Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025 | 2 a.m.
Dan Mullen has already accomplished something his two predecessors at UNLV could not: getting Tavian McNair to sign on the dotted line.
McNair, a Las Vegas native, was rated the No. 94 receiver in the class of 2025, and he was heavily recruited by Marcus Arroyo and Barry Odom. Neither was able to land a commitment, however, and McNair signed with Utah over the summer.
When the Utes’ offensive coordinator stepped down late in the year, McNair asked for and was granted his release Dec. 28. Still new on the job at that point, Mullen hit the accelerator, and two weeks later he had earned a pledge from McNair, who was announced as a headliner of UNLV’s incoming recruiting class Wednesday as part of national signing day.
McNair, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound speedster, played one year at Canyon Springs, where his father was the head coach. He then transferred to Bishop Gorman as a sophomore before moving on to Centennial (Corona, Calif.) to finish up his high school career.
McNair has big-time connections to the program. His father, Gus, played at UNLV under coach John Robinson from 2001 to 2002. His position coach was Del Alexander, who was retained by Mullen and will now be Tavian’s position coach as well.
Mullen credited Alexander’s existing inroads for giving UNLV a late shot at a talented prospect.
“Through the whole process, his relationship with coach Alexander was huge,” Mullen said. “He did a great job recruiting him and developing that relationship so that when the opportunity came for him to look for what was going to fit for him, the opportunity to be here, to come home to play at UNLV, was huge.”
McNair had Cal, Kansas and Arizona State as his other finalists before initially choosing Utah.
Gus McNair said he had remained in contact with Alexander and UNLV director of football player development Hunkie Cooper.
“It’s kind of surreal,” Gus McNair said. “Del coached me, he was my receivers coach (at UNLV). And when I became a coach at Desert Pines, I would go and sit with Hunkie and we would talk about life, community … and the next thing I know, I become the head coach of Canyon Springs. The relationship is strong.”
Gus McNair described his son as an excellent athlete who could develop into a big-play machine for the Scarlet and Gray.
“Tavian is an explosive player, man,” Gus McNair said. “I think you’re getting a guy who can stretch the field, get the 50-50 ball. And I think his best football is ahead of him. Tavian has kind of been playing high school off talent, really. He hasn’t really been pushed-pushed. Del is going to push him out of his comfort zone and really develop him.”
Tavian McNair did receive a name-image-likeness licensing package to commit to UNLV, but according to his father, that wasn’t the main reason he chose to play for his hometown school.
“He took a major pay cut from Utah coming to UNLV,” Gus McNair said. “That’s fine. He’s OK with going out and earning it and competing and getting his number up. But he’s satisfied. He’s happy.”
Tavian McNair graduated from high school in December and is already enrolled in classes at UNLV, so he will be able to participate in spring practice as a true freshman.
Other notes from signing day:
Transfer of powers
Mullen has acquired 56 players since taking over as head coach, with 13 already in the fold from the early signing period. Wednesday saw 43 more newcomers ink with UNLV, and as expected, transfers make up the majority of the incoming class.
Only four high school players were part of Wednesday’s class, with transfers accounting for the other 39 spots. And like Odom before him, Mullen appears to be targeting power-conference players who are transferring down a level to the Group of Five.
That strategy worked splendidly for Odom — Jackson Woodard went from a walk-on who couldn’t find playing time at Arkansas to the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year at UNLV. The question is, which players in the 2025 class fit that mold?
Safety Jake Pope was a 4-star recruit out of high school and started his college career at Alabama before transferring to Georgia last year. Receiver JoJo Earle was also a 4-star who started at Alabama before moving on to TCU. Running back Jaylon Glover (Utah), defensive lineman Jalen Lee (LSU) and linebacker John Lewis (Mississippi State) fit the profile, as does cornerback Denver Harris, who has played at Texas A&M, LSU and UTSA.
Quarterbacks in the fold
Both of Mullen’s quarterback imports have power-conference experience as well. Junior Anthony Colandrea played 19 games across two seasons at Virginia, while Alex Orji was part of Michigan’s national championship run in 2023. Now it’s up to Mullen to figure out who is going to be his starter.
It’s been awhile since UNLV had a settled quarterback situation. No player has started every game at the position since Jon Denton pulled the trick in 1996, and even Odom, for all his successes, had trouble finding stability under center. Colandrea and Orji have different skill sets, and Mullen doesn’t want to make them anything they’re not.
“How I’ve always been with quarterbacks, our system is big enough, our playbook is big enough that we only use a portion of it in every season. We want to fit it around the strengths of the players.”
Mullen emphasized that he was excited by the physical skills of Colandrea and Orji, explaining that it’s easier to teach a talented player on the nuances of the game than vice versa.
“You want them to have the things that are hard to coach, and need to improve on the things that are easier to coach,” Mullen said. “I love those type of guys, and both of them have that.”
Mullen studying tape
Alexander was surprised by how thorough and involved Mullen was in player evaluation, and Mullen confirmed he was waist-deep in game tape as UNLV went through the recruiting process.
Mullen said he personally oversaw and evaluated each of UNLV’s 56 recruits, and the result was a heralded class that ranks first in the Mountain West and No. 62 nationally, according to 247Sports.
“I’m responsible for all of them,” he said. “The program is my responsibility. It’s on my shoulders. I want to know who we’re bringing in here, what their abilities are, what they can do. For me, that is evaluating, that’s recruiting, that’s visiting with and sitting down with every single person.”
No more incoming
One major difference between Odom and Mullen appears to be their approach to roster-building. While Odom was open about it being a year-round process and maintaining flexibility to add players via the summer transfer window, Mullen doesn’t sound as interested in tinkering beyond signing day.
“Hopefully we’re pretty much done,” Mullen said when asked about his roster.
Things could always change after spring practice, but for now, this looks like it will be the UNLV team fans see Week 1 of the 2025 season.
General manager
One aspect of signing day that has changed since Mullen was last in the coaching game is the closing push.
Before the transfer portal and NIL, it was up to the head coach to seal the deal; usually an in-home visit or a trip to campus ended with a firm handshake and a commitment. Now, there’s another stop players make before coming to their final decision.
Mullen said his chief of staff Lee Davis landed the final “yes” from some of the 2025 recruits.
“In today’s world, it is a little bit different,” Mullen said. “Before, they used to come in and a big meeting culminates with the head coach. A lot of times Lee Davis, who is our chief of staff and GM, she has the culminating meeting with a lot of these guys.”
Davis was director of recruiting operations under Mullen at Florida from 2017 to 2021, and she has since worked as an assistant athletic director with a focus on recruiting at UCF.
That said, it’s still up to the head coach to get recruits to the finish line — even if they’re technically saying yes to the GM.
“There’s a lot more people maybe involved in it, but I’m certainly hands-on in who we’re recruiting, how we’re recruiting them, how they’re going to be developed in our program,” Mullen said.
Glad to be back
Mullen has been out of the recruiting game for three years, and while he enjoyed his time as a television analyst, he was happy to be back in the mix Wednesday.
He was even happier that the structure of signing day had changed, with the early period taking some pressure off coaches.
Instead of waiting by a fax machine, unsure if his prized recruit might be flipping to another school, Mullen said most of the class was boxed up long before he went to bed Tuesday night.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Mullen said. “Now there’s multiple signing days. We only signed a couple guys today. I remember usually I would have been coming to this meeting pretty grumpy because I haven’t slept in three days because I was on the phone until 4 in the morning, talking to everybody, trying to get everything done when there was the one signing day. (Now) most of our recruiting class is already on campus.”
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.