Competition for starting QB spot heating up for UNLV football

Matthew Sluka is just getting to know the UNLV offense, and it looks like love at first sight.

After his second practice in coordinator Brennan Marion’s go-go offense, Sluka, a graduate transfer from Holy Cross, gushed about quarterbacking the speedy, high-powered unit.

“Overall, I really like the offense,” Sluka said. “I like how fast it is.”

It’s no surprise that Sluka is into the go-go. The quarterback-friendly system is designed to create big plays, and that is a Sluka specialty. The dual-threat quarterback racked up prolific numbers at Holy Cross, passing for 5,916 yards and 59 touchdowns over his four years there while also adding 3,583 yards on the ground and 38 rushing touchdowns.

That kind of production, even at the Football Championship Subdivision level, has made Sluka the favorite to earn the starting job for UNLV in 2024, but coach Barry Odom is staging a training-camp competition to determine the best fit. To claim the No. 1 spot on the depth chart, Sluka will have to beat out Campbell graduate transfer Hajj-Malik Williams and returning senior Cameron Friel.

All three are receiving an equal number of snaps in practice while Odom and Marion evaluate their ability to pilot the offense.

After the opening day of camp, Odom praised the way all three handled the go-go.

“I thought all three showed really good, first-day, natural instincts,” Odom said.

Through the first two days, Williams ran mostly with the first-team offense, while Sluka and Friel worked with a mix of starters and reserves. Odom said he and Marion would take that into account, along with numerous other variables, as they make their decision.

Sluka was the engine of the Holy Cross offense, using his passing and running skills to produce big plays, but his coursework kept him there through the spring semester. While Williams and Friel got a ton of snaps in spring ball, Sluka wasn’t able to join UNLV until training camp, putting him behind the learning curve.

“Studying the playbook is obviously No. 1,” Sluka said when asked for his camp priorities. “Getting here [with a] late start made it a little bit more difficult. I’ve got get up to speed. (I have to be) making sure I know the people around me. We have a lot of talent out there at the skill positions, so knowing who I have and how to use those guys within our offense, and then really studying the playbooks and making sure I know my X’s and O’s first, and then helping out whoever I can after.”

He credited the entire quarterback group — Williams, Friel, redshirt freshman Lucas Lenhoff and true freshman Gael Ochoa — for welcoming him and giving him an introductory lesson on the playbook.

“It’s been great so far. I really appreciate Cam and Hajj, Lenny and Gael as well, they’ve been a really big help for me coming in late, having them teach me the offense a little bit.”

The study sessions remain critically important for Sluka.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder said that while he could rely on his natural talent to carry the day at Holy Cross, he has been cramming to learn the go-go scheme.

“Overall, the competition has been really good,” Sluka said. “(It's) pushing me to be myself, pushing me to be the best every day. (I have to) come in here, be prepared, know everything. Previously at Holy Cross, obviously I understood the offense, but (it was) not going over my plays at night, not coming in and watching film. But here, it’s best man goes. So I’ve been doing everything I possibly can to get ready.”

While Sluka offers the highest ceiling for the UNLV offense, Williams is another experienced passer who put up solid numbers while playing 41 games at Campbell. As a fifth-year senior in 2023, he completed 70.4% of his passes for 2,597 yards and 19 touchdowns.

Williams joined UNLV in the winter and was able to participate in the entirety of spring practice. He developed a command of the offense during those sessions, and that was on display in the showcase game, where he connected on 14-of-22 passes for 227 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Like Sluka, Williams was instantly taken with the go-go offense.

“I love everything about it,” Williams said. “I think we’re the best offense in the country. It’s so dynamic, really no matter who’s at the quarterback position, it plays to your strengths. We do a lot of different things, you can’t really get a bead on it, and the quarterback is the point guard.”

Williams echoed Odom’s mission statement when it comes to choosing the quarterback: Don’t commit turnovers, and score.

“We’ve got three great guys,” Williams said. “(It makes for) great competition that will force all of us to be our best selves. And then you’ve got to put points on the board and protect the ball. Whoever does that the most will get the job.”

Friel is a surprise contender for the job.

The senior’s career arc has certainly been unique. Forced into action as a freshman in 2021, Friel started eight games and earned Mountain West Freshman of the Year honors by passing for 1,608 yards and six touchdowns. He then slid down the depth chart, appearing in just three games over the next two seasons.

Last year, Friel entered the season as the No. 3 quarterback; when Doug Brumfield got hurt and Jayden Maiava was elevated to the starting job, Friel embraced his role as a close personal mentor to Maiava. That show of leadership endeared Friel to the coaching staff and, more importantly, his teammates.

Now, Odom is giving him a shot to prove his chops again. Friel is the only quarterback in the race with a full year of experience running the go-go offense, and he said the game has slowed down significantly now that he understands the scheme.

“Second year going into this offense, I feel like a lot of things come a lot easier,” Friel said. “The game is a lot slower for me now going into Year 4, compared to freshman year. The game has slowed down a ton. I’m really seeing a lot more, a lot easier. It feels like the game is moving in slow motion.”

Odom is in no rush to make a decision. Each of the three veteran options brings a different style of play to the position, and Odom and Marion want to gauge the fit before committing the majority of snaps to one quarterback.

Asked about a timetable for naming a starter before the Week 1 opener at Houston on Aug. 29, Odom said there was no ideal target date.

Basically, when he knows, he knows.

“I don’t ever want to put a date on it and say I have to have it decided by this day,” Odom said, “because it may not be decided, or it may be decided earlier than that. I don’t know that that would be fair to my team if I said, ‘Hey, by two weeks from now we’re going to have a starter decided.’ So I think it will play out.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.