Previewing Michigan vs. UNLV With Rebel Insiders

TheWolverine.com caught up with two UNLV writers — Michael Grimala of the Las Vegas Sun and Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review Journal — to gather insight on the Rebels ahead of Saturday’s game against Michigan Wolverines football. Both reporters broke down the team they cover and provided a final score prediction.

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UNLV projected starters on offense

• #2 – Junior QB Doug Brumfield (6-6, 225) — The lefty has started 11 games, including 10 last season, when he earned honorable mention All-Mountain West honors, becoming the first Rebel signal-caller to make an all-conference list since 2000. Last season, he completed 65 percent of his passes for 1,898 yards and 10 touchdowns with 5 interceptions. Last week against Bryant, he connected on 11 of his 18 throws for 86 yards and 1 pick, while rushing for 49 yards (with a 19-yard long) on 7 carries.

• #5 – Senior RB Vincent Davis Jr. (5-9, 180) — The Pittsburgh transfer totaled 2,226 yards from scrimmage and totaled 17 touchdowns in three seasons in the ACC. He ripped off a 69-yard touchdown run on the first drive of the Rebels’ 44-14 win over FCS Bryant last Saturday and totaled 79 rushing yards on 3 attempts.

• #0 – Senior WR Senika McKie (6-1, 185) — The Division II transfer (Erskine College) joined UNLV ahead of the 2022 campaign, when he caught 7 passes for 104 yards and 1 touchdown in six appearances. He hauled in 3 receptions for 19 yards in the opener.

• #11 – Junior WR Ricky White (6-1, 190) — Brought in 29 catches for 414 yards and 4 touchdowns in seven outings last season, after transferring in from Michigan State. He had a quiet career in East Lansing outside of his big performance at U-M with no fans in the stands in 2020, notching 8 catches for 196 yards and a score in the 27-24 Spartan victory.

• #21 – Junior WR Jacob De Jesus (5-7, 175) — The JUCO transfer totaled 2,550 all-purpose yards for Modesto from 2021-22, earning Valley Conference Most Valuable Offensive Player in his final season there. He led the team in receiving last week, with 4 grabs for 50 yards, including a 29-yard long.

• #88 – Senior TE Shelton Zeon III (6-4, 250) — Has started 15 career contests for the Rebels, and pulled in 24 catches for 225 yards and 1 touchdown in his career. He had 1 reception for 5 yards versus Bryant.

• #75 – Sophomore LT Anton Ambuehl (6-6, 300) — Spent two seasons on the team but did not see game action until making his first career start last week. He allowed 3 pressures and 1 sack in his debut.

• #73 – Junior LG Alani Makihele (6-3, 350) — Appeared in six games off the bench in 2022, playing mostly on special teams, after not seeing game time in either 2020 or 2021. He allowed 1 pressure last week.

• #65 – Senior C Jack Hasz (6-4, 295) — The Buffalo transfer started 13 contests over two seasons in the MAC, playing both center and guard. He gave up 1 pressure in the season-opener.

• #60 – Senior RG Amani Trigg-Wright (6-3, 305) — He ranked second on the team with a 76.3 PFF pass-blocking grade in the season-opener. He has 20 career starts under his belt. He was named preseason third-team All-Mountain West by PFF.

• #70 – Junior RT Tiger Shanks (6-5, 320) — Has started 23 career outings for the Rebels. He gave up 23 pressures (second-most on team) and a team-high 6 sacks last season, with an average 64.2 PFF pass-blocking rating.

UNLV projected starters on defense

• #8 – Senior DT Darius Johnson (6-3, 300) — Notched 47 tackles and 2 sacks in 11 games with five starts last season.

• #98 – Senior DT Tatuo Martinson (6-1, 300) — The JUCO transfer played in one game for UNLV last season but did not record any statistics.

