Gains and losses: Looking back at UNLV’s roster movement entering 2026

Not every offseason tears a program apart. UNLV’s kinda did. But also didn’t.

Ten wins in 2025. Nearly 6,000 yards of offense. Thirteen interceptions and 29 sacks on defense. By any reasonable measure the Rebels had something going. And then the portal swallowed half the roster.

What came next was the kind of turnover that makes you squint at the spring depth chart wondering if you’re looking at the same program. The quarterback is gone. Most of the receiving corps is gone. Eight offensive linemen are gone. The leading tackler is gone. It happened fast and it happened at every level.

So where does that leave UNLV heading into 2026?

Quarterback

Everything flows from here, which is what makes this the most important change on the roster. Anthony Colandrea ran this offense. He threw for 3,275 yards, ran for 621 more, and was responsible for 32 total touchdowns in 13 games. Cameron Friel, Gael Ochoa, and a limited version of Alex Orji also appeared at the position, but Colandrea was the engine. Losing that in one offseason is not a minor inconvenience. The staff treated it accordingly.

Jackson Arnold transferred in from Oklahoma by way of Auburn as the headliner. Orji is back, a legitimate athlete who rushed for 42 yards and scored once in three games last year. Sebastian Circo returns as a redshirt freshman with another year to develop. Derek Garcia arrives as a true freshman. The room has competition and it has options. What it does not have yet is a proven answer, and asking whoever wins this job to run a rebuilt offense behind a rebuilt offensive line is a lot to put on somebody in September.

Running Back

Here is where things stabilize. Jai’Den Thomas ran for 985 yards and 12 touchdowns in 12 games, added 221 receiving yards, and finished with 1,206 all-purpose yards. He is back. Jaylon Glover is also back after contributing 379 rushing yards and 312 kick return yards. Keyvone Lee graduated, taking 433 rushing yards and six touchdowns with him, and Rogerick Ray is gone too, but Thomas and Glover give this unit a genuine foundation. Darrien Jones, Kamran Williams, Mohammad Maali, and incoming freshman Skylar Lendsey-Vann round out the room. Of all the position groups on this roster, running back is the one that looks most like itself.

Wide Receiver

The losses here are jarring when you list them out. Jaden Bradley, 54 catches and 869 yards. Troy Omeire, 505 yards and five touchdowns. DaeDae Reynolds, 470 yards and five scores. JoJo Earle, 218 receiving yards and another 92 on the ground. Koy Moore, 12 catches for 120 yards. Traivon Dyson and Rashawn Jackson also departed after contributing in 2025. That is somewhere north of 2,000 yards of combined receiving production, all gone.

DeAngelo Irvin Jr., who had 18 catches for 188 yards and a touchdown, and Taeshaun Lyons, who caught 13 balls for 222 yards and three scores, are the anchor returners. Kayden McGee, Danny Boden, Cassidee Miles, David Titone-Perez, and Tavian McNair are also back. The portal additions include Troy Stellato, Amorion Walker, Taz Reddicks, Tatum Bell Jr., Vincent Carner, and Peyton Zachary. There is talent in this group. There is also a lot of timing to build with a new quarterback, and that takes reps that do not exist yet.

Tight End

Var’Keyes Gumms caught 11 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns in 2025, doing most of his damage near the end zone. Nick Elksnis added 10 catches for 120 yards and two scores. Both left. Keyan Burnett, a 6-foot-6 transfer from Kansas by way of Arizona, arrives as the headliner and enters with a real shot to contribute immediately. Andreas Diaz-Nicolaidis joins as a freshman. Jae Beasley II, Matt Byrnes, and Velltray Jefferson return as depth. Whether Burnett can replicate what Gumms gave them in the red zone is one of the quieter storylines heading into fall.

Offensive Line

Eight bodies gone. Malik McGowan, Nick Scalise, Reid Williams, James Faminu, Toby Moore, Maysan Neubauer, Dyllan Drummond, Alani Makihele. That list is not reserves and backups. Those are the guys who helped UNLV average 203 rushing yards per game and 5.6 yards per carry in 2025. The staff responded by bringing in nine new players: Griffin Scroggs, BJ Tolo, Colton Thomasson, Jackson Brown, Josh Haney, Eli Sanchez, Malik White, Jesus Garcia II, and Mateo Bilaver. Alekai Afoa, Ace Robinson, Ed Haynes, Will Thomas, Amare Taase, Chrysanthos Fetokakis, and Austin Boyd return as the holdovers. There is a roster here. Whether it becomes a unit by the time the season starts is a different question, and it may be the most important one on the offensive side of the ball.

