LAS VEGAS — Mike Scherer is back at UNLV, and the timing is not hard to understand. The Rebels need their linebacker room to be better in 2026 after a season in which the defense won plenty of games but still had too many weeks when the front seven did not look firm enough.
UNLV won 10 games last season and reached another Mountain West championship game, but the run-defense numbers showed where the stress lived. Air Force ran 66 times for 428 yards and six touchdowns. Boise State ran for 294 yards and three touchdowns in the regular-season meeting. Ohio ran for 207 yards and two touchdowns in the bowl game. Nevada ran for 193 yards and two touchdowns. Utah State ran for 178 yards. UCLA ran for 173. That is too many Saturdays where the defense had to survive pressure on the ground.
Those numbers were not only linebacker problems. The defensive line had to control more space. The edges had to set better. The defense as a whole had to tackle better. But when teams run the ball that consistently, the second level cannot be treated like a side conversation. The linebackers have to fit the run, take better angles and keep manageable gains from becoming drive-extending plays.
That is where Scherer comes in. He returns to Las Vegas after spending 2025 as Purdue’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, and his return matters because UNLV has already seen what his best work can look like. During his previous time with the Rebels, the linebacker room became one of the strongest parts of the program, and Jackson Woodard became the standard in the middle of the defense.
Woodard was not just productive. He made the defense feel organized. He tackled, covered, blitzed, communicated and gave the unit a player it could lean on. UNLV does not need someone in this room to become Woodard. That would be the wrong way to frame it. But the Rebels do need the room to bring back some of what that version of the defense had: communication, physicality, timing and the ability to keep the front and back end working together.
The 2026 roster gives Scherer more to work with than just hope. Blesyng Alualu-Tuiolemotu is back after playing in all 14 games last season. Kamuela Ka’aihue is back after also appearing in all 14. Justin Flowe returns for his second season in Las Vegas, but his 2025 role was mostly limited defense and special teams. UNLV also added Cam Santee from Holy Cross, Dee Crayton from Clemson and Mark Iheanachor from SMU. Cole Albrecht, Alexander Green and Jacob Beza give the room younger pieces behind them.
That is a real room, but it is also one with a lot to sort out.
Alualu-Tuiolemotu gives UNLV its most obvious returning answer at linebacker. He played in all 14 games last season, started 12 and finished with 61 tackles, five tackles for loss, a pass breakup, a quarterback hurry and a forced fumble. He was fifth on the team in tackles behind Marsel McDuffie, Jake Pope, Jaheem Joseph and Andrew Powdrell.
That matters because three of the four players ahead of him are not part of the linebacker room’s 2026 solution. Joseph and Powdrell are gone. Pope plays safety. McDuffie led the team in tackles, but Alualu-Tuiolemotu is the returning linebacker with the clearest path to becoming the center of the room.
Now the expectation changes. Alualu-Tuiolemotu enters 2026 with preseason All-Mountain West recognition, which means he is not just being viewed as an experienced returner. He is being viewed as one of the better linebackers in the league entering the season. That comes with more responsibility. UNLV needs him to be more than active. It needs him to be right.
The linebacker in the middle of the defense has to understand where the front is vulnerable, communicate motion, handle tempo and fit correctly when the line moves in front of him. A linebacker can pile up tackles because he is cleaning up problems. The next step is preventing more of those problems from becoming bigger plays. Alualu-Tuiolemotu has already shown he can be around the ball. In 2026, UNLV needs him to make the defense feel steadier before the ball gets there.
Photo source: UNLV AthleticsSantee gives the room its biggest production addition. He arrives from Holy Cross after a 2025 season in which he finished with 110 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, five pass breakups and five forced fumbles. That is a full stat line. He was not just making tackles after the play had already gained yards. He was getting behind the line of scrimmage, affecting the passing game and forcing the ball loose.
The question is how much of that travels. Patriot League production does not automatically become Mountain West production. The speed is different. The size is different. The weekly matchups are different. A player who lived around the ball at one level still has to prove he can do it when the windows are smaller and the blockers are better.
But Santee’s play style is exactly what UNLV needed to add. The Rebels needed another linebacker who had already carried real responsibility and already shown he could finish plays near the ball. They needed a player who could run downhill, pressure gaps, blitz with purpose and bring more contact into the room. The forced fumbles are especially worth noting. UNLV forced only seven fumbles as a team last season. Santee forced five by himself at Holy Cross. If that part of his game travels, the linebacker room changes quickly.
Dee Crayton gives UNLV one of the more interesting transfer swings in the room because there is more to his profile than simply coming from Clemson.
Crayton played in 11 games for Clemson in 2025 and recorded eight tackles, including four against North Carolina. Before that season, he had been credited with 25 tackles in 19 career games across his first two years with the Tigers, with most of that production coming in 2024, when he finished with 20 tackles while working as a co-backup at both middle linebacker and weakside linebacker.