• #50 – Junior DE Jalen Dixon (6-1, 265) — Finished last season with 30 tackles, including 6.5 stops for loss and 1 sack. He had 2 pressures in last week’s game.

• #42 – Senior OLB Elijah Shelton (6-2, 235) — The former Utah State (2018-20) and Utah (2021) transfer posted 44 tackles, 5.5 stops for loss and 2 sacks last season. He tallied 2 pressures for UNLV in the opener.

• #7 – Junior LB Jackson Woodward (6-3, 230) — The Arkansas transfer followed head coach Barry Odom from Fayetville (where Odom was assistant head coach and defensive coordinator) to Las Vegas ahead of this season. He appeared in 28 games and made 16 total tackles on defense and special teams for the Razorbacks. He led the team with 11 tackles against Bryant.

• #38 – Sophomore LB Marsel McDuffie (6-1, 245) — Played in 10 games with one start in 2022, finishing with 12 tackles, including 1 stop for loss. He had 6 tackles last week. McDuffie had a pair of Power Five offers out of high school, from Baylor and Georgia Tech, before choosing UNLV.

• #1 – Senior NB Jerrae Williams (5-10, 185) — The former walk-on and Division II transfer (Arkansas Monticello) started nine of 12 games last season and finished with 56 tackles, including 5.5 for loss, and 2 interceptions. He was targeted 3 times in coverage last week and didn’t allow any catches.

• #5 – Junior CB Cameron Oliver (6-1, 175) — A full-time starter in both 2021 and 2022, Oliver is the team’s active career interception leader with 5 picks. He had a pair of pick-sixes last year. He recorded 31 stops, 3 interceptions and 4 pass breakups in 2022. He allowed 2 catches for 16 yards on 2 targets against Bryant.

• #36 – Junior CB Thomas Anderson (6-1, 185) — The Independence CC transfer had 3 pass breakups in two seasons at his previous stop. He yielded 4 catches for 57 yards on 6 targets last week, with his first career interception coming in the third quarter.

• #3 – Junior S Johnathan Baldwin (6-1, 200) — Finished fourth on UNLV with 56 tackles, including 1 behind the line of scrimmage, a year ago, and led the squad with 7 pass breakups, adding 1 interception. He had 3 stops and 1 pass breakup in the opener.

• #2 – Senior S Jaxen Turner (6-2, 210) — The Arizona transfer made 159 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 2 interceptions, 9 pass breakups, 3 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries during his career in Tuscon. He made 2 stops in his UNLV debut.

UNLV specialists

• #18 – Senior K Jose Pizano (5-9, 220) — The Missouri State transfer and FCS All-American (second team in 2021, Associated Press) made 45 of 54 career field goals at his previous stop, and 100 of 101 extra points. He went 3-for-3 on place kicks last week, including drilling a 48-yarder. Sophomore Andre Meono handled kickoffs in the opener, booting it away 8 times with 1 touchback. Bryant didn’t have a return over 27 yards.

• #90 – Sophomore P Marshall Nichols (6-1, 210) — The Mississippi State transfer was UNLV’s punter last season, ranking 45th nationally with a 42.4-yard average, with 8 punts of 50-plus yards and a 56-yard long. He averaged 46.5 yards per punt on 2 attempts in the opener, with a 52-yard long.

• #27 – Junior KR/PR Jacob De Jesus (5-7, 175) — The wideout returned a kick 96 yards to the Bryant 2-yard line last week. He totaled 158 return yards on 3 attempts. He is the team’s punt returner but didn’t have any returns versus Bryant.

Strength of the UNLV offense

This will be a game of contrasting styles. While Michigan mixes in tempo, that’s UNLV’s bread and butter with its ‘go-go’ offense, which Rebels offensive coordinator Brennan Marion — former pass game coordinator at Texas (2022) and wide receivers coach at Pittsburgh (2021) — literally wrote a book about. The Rebels go fast, space things out and run the ball down hill quite a bit. They accumulated 268 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns on the ground on 40 carries against Bryant.

