Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Rebels reset offensive line heading into Boise State game

UNLV Football's Justin Polu

Steve Marcus

UNLV Rebels offensive lineman Justin Polu (78), right, a Silverado High School graduate, runs drills with Nate Oishi (62) at Rebel Park at UNLV Friday, Aug. 2, 2019.

The UNLV football team is unsettled at the most important position on the field — quarterback — but unless the Rebels fix their offensive line it won’t matter whether it’s junior Armani Rogers or freshman Kenyon Oblad taking snaps.

Through the first four games of the season, UNLV has allowed sacks on 11.9 percent of its pass plays, which is the 12th-worst ratio in the country. After watching Wyoming sack his QB twice in Saturday’s 53-17 blowout loss, head coach Tony Sanchez is making some changes.

At his Monday press conference, Sanchez announced Ashton Morgan will head to the bench after starting the first four games at left tackle, and right tackle Justice Oluwaseun will switch sides and take over as the left tackle. Senior Justin Polu, a stalwart four-year starter at right guard, will kick out to right tackle, and junior Julio Garcia will be inserted as the starting right guard.

The end result, Sanchez hopes, is a better-functioning unit in the pass and run game.

“I think that will help us and solidify us a little bit more,” Sanchez said. “Hopefully we get a little more athletic on the left edge, and moving Justin over and getting that mauler with Julio Garcia back in the mix, I think that will help us.”

Oluwaseun, a 6-foot-3, 325-pound sophomore, has started games at center, tackle and guard for the Rebels, and Sanchez regularly praises his athleticism. Morgan, also a sophomore, was having trouble handling quicker defensive ends.

Sanchez said Garcia was making a push for more playing time with strong practice performances, but the main motivation behind the reshuffling is an attempt to shore up the quarterback’s blind side.

“We’ve got to do a little bit better on the left edge,” Sanchez said. “There were some issues there. Ashton will be fine, he’s still a young guy, but with Justice there he’s a little bit more athletic on that left edge."

Oluwaseun, Polu and Garcia will be joined by regular starters Matt Brayon (left guard) and Sid Acosta (center). Who they’ll be blocking for is still up in the air, as Rogers suffered a leg injury late in the first half against Wyoming and did not return.

Rogers practiced on Monday but was not at 100 percent, according to Sanchez. Oblad continued taking snaps with the first-team offense.

Sanchez wants to see Rogers bounce back to full health before committing to a starter for the Boise game.

“We’re hoping that Armani is ready to go. If not, we’re ready to go with Kenyon."

Sanchez said Rogers is still the Rebels’ No. 1 quarterback — but only if he’s completely healthy.

“Armani can play,” Sanchez said, “but what level of functionality does he have? That’s the biggest thing. We don’t need to determine that now. We’ll wait until we get through the week. He looked good today but he was definitely not 100 percent. That was obvious. As the week goes on we’ll make that determination, but we’ll get both those guys ready to go.”

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

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