That background matters because Crayton is not arriving as a finished college producer, but he is not arriving without experience either. He has been in a major defensive program, played multiple linebacker spots and spent time in a room where competition was part of the daily job. UNLV is betting that a clearer path to snaps can turn that experience into a more defined role.
At 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, Crayton gives the Rebels a linebacker with enough size to play inside and enough athletic ability to help in space. That matters because modern linebacker play is not just about running downhill and meeting a guard in the hole. The position has to carry backs, expand under routes, close passing windows, blitz with timing and still tackle when offenses spread the field.
His high school production also explains why he was on Clemson’s radar in the first place. Crayton was a three-star prospect out of Denmark High School in Georgia, where his senior season included 75 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, four sacks, two interceptions and four forced fumbles. That is the kind of stat line that points to a player who once lived around the ball and made plays in different ways.
The question is whether that version can show up again at UNLV. Crayton does not have to be handed a job because he came from Clemson. He has to earn trust. He has to be where the call expects him to be. He has to turn the athletic profile into useful snaps. If he does that, he gives Scherer another linebacker who can compete inside, help in space and make the rotation harder to predict.
Kamuela Ka’aihue gives the Rebels size, familiarity and the kind of availability coaches value. He played in all 14 games last season and finished with 23 tackles, including 12 solo stops, two tackles for loss and a sack. His best tackling game came against Air Force, when he finished with a season-high four tackles in one of UNLV’s most physical games of the season. He also recorded a sack in the win over UNR, giving the Rebels a late-season example of what he can bring when he is playing downhill.
Those are not headline numbers, but they matter in the context of this room. Ka’aihue was not a name buried on the roster. He was part of the weekly operation, and at 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds, he gives UNLV one of its bigger linebacker bodies.
There is also a durability piece to his profile. Before arriving at UNLV, Ka’aihue played in all 24 games over two seasons at Arizona, where he totaled 26 tackles and half a tackle for loss. Add that to his 14 games with the Rebels, and he has appeared in 38 games over the last three seasons. For a linebacker room trying to become steadier, that kind of availability matters.
Ka’aihue’s background also fits the development piece of the room. He came out of President Theodore Roosevelt High School in Honolulu as a three-star recruit and was rated as one of the top linebackers in Hawai’i. He has already been through a Power Four program, already contributed at UNLV and already shown he can stay on the field.
His next step is becoming more than a rotational body. UNLV needs bigger linebackers who can take on blocks, survive inside traffic and help keep the defense from getting washed out against physical run teams. Air Force, Boise State and Ohio all showed why that matters. When teams are running the ball with that kind of comfort, linebackers do not get to be background pieces. They have to be part of the correction.
Ka’aihue gives Scherer a player with size, experience and a real game-day track record. If he becomes a more trusted part of the rotation, the Rebels get stronger against the kind of matchups that pushed the defense around last season.
Justin Flowe is the returning name with the biggest résumé, but his 2025 role at UNLV has to be described honestly. Flowe was mostly a limited defensive piece and special teams contributor last season, finishing with 10 tackles, half a tackle for loss and one pass defended. That does not make him irrelevant, but it does change the way his 2026 role should be framed. He is entering his second year at UNLV and his seventh year of college football. At this point, the conversation cannot be about potential forever. He has to play.
The background is still worth a mention. Flowe was once a consensus five-star recruit and the No. 1 inside linebacker in the country, then played at Oregon and Arizona before arriving at UNLV. He had 35 tackles at Oregon in 2022 and a career-high 44 tackles at Arizona in 2023, showing he has produced before against major competition.
But none of that gives him a role in 2026 by itself. Alualu-Tuiolemotu is the returning starter with the clearest path to a major role. Santee arrives with huge production from Holy Cross. Crayton brings Clemson experience. Ka’aihue brings size, availability and a 14-game role from last season. Flowe has to force his way into that conversation.
That is what makes this season important for him. If Flowe becomes part of the rotation, UNLV gets an older linebacker with Power Four experience and one of the more decorated backgrounds in the room. If he does not, it becomes fair to ask what the role is supposed to be. A seventh-year player in his second season with the program cannot just be a name on the roster. He has to help the defense.
Mark Iheanachor gives UNLV one of the younger transfer bets in the room. Iheanachor comes from SMU after redshirting as a freshman and playing in three games. He recorded four tackles, including a tackle for loss and a sack at Boston College, and also saw time against East Texas A&M and Louisville. That is not enough of a sample to project him as an immediate answer, but it is enough to show he has already been in a college program, played real snaps and made a negative play.
The recruiting background makes him more interesting. Iheanachor had offers from Arizona State, Oklahoma, Washington and others coming out of high school, and he took official visits to Kansas State and Oklahoma before signing with SMU. He was ranked as the No. 93 linebacker in the country and the No. 66 prospect in California by the Rivals Industry Ranking.
