UNLV preview: Rebels ready for next chapter in turnaround story

UNLV football coach Barry Odom opened and closed his second training camp with the Rebels by sharing tales of his own football career.

He played linebacker for the University of Missouri from 1996 until 1999, but he almost ended the journey before it began. After starting fall camp on campus during Odom’s freshman year, late Tigers football coach Larry Smith moved his team to a now-closed military academy for a week.

Odom and his teammates were in football hell there. Odom described it as 190-degree weather with no air conditioning and “nothing but corn and soybean forever.”

Odom walked to a pay phone one day to call his father and say he was done with football. His father calmly encouraged Odom to take a 20-hour Greyhound bus trip home to Oklahoma, join the family for church Sunday and enlist in the army Monday.

Odom would go on to record 72 tackles as a freshman and endure the military school portion of training camp multiple times before he graduated.

When the Rebels began fall camp to try to build on their historic 2023 season, Odom shared that memory to explain how he encourages his players to grind through the Las Vegas heat.

He laughed when he was told star linebacker Jackson Woodard didn’t believe his coach ever wanted to quit football.

“It was a very true story,” Odom said. “I’ve got some stories on him, too, (but) I’ll wait till the right time for those, though. The more experience you have, the better the story is.”

Odom loves stories so much, he convinced his players they’re the authors of their own with a motivational speech before camp started.

The Rebels finished 9-5 last season for their first winning campaign and bowl-game appearance since 2013. They also played in the Mountain West championship game for the first time.

UNLV still enters this year with a chip on its shoulder after ending the season with three straight losses, including a 49-36 defeat to Kansas in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.

The Rebels are leaving camp with 111 players focused on doing better once this season begins at Houston on Saturday.

“This is a new team. We have a blank slate, blank piece of paper and we got to write a new story,” senior offensive lineman Tiger Shanks said.

Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming season:

Playoff dreams

One Group of Five team will have a guaranteed chance to compete for the national championship in the new 12-team College Football Playoff, which debuts this year.

Five automatic bids will go to the highest-ranked conference champions, which means at least one will go to the winner of Conference USA or the Mountain West, American Athletic, Mid-American or Sun Belt Conference.

UNLV sees the playoff as its goal.

“I think we go out and go undefeated, do what we should do, it’s a very good chance we get in there,” said quarterback Matt Sluka, who transferred in after dominating at Holy Cross. “Obviously it’ll come down to the Mountain West championship. We hope to get in there to win that and hopefully get the bid. … I think it’s a real attainable goal for us.”

Sluka’s belief in the team is strong, but it’s unclear if he’ll be the Rebels’ starting signal-caller. Odom has said he is still deciding between Sluka, Campbell transfer Hajj-Malik Williams and senior Cameron Friel.

Returning wide receiver and kick returner Jacob De Jesus believes all three quarterbacks bring their own strengths to the table. He said Friel “has the best arm, accuracy” and is reminiscent of last year’s starter Jayden Maiava, who transferred to Southern California in the offseason.

“(Sluka) can run. I can see him taking it down for a TD,” De Jesus said. “Malik-Williams can run too … but his knowledge of the game stands out.”

A star in White

UNLV’s Go-Go offense is filled with talent, no matter who lines up under center.

Wide receiver Ricky White III, a captain alongside De Jesus, Woodard and senior safety Johnathan Baldwin, returns after posting a school-record 1,483 receiving yards last season. That landed him on The Associated Press All-America third team.

There are big expectations for the Rebels’ running backs as well, featuring freshman Greg Burrell from Desert Pines and sophomore Jai’Den “Jet” Thomas, who ran for 503 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.

The defense will be bolstered by defensive back transfers Tony Grimes (North Carolina) and Jalen Catalon (Texas). The two will be part of a secondary UNLV believes will be improved compared to last year.

Special teams

One of the Rebels’ biggest question marks is their special teams, one of their strengths last season.

Kicker Jose Pizano, who made 26 of his 29 field-goal attempts last season and was on The Associated Press’ All-America second team, graduated. UNLV has yet to select his successor.

Odom said true freshman Caden Chittenden has “a leg up” over redshirt freshman Ramon Villela and junior Andre Meono, but all three got equal opportunities in training camp.

Chittenden set a Nevada state record at Faith Lutheran with 36 career field goals made.

Special teams coordinator James Shibest is bracing for growing pains.

“None of those guys have kicked a field goal in a (college) game,” he said. “(That) obviously can be a little concerning. It might be a little bit of a slow process early in the season if somebody struggles, but all of them have been kicking well. We’ve been really happy with Caden. He’s been really consistent.”

Contact Callie Lawson-Freeman at clawsonfreeman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.