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March 28, 2024

rebels football:

UNLV not the team with biggest injury concerns in game at Utah State

UNLV football at San Jose State

Ben Margot / AP

UNLV quarterback Blake Decker, right, passes under pressure from San Jose State’s Vince Buhagiar (36) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014, in San Jose, Calif.

The Rebel Room

Out on the Dancefloor

Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Case Keefer, Ray Brewer and Taylor Bern debate UNLV football's remaining number of victories and reflect on the basketball showcase while preparing for this weekend's Life is Beautiful music festival.

Unless there’s a rapid change in outlook, and with UNLV football’s injury history that’s always possible, senior receiver Devante Davis isn’t expected to be back for Saturday’s game at Utah State.

The Rebels’ lone bye week this season felt like it couldn’t come soon enough because the team has been banged up for weeks. Coach Bobby Hauck said he didn’t even risk putting the pads on at practice leading into the victory against Fresno State because the Rebels couldn’t afford for anyone else to go down.

But while the extra days off have allowed UNLV to strap the pads back on, Hauck said Davis is “probably not going to go this week.” However, the other sideline actually has the bigger injury concerns this week as Utah State must go with its third-string quarterback when the teams kick off at 1:02 p.m. Las Vegas time on ESPNews.

Already down starter Chuckie Keeton, the Aggies lost backup quarterback Darell Garretson to a wrist injury in last weekend’s 16-13 loss at Colorado State. Now they’re turning to senior Craig Harrison, and if that doesn’t work coach Matt Wells would be down to true freshman Kent Myers.

“Coming out of fall camp, he was on scout team,” Wells said of Myers. “Guys got hurt. I can’t make Darell healthy and I can’t make Chuckie healthy.”

UNLV defensive back Kenneth Penny acknowledged that he’d rather have a bunch of film on a quarterback to help him know tendencies, but Hauck emphasized that they’d prepare for the Aggies’ regular tendencies more than any specific Harrison trait. Well, regular tendencies with some extra running, to be precise.

Faced with another change at quarterback it would make sense for Wells to ease his signal-caller’s burden and rely more on the running game. Trouble is the Aggies rank last in the Mountain West in rushing yards per game at 132.7.

“We’re looking at everything, whether it’s schematics or how we’re practicing,” Wells said. “I can promise you we’re not sitting back and thinking it’s perfect, because it’s not.”

The outlook is significantly better for the Aggies on the other side of the ball, where they lead the league and rank top 10 in the country for rushing defense and sacks. Utah State’s defense figures to be a big step up in competition for a Rebels’ offensive unit coming off its best game of the season.

UNLV’s total yardage against Fresno State (478) wasn’t anything too special, but the Rebels ran a season-high 86 plays because they were finally able to sustain more than just the opening drive. And though he’s still looking for his first game without an interception, UNLV quarterback Blake Decker overcame some early mistakes better than he had in previous outings. When dealing with a guy transitioning from junior college to Division I, or even high school to college for that matter, that’s the type of progress coaches expect to see.

“It should get better week in and week out,” Hauck said.

While Decker likely won’t have Davis as a weapon just yet, he will line up as the more experienced quarterback and he could provide UNLV an advantage at the game’s most important position. Even if it took half the season plus a bye week, that’s good news for the Rebels.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

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