There is also a useful football detail in his background. Iheanachor played both ways in high school, and SMU linebackers coach Maurice Crum pointed to his running back experience as part of what made him appealing. The idea was that a linebacker who has carried the ball can bring vision, instincts and feel for space to the defensive side. That does not guarantee anything at UNLV, but it explains why there is something to develop.
At 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, Iheanachor gives Scherer a young linebacker with four years of eligibility and room to grow. He does not have to solve the room immediately. He has to push the competition, help on special teams and become a player the staff can trust if injuries or rotation needs force the issue.
That is how good rooms are built. Not every answer has to be ready in June. Some players have to become real options by October. Iheanachor’s value is tied to how quickly he can learn the calls, understand where the help is and know when to trigger downhill or get depth in coverage.
Albrecht, Green and Beza are part of the future of the room. Albrecht is listed as an outside linebacker at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, giving him more of an edge-adjacent frame. That matters because UNLV needs different body types in the front seven. Some linebackers have to run and cover. Others have to grow into players who can play closer to the line, set edges, rush or give the defense more flexibility depending on personnel.
Green and Beza give UNLV local developmental pieces behind the older names. Green is a 6-foot-2, 235-pound redshirt freshman from Palo Verde. Beza is a 6-foot, 235-pound sophomore from Lake Mead Christian Academy. Neither needs to define the 2026 linebacker room, but both matter for roster building. Linebacker cannot become a yearly scramble. UNLV used the portal to add immediate competition with Santee, Crayton and Iheanachor, but the best version of the program still needs internal players growing behind the older names.
The linebacker room also has to account for what left around it. Joseph finished third on the team with 73 tackles, eight tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Brown had 52 tackles, five tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and four interceptions. Powdrell had 63 tackles. Even if those players were not all linebackers, their production affected how the second level functioned.
When players like that leave, the linebacker room has to absorb more responsibility. Someone has to replace the tackling. Someone has to replace the communication. Someone has to replace the physical presence in the middle of the field. Someone has to make sure the defense does not become too dependent on Pope cleaning everything up from safety.
That is one of the reasons Scherer’s return matters. He is not walking into an empty room. He has a returning starter with real production. He has a Holy Cross transfer who tackled everything. He has a Clemson transfer with traits. He has returning size in Ka’aihue. He has a high-profile veteran in Flowe who has to become more than a special teams piece. He has a young SMU transfer with eligibility in Iheanachor. He has developmental bodies behind them. Now the room has to play like one group.
The run defense will be the first test. UNLV allowed too much on the ground last season for the linebackers to be treated like a side conversation. The defensive line has to be better, but the linebackers have to make the defense firmer. They have to reduce the easy second-level yards. They have to keep eight-yard runs from becoming 28-yard runs. They have to tackle well enough that safeties are not constantly cleaning up problems downhill.
That matters because the secondary has enough talent to be more aggressive if the front seven lets it. Jake Pope gives UNLV a proven safety. Denver Harris gives the cornerback room upside. Avery Helm brings experience. Quandarius Keyes has already shown he can find the football. But defensive backs get pulled into too many problems when the linebackers are late or wrong.
The pass defense depends on them, too. Modern linebackers cannot only be run-game players. They have to survive in space. They have to carry seams, expand under routes, match backs and avoid becoming targets on third down. That may decide how flexible Guenther can be. If the linebackers can handle space, UNLV can stay multiple. If they cannot, the defense has to protect them with personnel and calls. That affects pressure. It affects coverage. It affects whether UNLV can disguise looks or has to declare them early.
That is why linebacker is such a difficult position to evaluate. Everyone notices the tackles. Everyone notices the hits. But the best linebacker play usually starts before contact. It starts with eyes. It starts with leverage. It starts with avoiding one false step. It starts with knowing when the guard is pulling, when the back is leaking, when play action is trying to hold you and when the route behind you is the real problem.
That is the detail Scherer has to bring back into the room. UNLV does not need its linebackers to become the face of the defense. It needs them to make the defense easier to trust. If the room settles, the run fits should tighten. The pass rush should connect better with coverage. The secondary should be able to play with better leverage. The defense should spend less time surviving bad downs and more time forcing offenses into them.
If it does not settle, the same problems can come back. Physical run games can drag the linebackers into traffic. Quarterbacks can attack the space behind them. Safeties can get pulled too close to the line of scrimmage. The defense can still make plays, but it will have to work too hard to get off the field.
That is why the linebacker room matters in 2026. Scherer’s return gives it credibility. Alualu-Tuiolemotu gives it a returning starter with league recognition. Santee gives it production. Crayton gives it Power Four experience and athletic ability. Ka’aihue gives it size and availability. Flowe gives it a high-profile veteran who has to become more than a special teams piece. Iheanachor gives it a young transfer with eligibility and upside. Albrecht, Green and Beza give it developmental depth beyond the obvious names.
The pieces are there for the room to be better. Now UNLV has to find out if it has a second level that can hold the defense together when the season gets hard.