Defensive Line and Edge

Tunmise Adeleye posted six sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss before leaving. Chief Borders led the team in quarterback hurries and added 5.5 tackles for loss. Cohen Fuller had 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Ose Egbase, Waisale Muavesi, Jalen Lee, and Cory Hall also departed. The returning group includes Lucas Conti, who had 4.0 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks, Landen Thomas, Elias Rudolph, Kenji Scanlan, Armand Ausbon, Andre Porter, Kal-El Togafau, Mo Abbasher, Eliah Logo, Maxwell Peterson, and Jordan Covington. Herb Gray, Bryce Waters, Prin Fox, Bryce Robinson, and Poe Purcell came in through the portal. Conti is the most important returning piece on this side of the line, and how quickly Gray and the other additions develop will say a lot about whether this front can pressure quarterbacks anywhere close to the way it did with Adeleye and Borders.

Linebacker

Marsel McDuffie led the team with 103 tackles, two interceptions, 2.0 sacks, and 5.5 tackles for loss. He was not just a good player, he was the heartbeat of the defense. Isaiah Patterson added 40 tackles. Justin Flowe, Jordan Eubanks, Bryce Edmondson, and Donovan Spellman also left. That is a lot of experience and production walking out in a short window.

Blesyng Alualu-Tuiolemotu, 57 tackles and 5.0 tackles for loss last season, has to be the anchor now. Kamuela Ka’aihue, Alexander Green, and Jacob Beza return alongside him. Dee Crayton, Cam Santee, Mark Iheanachor, and Cole Albrecht came in through the portal. Whether this group can approach what McDuffie’s unit gave the Rebels is probably the biggest open question anywhere on the defense.

Secondary

Laterrance Welch and Aamaris Brown each had four interceptions. Brown also totaled 51 tackles and 3.5 sacks, with one of his picks going back 67 yards for a score. Jaheem Joseph was practically a linebacker, posting 66 tackles, 8.0 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks from the safety spot. Andrew Powdrell had 59 tackles. All four are gone. Nijrell Eason II, Kodi DeCambra, Devin Hartsuck, Anthony Costanzo, Yasir Muhammad, and Kela Moore also left.

This room still has more to work with than some of the others, though. Jake Pope is back after 79 tackles and four pass breakups. Quandarius Keyes returns with two interceptions, one of them a pick-six, and 14 tackles. Denver Harris, Mumu Bin-Wahad, Tre Fulton, Joshua Tuchek, Jordan Buchanan, Jaylen Allen, Logan Christensen, and Brock DeFries all return as well. Landyn Cleveland, Kyron Chambers, Tony-Louis Nkuba, Avery Helm, Cameron Parodi, Darien Lewis, and Tylen Mathews came in through the portal. It is a deep group on paper. Pope and Keyes give it a real foundation, and if the transfer additions hit the ground running, this unit could be functional relatively quickly.

Special Teams

Ramon Villela went 14-for-19 on field goals, made all 57 extra points, and hit from 50 yards. He is back for his junior season. Cam Brown, who averaged exactly 44.0 yards on 43 punts with a long of 71, is gone. Carter Jula, Konner Melzer, Caden Costa, and Andrew McIlquham all departed as well. Noah Randazzo, Matt Choules, Ethan Schwartz, and Tyson Jacobson came in to address those voids. Andrew O’Reilly returns as the long snapper. Keeping Villela was the most important special teams priority heading into the offseason. That box got checked.

Putting it together

UNLV came off a 10-win season and got reshaped at basically every level. The quarterback left. The top three receivers left. Eight offensive linemen left. The team’s leading tackler left. The defensive line lost its two most disruptive players. In terms of raw roster turnover, this is not the kind of thing programs usually face right after winning ten games.

What keeps it from being a full teardown is the returning core. Thomas and Glover in the backfield. Irvin and Lyons at receiver. Pope and Keyes in the secondary. Blesyng at linebacker. Villela at kicker. Those are real pieces and real production, and the portal additions represent genuine effort to fill what walked out.

Whether this team looks like the 2025 version comes down to two things pretty quickly: Arnold settling in at quarterback and the offensive line becoming a real unit by September. If both happen, the rest of this roster has enough to compete. If neither does, the questions get a lot harder to answer come conference play.