Five storylines as UNLV football opens spring practice

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Monday, Feb. 25, 2019 | 2 a.m.

Coming off a 4-8 record in 2018, the UNLV football team will take the field again for the first time on Monday for the opening day of spring practice.

The Rebels will hold 15 practice sessions over the next three weeks, finishing up with a spring game on April 6. While these offseason workouts won’t tell us everything we need to know about the 2019 team, they should provide some insight into the Rebels as they prepare for a pivotal season for the program.

Five storylines to watch in spring practice:

Armani Rogers

That’s it. Just Armani Rogers. That’s how important the quarterback is to this team, and heading into his junior year, Rogers should be set for an explosive, superstar-caliber campaign. He gave us a glimpse of that in the 2018 season finale, when he threw three touchdown passes and ran for two scores in a thrilling comeback win over UNR; now the question is, can Rogers do that on a weekly basis?

The key for Rogers during the spring will be consistency. For as good as he was against UNR, he finished the season completing just 44.4 percent of his passes. If he can consistently hit on the easy short and intermediate throws over the next three weeks, Rebels fans should feel very, very excited about the upcoming season.

Instant impact

With this being a make or break year for coach Tony Sanchez, the Rebels loaded up on instant contributors in the 2019 recruiting class, including a handful of junior college players who should compete for significant roles right away. For the early enrollees, that process starts in the spring.

The headliner of that group is linebacker Vic Viramontes, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound linebacker from Riverside City College. A 4-star recruit, Viramontes should step in and make plays from Day 1 of spring practice.

First-look frosh

Quarterback Kenyon Oblad may have started a trend last year, when he became the first true freshman to enroll early at UNLV and participate in spring practice. This year, the early enrollee to watch is his former Liberty teammate, Kyle Beaudry.

Beaudry was a 3-star recruit, and the 6-foot-1, 230-pound linebacker could work his way into the defensive rotation as early as this season. Spring practice will provide an opportunity to learn the basics of Tim Skipper’s defense, and if Beaudry catches on quickly he could head into fall camp ticketed for a ton of snaps.

Kicker questions

With the graduation of placekicker Evan Pantels, UNLV will have to find a replacement to handle field goals and extra points. Pantels went 6-of-10 on field goals last season, but he was pretty reliable during his three years, making 36-of-46. And he was automatic on extra points, hitting 111-of-112. That performance won’t be easy to replicate. Look for the kicker battle to start in spring and probably carry over into training camp.

Sanchez on the spot

Sanchez has always been candid about his situation — he knows he has to win and he doesn’t shy away from it. He got a bit of a reprieve last year because Rogers missed six games with a toe injury, but that won’t fly this season, not with athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois stating publicly that Sanchez has to make a bowl game in order to remain as coach.

So how will Sanchez handle that kind of pressure? I doubt we see much change in his approach. He believes in his system, and he’s had the Rebels on the cusp of the postseason in each of the last two years. With a healthy campaign from Rogers, UNLV should break through this year. The spring should be an optimistic one for the Rebels, so expect Sanchez to set that kind of tone by talking up his players and embracing the goal of playing in a bowl.