefully the lines will both adjust and do a lot better than last week. We'll see.