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 at linebacker for the University of Missouri from 1996 until 1999, but he nearly 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 for a week to a now-closed military academy.
Odom and his teammates were in football hell there, with what Odom described as 190-degree weather, no air conditioning in their rooms and “nothing but corn and soybean forever.”
One day, Odom walked to a pay phone to call his father and say he was done with football. His father, calm as ever, encouraged Odom to take a 20-hour Greyhound bus trip home to Oklahoma, join the family for church on Sunday and enlist in the army on Monday.
He’d 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,
As camp ended, Odom laughed when he was told that star UNLV 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 that they’re the authors of their own with a motivational speech before camp started.
Last season, the Rebels notched their first winning record (9-5) and bowl bid since 2013 and played in their first Mountain West championship game.
But after ending the season with three straight losses, including a 49-36 defeat to Kansas in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, they enter this campaign with a chip on their shoulders.
Now, the Scarlet and Gray are out of camp with 111 players all focused on going even further this time. That pursuit begins with the season opener 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
In a development afforded by the new 12-team College Football Playoff, one Group of Five team will have a guaranteed chance to compete for the national championship. Five automatic bids will go to the highest-ranked conference champions, which means at least one will go to the winner of the Mountain West, American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference or the Sun Belt.
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,” transfer quarterback Matt Sluka said. “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 among Sluka, the senior who dominated at Holy Cross, Campbell transfer Hajj-Malik Williams and senior Cameron Friel.
Returning wide receiver and kick returner Jacob De Jesus sees strengths in every option. According to De Jesus, 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 added. “Malik-Williams can run too … but his knowledge of the game stands out.”
A star in White
Whoever lands at the helm, UNLV’s Go-Go offense is filled with talent,
Ricky White III, a captain alongside De Jesus, Woodard and senior safety Johnathan Baldwin, returns after a school-record 1,483 receiving yards last season landed him on The Associated Press All-America third team.
There are big expectations for the running backs group as well, featuring Las Vegas freshman Greg Burrell from Desert Pines and returning sophomore Jai’Den “Jet” Thomas, who ran for 503 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.
The defense will be bolstered by transfers Tony Grimes from North Carolina and Jalen Catalon out of Texas in what the team believes will be an improved secondary.
Special teams
One of the biggest question marks surrounds special teams, which was a strength for the Rebels last season.
Jose Pizano, a second-team AP All-American who nailed 26 of 29 field goals and went 55-for-55 on extra points last season, has graduated, and the Rebels haven’t yet selected his successor.
Odom said true freshman Caden Chittenden has “a leg up” over redshirt freshman Ramon Villela and junior Andre Meono, but all three shared equal rotations throughout training camp.
Chittenden set a Nevada state record at Faith Lutheran for career field goals with 36.
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.
UNLV schedule
Saturday at Houston, 4 p.m.
Sept. 7 vs. Utah Tech, noon
Sept. 13 at Kansas, 4 p.m.
Sept. 28 vs. Fresno State, 12:30 p.m.
Oct. 4 vs. Syracuse, 6 p.m.
Oct. 11 at Utah State, 6 p.m.
Oct. 19 at Oregon State, TBD
Oct. 25 vs. Boise State, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 9 at Hawaii, 6 p.m.
Nov. 16 vs. San Diego State, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 22 at San Jose State, TBD
Nov. 30 vs. UNR, 5 p.m.