“There has been so much buzz about the go-go offense installed by Brennan Marion that allows the Rebels to get to the line of scrimmage very quickly and keep defenses on their toes and unable to match up,” Hill said. “But faster and more explosive doesn’t always mean they are throwing it all over the yard. Marion has always said his offense can generate big plays in the running game and that was certainly on display [versus Bryant].”

“UNLV wants to press the issue on every play,” Grimala noted. “The goal is to hurry to the line of scrimmage, keep the defense off-balance and use that advantage to open running lanes, and they executed well in Week 1, albeit against an FCS opponent.”

Weakness of the UNLV offense

Brumfield is a proven signal-caller in the Mountain West, but he didn’t have his best game in the opener. Per PFF, he missed on all 5 of his passes of 10-plus air yards, only completing balls within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.

“The passing game was not good in Week 1,” Grimala said of Brumfield, who averaged just 4.8 yards per attempt. “Brumfield is an explosive runner with a strong arm, but some of his intermediate passes were off-target, and he missed on two open deep shots. Timing and rhythm in the passing game have been the focus in practice this week.”

“While Brumfield did a tremendous job communicating and keeping the offense moving at an incredibly fast tempo, his throws were very inconsistent,” Hill noted. “While he made up for it with his legs, particularly on an unbelievable scramble that got him to the end zone as time expired in the first half, he knows he has to be sharper as a thrower if this offense is going to excel this season.”

Strength of the UNLV defense

Bryant rushed for 220 yards and threw for 230 on UNLV in the opener, but the Rebels came up big on the money downs.

“The Rebels defense was on the field a lot, largely as the result of the offense playing with such tempo and keeping their possessions short,” Hill explained. “They were able to buckle down when it mattered, however. UNLV held Bryant to 4-for-13 on third down and 1-for-4 on fourth down to limit them to just 14 points despite racking up more than 400 yards of offense in the opener.”

UNLV isn’t overly athletic at the line of scrimmage, but it has speed on the back end. And Odom said this week that the Rebels will try to load the box to slow down the Michigan run game, something ECU did last week, holding the Wolverines to their lowest rushing yard total since 2021 (122).

“UNLV runs a base 3-3-5 under Odom, but it’s more often a 3-2-6; that’s how they opened the game against Bryant in Week 1,” Grimala said. “It’s not an overly athletic defense on a position-by-position basis, so flooding the field with defensive backs serves to make the overall D a little faster.”

Weakness of the UNLV defense

The UNLV defensive front will likely have a tough time matching up with Michigan’s offensive line, tight ends and skill position players.

“Athleticism is a big issue, especially in the front seven,” Grimala said. “Fast opponents can get to the edge and turn the corner with regularity. Dual-threat quarterbacks figure to be a problem all season (hello, [Michigan junior quarterback] J.J. McCarthy).”

While UNLV was opportune against Bryant, allowing 450 total yards was worrisome.

“The bend-but-don’t-break approach worked just fine against Bryant, but it bent an awful lot against the Bulldogs,” Hill pointed out. “Despite an infusion of talent with playmakers added at all levels that has expectations high, the Rebels had a difficult time containing Bryant. There was a troubling lack of pass rush and, like the 2022 version of UNLV, too many open receivers.”

Michigan vs. UNLV final score predictions

“UNLV will hang around until about the middle of the second quarter,” Hill began. “It could even be longer if Brumfield finds his touch. But Michigan will pull away for the win.” Prediction: Michigan 44, UNLV 17

“UNLV is in its first year under a new head coach and doesn’t have a very deep roster,” Grimala said. “Michigan has a gigantic physical advantage, so the Wolverines should be able to pound the ball and take control of this one pretty early. I can see Michigan cruising to a win, and UNLV going home happy with a $1.5 million check.” Prediction: Michigan 38, UNLV 10