Quarterbacks compete on first day of UNLV football training camp

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Sunday, July 31, 2022 | 2 a.m.

After UNLV’s first training camp practice on Saturday, sophomore quarterback Harrison Bailey couldn’t wait to express his enthusiasm.

The transfer from Tennessee offered his opinion on the two-hour session before the assembled media asked a single question.

“Awesome first day,” Bailey said as he approached the media on the field at Rebel Park. “We got after it.”

Bailey’s attitude seemed to be an accurate representation of the rest of the roster, as the Scarlet and Gray enter the 2022 campaign with high hopes under third-year head coach Marcus Arroyo. Coming off a 2-10 season, UNLV has bolstered several key positions with an eye toward qualifying for a bowl game.

Of course, the most important position is quarterback, and Bailey will almost certainly play a key role in UNLV’s fortunes as he battles returning passers Doug Brumfield and Cameron Friel for the starting job.

Over the course of 17 camp practices, Arroyo wants to see one of candidates step forward and demonstrate a complete command of the offense.

“Obviously the command and demand at that position is a big deal,” Arroyo said. “We ask a lot of it. So the ability to command what we’re doing, and then demand of their teammates in the right way and lead. And then obviously they’ve got to be able to move the ball and be effective.”

UNLV came out of spring practice with Brumfield and Friel listed as co-starters on the depth chart, while Bailey slotted in as the No. 3 QB. Arroyo cautioned against reading too much into that, however; when he spoke at Mountain West media day two weeks ago he said the depth chart merely reflected the players’ experience in the system.

Brumfield started two games last year and while his box-score numbers were not impressive (43.6%, 320 yards, two touchdowns, one interception) he displayed a valuable ability to generate big plays. When a back injury knocked Brumfield out for the season, Friel stepped in as a true freshman and hit 62.4% of his passes for 1,608 yards, six touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Brumfield said that playing experience has helped him develop a firm grasp of the offense, but he’s still actively learning.

“I feel like I can study the playbook as much as I possibly can, and I could still learn something every day from the coaches and getting plays out here on the field,” Brumfield said.

Bailey is a former 4-star recruit who played in seven games across two years at Tennessee (68.0%, 594 yards, four touchdowns, two interceptions). He joined the team in time for spring practice and appears to be catching up to the incumbents in terms of experience.

After his initial excitement over the first practice, Bailey gave an honest assessment of his performance on the field.

“It was a little shaky on some things,” Bailey said. “That’s to be expected the first day. Of course we always shoot for the highest goal, everything perfect and we’re scoring every play, but a little shaky. Just got to clean a few things up. We’ll come back this afternoon and watch film and everything will be good.”

As the quarterback battle unfolds over the next three weeks, Arroyo is hopeful someone will emerge as the clear choice to lead the offense.

Until then, he plans to coach the position — hard.

“Those guys are coached pretty tough,” Arroyo said. “I want to see that we’re able to coach them tougher than we were before. I want to be more direct. I want to coach new stuff with them. We don’t want to have to say the same stuff at that position. We want to grow.”

Johnson exits with injury

It didn’t take long for the first training-camp injury to strike, unfortunately. During the second drill of the morning, junior safety Ricky Johnson lined up to cover junior receiver Kyle Williams in an 11-on-11 situation, and Johnson came away with an arm injury that forced him to leave the field.

Williams and Johnson leapt high for a pass and landed awkwardly, with Williams coming down on top of Johnson.

Johnson returned later with his arm in a cast.

Arroyo had no update immediately after practice. Johnson was listed as the No. 2 safety coming out of spring ball.

White gets open

One thing that seems to have carried over from spring practice is the ability of receiver Ricky White to get open.

The sophomore transfer from Michigan State was nearly uncoverable in April, and it was more of the same early on Saturday. In the limited portion of practice that was viewed by the media, White consistently got open by a mile, giving the quarterbacks several generous windows to complete long passes.

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