Graney: UNLV football looking up with new coach, returning QB

It was a crazy Friday for UNLV.

On the same day the Pac-12 continued to disintegrate, the Rebels’ football team opened its initial fall camp under first-year coach Barry Odom.

What the upheaval in the Pac-12 could mean for the UNLV athletic program — with Oregon and Washington jumping to the Big Ten and Arizona, Arizona State and Utah joining the Big 12 — isn’t yet clear.

This is: Odom has the perfect perspective on things.

“I want us to get as good as we can and go win and compete for championships right where we are,” he said. “I have zero control over it. Our team has no control over it. If someone informs us we’re doing something differently … There’s always noise about it. It may never stop.

“I know this: We have 29 days to go play winning football. If we take care of business right where we are, then at the end of the year we’ll get everything we have the opportunity to earn.”

This could be a really special season for UNLV. Just a feeling, is all.

Need healthy quarterback

One of the drawbacks consistently mentioned about UNLV and its resume to join a Power Five conference —not that the recent Pac-12 defections and any more to come suggest the league will remain as such — is a football program that has struggled to win for decades.

Odom is intent on changing that. He just might be the one to do it.

The parallels between the Rebels and Raiders are stark. Each needs its starting quarterback to stay healthy to own a chance at success and each has a defense that needs to prove itself.

Doug Brumfield might not be the Jimmy Garoppolo of UNLV, but the talented junior quarterback, like Jimmy G, has been slowed at times due to injury. Brumfield suffered a fracture to a vertebrae in his lower back in 2021 and spent time in concussion protocol last year.

But he appeared more than capable Friday. He looked like a leader, acted like one, seemingly in control of the team’s new Go-Go offense. Brumfield owns the ability to win on most weekends. He can be the difference.

“I feel the preparation and work we put in during the off-season reflected out there on the field,” Brumfield said. “Looked like guys knew what they were doing. My goal is to perfect my craft, whether that’s being a leader or executing plays. The goal this summer was to know the offense to where I could teach it.”

Odom’s view is that Brumfield has achieved that.

His quarterback appeared comfortable, verbalizing thoughts to wide receivers and offensive linemen and running backs. If there was an error on a play, Brumfield instructed them what to do differently. How to attack a certain defensive look. Odom didn’t see such things from Brumfield in the spring. The growth is obvious.

“It’s exceptional,” the coach said. “It means he has put in a lot of time.”

Bodies have changed. Odom notices a more physical roster, one whose movement patterns are more precise, guys getting in and out of breaks more cleanly, change of direction more abruptly, more speed.

The Rebels just look like a better team.

All was apparent on a day when college athletics again felt the seismic shift of conference realignment.

Understands the deal

Odom knows all about it. He played in Missouri’s first Big 12 game against Texas. He was coaching at Memphis when that program went from the Big East to Conference USA to the American. He was back at Missouri during a transition to the Southeastern Conference.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Odom said. “It’s my job and our team to win where we are. If we do that, this league and the structure and respect of the Mountain West is universal … (Realignment) is always going to be a topic.”

Now more than ever.

What it means for UNLV isn’t yet known.

This is: Odom is intent on changing the reality of things on the field.

He will.

Just a feeling, is all. But a really strong one.

Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.