LAS VEGAS — Griffin Scroggs and BJ Tolo split reps at center again in practice this week, the clearest sign yet that UNLV has not turned Austin Boyd’s job over to one replacement.
Scroggs handled most of the work during Saturday’s 21-6 win at Hawai‘i, but Tolo played as well, and Dan Mullen continued rotating the rest of the offensive line around them. Alekai Afoa worked at left tackle. Joe Metzger rotated at guard. By the end of the night, Mullen said UNLV had used two centers, three guards and three tackles while running for 248 yards and allowing one sack.
Boyd will miss Saturday’s game at North Texas and is expected to remain out for at least another couple of weeks. What started as an emergency adjustment against Memphis has turned into something different. UNLV is not trying to recreate the same starting five every week without Boyd. Mullen is looking at the players he has available and deciding which combination fits the defense in front of them.
“We played two centers, three guards, three tackles,” Mullen said Monday. “It’s that group playing as a whole I think is really important for us.”
The rotation was still visible deep into the Hawai‘i game. Afoa was at left tackle and Metzger at left guard during the third quarter while Scroggs was handling center. UNLV continued moving linemen instead of reaching a point where one five-man group took over every series. The offense kept functioning through it, with Jai’Den Thomas and Jackson Arnold eventually combining for 232 rushing yards.
That was much different from the situation UNLV faced a week earlier.
Boyd went down during the Memphis game, leaving the Rebels to change centers without the benefit of a practice week. Arnold called Boyd the “glue” of the offensive line and said losing him during the game created a more difficult adjustment than what UNLV faced in Honolulu.
“I think the Memphis game hurt a lot more than this past week,” Arnold said. “Obviously, with a guy like Boyd and the leader that he is and kind of the glue on our O-line, in my opinion, it hurts to lose a guy like that.”
The injury happened at the same time the game was getting harder on the line. Memphis was able to rush more aggressively late once UNLV was forced into obvious passing situations, and Arnold was sacked six times. He has been careful not to place all of that on the center change. Arnold said Memphis had a better defensive front than Hawai‘i and that the game situation allowed the Tigers to “pin their ears back” late.
Still, having a week to prepare Scroggs and Tolo changed what UNLV could ask of them.
Arnold said the additional preparation helped the replacement centers get themselves mentally and physically ready for Hawai‘i. Instead of changing the communication and snap operation in the middle of a game, UNLV could spend the week working with both centers and building the rest of the line around them.
Scroggs received the larger workload once the game started. PFF charted him with 35 run-blocking snaps and 24 pass-blocking snaps. Tolo played considerably fewer snaps, but Mullen’s comments Monday made clear that the distribution against Hawai‘i does not necessarily establish how the position will be handled every week.
When Mullen was asked about the two centers, he did not describe Scroggs as the new starter and Tolo as the backup.
“I think each of them bring a little something different to the table,” Mullen said. “Week to week, some of that again gets game planned on the different matchups and what we’re playing with different teams.”
That is the important part of what UNLV is doing.
This is no longer simply a backup-center competition. Mullen is looking at the center position the same way he has looked at other parts of the offense, through the matchup. If one player gives the Rebels something they prefer against a certain front, he can play. If another fits a different look, UNLV has already shown it is comfortable changing.
The split practice reps this week back that up. Scroggs had the larger role at Hawai‘i and still has not taken every center rep during North Texas week. Tolo remains part of the preparation, which gives UNLV the ability to use either player Saturday rather than making the decision before the game and living with it.
The same approach has extended beyond center.
Metzger received an 82.5 pass-blocking grade from PFF on 13 pass-blocking snaps at Hawai‘i. Afoa continued getting work at tackle. Mullen had enough flexibility to change multiple spots without stopping the offense each time a new combination went onto the field.
The Hawai‘i game gave the Rebels their first chance to see whether that could work.
UNLV finished with 248 rushing yards on 43 attempts. Thomas ran for 143 yards and a touchdown, while Arnold added 89 yards and two scores. Hawai‘i recorded one sack. Arnold said afterward that the sack came after he slipped in the backfield, not because the line allowed immediate pressure.
That does not mean the line suddenly became a finished product. Hawai‘i did not have the same defensive front as Memphis, and UNLV spent far less time in obvious passing situations. The more useful takeaway was that the Rebels could rotate centers, guards and tackles throughout the night without having the changes disrupt the offense.
North Texas will test that in a different way.
Arnold said the Mean Green’s pressure stood out when he began studying their loss to Indiana.
“I thought they played extremely hard, extremely physical,” Arnold said. “Brought a ton of pressure, so something to look out for this week.”
North Texas coach Neal Brown was also encouraged by the way his front handled Indiana for much of the game. Brown said the interior defensive line held up well physically before the Mean Green struggled late, and he came away believing there was something to build on despite the 52-16 final score.
That makes the work at center important for more than the snap.
North Texas can pressure the middle of the protection and force UNLV to sort through different looks before the play starts. Scroggs and Tolo both have game experience, something Mullen mentioned as one reason he is comfortable using either. He does not have to put a first-time center into a loud road environment and hope he can handle the communication when the defense starts moving.
That matters in Denton, where UNLV will be playing its second straight road game and North Texas will be opening its home schedule.
Mullen said the experience of both centers gives him confidence in those situations. The decision becomes less about whether either player can function and more about which one gives UNLV what it wants against a particular front.
That is why Saturday’s starting lineup may not tell the entire story.
Scroggs could take the first snap and Tolo could still play. Tolo could get more work than he did at Hawai‘i. Metzger and Afoa could continue moving through the rotation. Mullen has already shown he is willing to change the group during a game, and the split center reps this week suggest that option remains open.
Boyd’s injury forced UNLV into this situation. What the Rebels have done since is make the line less fixed than it was supposed to be.
At Hawai‘i, that meant two centers, three guards and three tackles.
Against North Texas, the combination could change again.