Deeper Rebels looking to build on the positives of 2015 season

By Taylor Bern

Thursday, July 28, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Ultimately, UNLV’s 2015 football season was about marginal improvements. The Rebels won the Fremont Cannon, cleared the low bar of two victories that has too often defined the program and played a lot of close games that could have gone either way.

Now, in order to keep any positive momentum going, the results must show up more in the Rebels’ record. Based on the preseason media poll, which has UNLV fifth in the West Division, there aren’t many expecting that to happen just yet, but junior receiver Devonte Boyd is comfortable saying the Rebels expect to finish first.

“I know everybody’s got their opinions,” Boyd said. “That’s mine.”

Speaking Wednesday at the Cosmopolitan, Boyd, senior linebacker Ryan McAleenan and coach Tony Sanchez laid out the expectations for 2016. Yes, of course, they’re going to take things one game at a time, but Sanchez and company have bigger goals than last year’s three wins and some moral victories.

“Everyone gets 12 games. We want to play in the game that’s not guaranteed,” Sanchez said. “That’s the mindset and that’s what we’re fighting for.”

UNLV has only appeared in four bowl games, most recently breaking through to the 2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl in between a pair of two-win seasons. As important as it is for UNLV to get to .500, the bigger goal is to build a roster and a program where that becomes the norm rather than an outlier.

“We’ve been floundering forever in this program because we accepted a lot of mediocrity,” Sanchez said. “That’s not acceptable.”

Perhaps the biggest difference from last year is depth. Sanchez said last year’s roster, especially on defense, was running on fumes by mid-season and many walk-ons were forced into action on special teams.

Now the Rebels have added one of the top recruiting classes in program history, and maybe even more importantly they have redshirt freshmen who probably could have contributed a bit last year ready to compete with the benefit of a year in the system. That group includes receiver Darren Woods Jr., offensive lineman Justin Polu and linebacker Gabe McCoy, all of whom could be major factors this season.

In one year, Sanchez’s team has gotten bigger, stronger and perhaps faster. Many of this year’s games will be just as winnable as the four one-possession losses last year, and Boyd has an opinion on who’s going to come out on top this time around.

Notes

• Five different coaches over five seasons isn’t an ideal career path, but McAleenan has made it work. His path to UNLV started by just hanging out with a former high school teammate.

A graduate of St. Francis High in Southern California, McAleenan started his career at San Jose State. He redshirted as a freshman, and at the end of the season coach Mike MacIntyre left for Colorado and Ron Caragher came in.

“I wanted to play, and I didn’t see myself playing there at all,” McAleenan said. “I wanted to get a fresh start.”

So McAleenan transferred to College of the Canyons. One day after the season, McAleenan was hanging out in his hometown with fellow St. Francis grad Pat Carroll and Brett Boyko, both offensive linemen at UNLV. Boyko suggested then-Rebels coach Bobby Hauck look at McAleenan’s tape, and that’s how he became a late signee in the class of 2014.

“Everything happens for a reason,” McAleenan said.

The changes weren’t done, as UNLV would fire Hauck to bring in Sanchez at the end of the year. But after spending three seasons in three different programs, McAleenan embraced the new energy that Sanchez brought in, leading the team in tackles last season (85) and entering his senior season as the starting middle linebacker.

“It’s competitive every day now. I think that’s one of the biggest changes that we’ve seen through coaching staffs,” McAleenan said. “… If you mess up, they’ll put you on the sideline and put someone else in. That’s just how it is and it’s what needs to happen to win games.”

• Lexington Thomas is ostensibly the star of the UNLV weight-lifting video that’s been making the rounds, the one with more than 750,000 views on Facebook and well over a million combined elsewhere from accounts like ESPN and Bleacher Report. But the other characters are what made it so entertaining: assistant strength coach Jeff Eaton screaming "Let’s go" into Thomas’ ear, head strength coach Keith Belton leading players side to side while blowing a whistle every few seconds, a shirtless Boyd and his “warrior tail” bobbing back and forth and yelling motivations at Thomas.

“That’s why I don’t have my voice, I was screaming so much,” Boyd said.

Boyd’s new hairstyle, basically a single ponytail while everything else is cut short, was inspired by martial-arts movies. It’s a look he said he’s wanted since he was a kid, but Mom wouldn’t allow it. Now Boyd can do what he wants while everyone else has to deal with it, including opposing defenders.

“That’s all they’re going to see,” Boyd joked.

Back to the weight room. The Rebels were surprised that Thomas’ lift got so much attention only because it was business as usual in Belton’s weight room. There have been several similar videos put up by players over the last year, basically ever since Sanchez and Belton took over, and Boyd even posted one of him completing a hang clean at the center of a crowd on Tuesday.

“It was crazy to me, because that’s like an everyday thing for us,” Boyd said. “Anytime somebody is maxing out in a lift it’s going on. The weight room is always live.”

This one going viral was mostly just a matter of luck. That’s OK with Sanchez, because thousands of people who have never watched a UNLV game now have a small idea what the Rebels are like.

“It’s a reflection of me, our assistants, our team,” Sanchez said. “That’s our normal weight room.”

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