Dan Mullen glanced around and smiled. He knew what it meant to have such a gathering. Knew his UNLV football program must be doing something right.
You win 10 games in a season and people begin to notice.
“It’s great when you can get 3,000 people out here for a spring game,” Mullen said. “Shows the buy-in of Rebels fans and what everybody is trying to believe in our program and what we’re trying to build. Hopefully, that continues into the season and rolls over for the excitement in Las Vegas to come see us in the fall and see exciting football.”
Mullen’s team ended its second spring practice under him as coach on Saturday at Rebel Park, undoubtedly well ahead of where UNLV was at this time last year.
“I feel pretty good coming out of spring,” he said. “You know me — I’m kind of crazy. I expect everything to be perfect every single day. But we have a really good group of guys and a really good foundation, a really solid idea of what we need to do, of adjustments we might make and changes we might make going into the season.”
Quarterback play
One area of interest this spring — isn’t it always? — was the quarterback position. It’s where Auburn transfer Jackson Arnold and returner Alex Orji competed daily.
Arnold used the time to learn the offense while Orji, who transferred from Michigan before last year, still is recovering from a serious Grade 3 LCL injury suffered against UCLA in September.
Arnold said he knew what type of offense he was getting himself into, more of a pro-style attack, more under center play. He feels it’s the sort of scheme that can take his game to another level. Something he needed.
“Just getting the playbook down and being very efficient,” Arnold said. “Coming in and learning the system and the lingo and being able to go out on the field and take command inside the offense. I think I was able to do that this spring. Happy how things ended up.”
Added Mullen: “I thought (the quarterbacks) were pretty solid. It was Jackson’s first time running the offense, and the trainers are probably looking at me saying, ‘Alex is running more than he should be right now.’
“I think you have two guys who can come back from spring and we can say, ‘Here’s where we’re going to tighten some things up.’ I want to hear from them. What they like. What they don’t like. As we put a package together this summer, they’re going to be really confident moving forward.”
There is no question UNLV is ahead of itself defensively from 2025. That’s when the Rebels struggled mightily in early games only to play some of their best ball on that side down the stretch.
Makes sense. Paul Guenther is the defensive coordinator who didn’t assume control of his unit until midway through spring drills last year. Installing his vision and scheme took time.
Now, the Rebels are playing with far more confidence. Flying to the ball. Not thinking as much. Relying on instinct. And depth helps, which UNLV has far more of it defensively now.
The little things
There are things that need to be cleaned up, Mullen said, but there is a sense of comfort. The key is taking time before training camp to figure out how best to put guys in position to make plays. More than anything, they want to be good enough so that they can roll different players through on that side of the ball.
“We’ve been able to build off last season, and that’s allowing us to play a lot faster,” senior safety Jake Pope said. “Nothing surprised me (in spring). I just think we’re building on the little things, and that’s important. We’ve really tightened things up.”
Mullen has a better feel for his team now, a better feel for the Mountain West, a better understanding of where UNLV is at and where it has the potential to go. It gives the Rebels a better jumping off point.
“Winning 30 games the last three years, creating energy and excitement in the city of Las Vegas,” Mullen said. “It’s going to be a fun fall. We want to come back bigger, faster, stronger and smarter for training camp in July. If we can do that, I think the foundation can really help us.”
Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.
