Defense shows signs of life, Tate Martell still not practicing for UNLV football

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Friday, Aug. 13, 2021 | 2 a.m.

UNLV strapped on the pads for a full-contact intrasquad scrimmage at Allegiant Stadium on Wednesday, and at Thursday’s follow-up practice the biggest takeaway among the coaches and players was the performance of the long-beleaguered defense.

The unit that ranked in the bottom 15 nationally by allowing 38.0 points per game looked faster, more aggressive, and most importantly, more opportunistic. The defense forced multiple turnovers, including a tone-setting fumble recovery by sophomore cornerback Nohl Williams on the first play.

Junior linebacker Jacoby Windmon made the biggest play of the scrimmage, intercepting a pass and returning it for a touchdown.

It was a validation of sorts for Windmon, who was mostly used as an edge rusher last year and shined with 5.0 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Louisiana native is transitioning to inside linebacker this season, with the reasoning being that he can be involved in more plays.

Defensive coordinator Peter Hansen said that’s exactly how things played out in the live scrimmage.

“He can be sideline to sideline now,” Hansen said. “Now he’s facing the guy that he’s running to defend and obviously the ball ended up in his hands as well with a pick-6. That involvement would not have happened at a different position.”

Head coach Marcus Arroyo said the team managed to run about 100 reps on Wednesday, with the first and second teams each receiving about 50 reps apiece.

While the defense apparently won the day, the offense responded in the second half of the scrimmage and was eventually able to gain some traction.

Senior running back Charles Williams believes the offense is poised for an improvement over their 2020 performance.

“We came out slow, but once we came out in that second half after the break we came with some juice and some fire,” Williams said. “We got in the end zone a couple times and started getting our rhythm. It was good to see the offense fight back and not give up. I really feel like this year is a big improvement from last year. You’ll see, overall as a team we just got better.”

Quarterbacks Doug Brumfield and Justin Rogers got the majority of the reps as they continue to battle for the starting job. While neither has yet to create significant separation, Arroyo believes they are nearing the time when a starter must be named. Thursday’s practice was UNLV’s ninth of training camp, leaving the team with 11 more camp sessions before they transition to game-week prep for the season opener against Eastern Washington on Sept. 2.

Arroyo is waiting for one of the quarterbacks to make his decision obvious.

“That’s what you hope for,” Arroyo said. “We’re pushing toward that. We’re in practice eight, you hope you get to that by that second scrimmage, once you get about three-quarters of the way through [training camp] you hope you get to one guy. Obviously you start getting now two weeks out of a game, let’s see if you start getting some real energy with one guy. And hopefully that’s organic.”

Martell still not practicing

Tate Martell is still waiting for his opportunity to jump into the quarterback battle, as the junior remains limited by a hand injury. The Miami transfer participated in some individual drills on Thursday but has yet to be cleared for a full practice.

Arroyo reported that Martell has not conveyed any information about his injury status or when he might be available.

“He hasn’t told me nothing,” Arroyo said. “He’s done a good job in individual [drills], trying to get himself going and it’s been good to see him out there and engaged.”

One point Arroyo wanted to get straight during his meeting with the media was that he doesn’t want his team to revolve around Martell, a former Bishop Gorman star who is the most heralded player to join the UNLV football program in this century.

As Martell continues to be the biggest story of training camp, Arroyo went out of his way to state that the program is more important that any one player.

“He’s engaged in our culture. It’s not vice-versa. So let’s make sure we make that clear, right? We invite guys into our place. The narrative is the fact that this thing is elevating and escalating and it’s no longer easy to just jump on board and grab things. So he’s been on that and he’s embraced us.”

After fielding four consecutive questions about Martell, Arroyo sarcastically tried to redirect his media session back toward the players who are practicing.

“The rest of the team is doing great,” he said with a laugh.

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