Defense key to UNLV’s success this football season

The aggressive way UNLV signed junior college defensive players in its most recent recruiting class indicated an urgency to improve a side of the football team that has struggled for more than a decade.

And there’s no doubt the Rebels need their defense to perform much better than it has in recent seasons for them to make a serious run at a bowl.

But the starting defensive lineup UNLV takes into Friday’s opening of training camp at Rebel Park doesn’t represent a shake-up, though one could occur before the Aug. 31 season opener against Southern Utah at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Junior tackle Tavis Malakius and senior cornerback Myles Plummer are the only junior college transfers listed on the initial first-team defense, and they joined the Rebels two recruiting cycles ago. On the second team, only junior linebacker Vic Viramontes and junior cornerback Aaron Lewis were juco transfers from the most recent recruiting class, with two others — junior tackle Dominion Ezinwa and senior linebacker Demitrious Gibbs — having been in the program at least a year.

The more experienced players were able to use that advantage in spring practices, and it’s reflected in the depth chart even after the Rebels signed five junior college defensive players in December and two in February.

“It takes a good year to get guys ready to go,” coach Tony Sanchez said. “That’s the thing about juco guys. Sometimes it’s not the immediate impact they make, it’s the impact they make a year after they show up. They’re finally comfortable in the situation.”

The question, of course, is whether the defense — no matter the personnel makeup — will improve enough to finally make a difference.

UNLV hasn’t given up fewer than 30 points per game since allowing a 28.6 average in 2007. Before that, the last time the defense played that well was in 2003 when it allowed a 22.7-point average.

The Rebels allowed 37.2 points per game last season.

And, yet, there is the usual preseason optimism that better times are ahead. Part of it has to do with how last season ended, when the defense allowed 24 points in a rare victory at San Diego State, limited host Hawaii to 13 points through three quarters before allowing 22 in the fourth in a loss and giving up nine points in the final three periods to beat UNR.

“You can see how we can be such a good defense,” said senior linebacker Javin White, whose two fourth-quarter interceptions sealed the victory over UNR. “In Hawaii, we just didn’t finish. I think the biggest thing for our defense is to take control of what we can take control of and don’t worry about something we can’t control.”

This is the defense’s second season under coordinator Tim Skipper, who was the linebackers coach at Florida before joining the Rebels.

“He understands his players now, and we understand him as a coach,” White said. “We know what he expects, and he knows what we expect from him. I think Coach Skip is one of the best moves we’ve done at UNLV, and I think we have a lot of greatness to come.”

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Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.