UNLV freshman Cameron Friel finding his way behind center

UNLV freshman quarterback Cameron Friel wasn’t supposed to play this soon.

Or develop this quickly.

“You want to let it kind of marinate as it goes,” Rebels coach Marcus Arroyo said of Friel’s trajectory. “Sometimes things are cooked best when you just go ahead and say, ‘Hey, here’s the fire. Let’s roll.’ That position can be one. Seen it happen before. Seeing it happen now.”

Friel played the most complete game of his true freshman season Thursday in a 27-20 loss to San Jose State, flashing the kind of growth and progression that Arroyo didn’t anticipate when the season began. A nagging back injury to redshirt freshman quarterback Doug Brumfield has paved the way for Friel to play, and in his fourth start he completed 20 of 28 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown and nearly drove the length of the field to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

“His poise is increasing,” Arroyo said. “You can see his pocket presence, his poise under pressure. His poise in progressions. Multiple coverages.

“His poise in situations. He’s tough. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally. That’s what you have to be in this position.”

In his first start last month against Iowa State, Friel was timid and gun-shy — totaling 67 passing yards and an interception on 13 attempts. But he’s developed a much better feel for his offensive line and receivers, and his quarterback rating Thursday of 155.2 was his best to date.

He’s no longer bailing from the pocket if his first read is covered and is much more deft at parsing through his progressions. He showed similar flashes in losses to Fresno State and Texas-San Antonio, accounting for 138 passing yards against Fresno State (ranked No. 22 in the nation at the time) and 307 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions against UTSA.

But he was tasked against San Jose State with making difficult third- and fourth-down throws against seven- and eight-man coverages and delivered strong, accurate throws that extended drives.

“For him to step in and play at this level and make big plays, I’m proud of him,” senior running back Charles Williams said. “He’s shown a lot of toughness. Out of this young group, he’s the toughest. He’s got knocked down probably 100 times. But he’ll get up 101 times. I love him for that.”

Brumfield is still day to day, Arroyo said, and Friel seems to have a stranglehold on the starting quarterback position. At least for the time being.

“The team is feeding off his leadership,” Arroyo. “It’s poise. It’s presence. It’s humility. It’s toughness. And he’s doing it in (clutch) situations against pretty good opponents.”

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.