Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Rebels football:

Both quarterbacks expected to play in UNLV’s season opener

2016 UNLV Football First Fall Practice

L.E. Baskow

UNLV’s Mekhi Stevenson (2) is praised after a fine reception by head football coach Tony Sanchez during their first fall camp practice on Friday, August 5, 2016.

Darius Mouton intercepted the pass near one sideline, worked his way up the other and toppled into the middle of the opposite end zone, covering about 99 yards north-south and at least that much east-west as he weaved his way down the field.

“After I crossed about 30 yards, I thought ‘Oh yeah I’m scoring now,’” said Mouton, a sophomore cornerback.

UNLV’s defense produced most of the highlights Friday morning at the Rebels’ final open scrimmage before the season kicks off in less than two weeks. But coach Tony Sanchez said the disparity between his two sides of the ball wasn’t as big as it appeared, it’s just that interceptions like the one Mouton turned into points stand out.

“Really disappointed in the turnovers the offense had, especially when you’re in the red zone,” Sanchez said.

The Rebels’ second-year coach has made it clear that the No. 1 priority from his quarterback this season is to avoid mistakes. In that regard, Friday’s scrimmage, which was roughly broken up into a pair of 35-minute halves, was disappointing, because UNLV’s top three quarterbacks all gave the ball away in the red zone.

Junior Kurt Palandech made a bad read that served the ball up for Mouton, junior Johnny Stanton threw a jump ball that was tipped and corralled in the end zone and redshirt freshman Dalton Sneed fumbled inside the 10-yard line.

“An interception in the end zone is a quarterback mortal sin, you can’t have any ball security issues in the red zone and we had a lot of them today,” Stanton said. “… We really took a backwards step in terms of holding onto the ball.”

Partly because of that, Sanchez doesn’t sound any closer to naming a starting quarterback, and even when that happens he said both Palandech and Stanton will likely see the field on Sept. 1 against Jackson State.

“If you need to let it play itself out and wait, then you wait. You don’t rush the decision because the decision’s going to have a major impact on the season,” Sanchez said. “And I’ll be honest with you, as of today both guys are going to play in game one. I think one guy’s going to be named the starter, he’ll get the majority of the reps but you’re going to see whoever the number two is at some point during the first half.”

That’s a familiar role for Palandech, who last year appeared in 11 of 12 games either for a designated series or to fill-in for injured starter Blake Decker. Sharing duties certainly isn’t anyone’s ideal scenario, but Palandech said he’s just going to continue working and learning from mistakes.

“I’ll be ready for whatever,” Palandech said. “I’m going to prepare for Jackson State like I’m the starter, and whatever happens, happens.”

UNLV’s other options at quarterback are true freshman Armani Rogers, whom the staff would prefer to redshirt, and Sneed, who had a couple of the best plays of the day. He threw the best deep ball and effectively capped the scrimmage with a 23-yard touchdown run that included the 6-foot, 195-pounder finishing through a pair of defenders, but Sanchez said Sneed has a lot to learn in terms of understanding the system.

“There are checks on every single snap, so it’s him getting comfortable with doing those processes that will allow him to have a great opportunity,” Sanchez said. “Johnny and Kurt are ahead of him in that category.”

Interception aside, Sanchez said Palandech looked much improved from the scrimmage a week ago. Palandech led a long drive that ended in a David Greene rushing touchdown for the offense’s only score other than Sneed’s run, and misreading the cornerback on the pick is something Sanchez feels like they cover in a film session.

“He made a bad decision. It’s one play,” Sanchez said. “We can correct one play.”

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

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