LAS VEGAS — UNLV expects to get wide receiver Kayden McGee and defensive tackle Poe Purcell back Saturday against Cal after both missed the 38-10 win at Akron, but the Rebels will again be without running back Jaylon Glover, wide receiver DeAngelo Irvin Jr. and center Austin Boyd.
McGee missed the Akron trip with a shoulder injury and returned to the depth chart this week. Mullen said Monday that UNLV expects him back against Cal. Irvin, who also missed Akron, is expected to remain out for at least another couple of weeks, while Glover will miss a second straight game.
McGee’s return comes after UNLV played without two receivers who had been part of the rotation through the opening three games. Taz Reddicks took on more work at Akron and finished with four catches for 116 yards and a touchdown, including a 45-yard reception on UNLV’s first possession of the second half and a 59-yard touchdown later in the third quarter. Taeshaun Lyons added a 36-yard reception as Jackson Arnold finished 17 of 29 for 290 yards and three touchdowns.
UNLV lists McGee OR Reddicks at one receiver spot, with Lyons and Vincent Carner at another and Tavian McNair and Tony Stellato at the third. Irvin played in each of the first three games before missing Akron and will now remain out beyond the Cal game.
Glover’s absence leaves Jai’Den Thomas and DJ Jones as the two backs listed again this week. Thomas handled most of the work in Ohio, rushing 15 times for 113 yards, catching three passes for 54 yards and scoring three touchdowns. UNLV finished with 203 rushing yards after North Texas held the Rebels to 98 the week before.
Purcell returns to a defensive front that played the last two games without him. He missed North Texas and Akron, but he is back on the two-deep this week alongside Lucas Conti and Elijah Logo in the interior rotation. UNLV still produced its best defensive half of the season without him Saturday, holding Akron to 74 yards and no points after halftime while finishing with three sacks and three interceptions.
Mullen said the first correction after halftime was getting defenders to stay in their assigned gaps instead of leaving them while trying to make a play. He also credited Paul Guenther and the defensive staff with adjustments that helped slow Akron’s run game once UNLV extended the lead. The Zips could no longer stay patient with the run and RPO game, were pushed into more obvious passing situations and spent the second half playing from behind the chains.
Boyd will not be back this week, but Mullen gave his most encouraging update yet on the ankle injury. When Boyd was first injured, UNLV feared he could be finished for the season. That timetable later moved toward the possibility of a return for the final couple of games, and Mullen said Monday that the medical staff now considers him well ahead of schedule and believes he could be back within roughly the next five weeks.
“When he first got injured, we were like probably done for the season,” Mullen said. “Into, hey, we might get him back for the last two weeks of the season, into could be back the next five weeks.” Mullen said Boyd has been rehabbing hard and that his eventual return would add another experienced lineman after UNLV has been forced to build more depth without him.
Griffin Scroggs and BJ Tolo have handled center in Boyd’s absence, and the line is coming off its best pass-protection game of the season. Arnold was sacked 11 times through the first three games before Akron failed to record one. Mullen said those sacks did not come from one recurring problem. Some came from poor protection up front, some from a running back missing a pickup and others from Arnold holding the ball too long.
At Akron, UNLV handled the protection well enough to let its deeper routes develop. Mullen said a normal pass may require the line to hold up for two-and-a-half or three seconds, while the shots UNLV hit downfield required four-and-a-half or five. Arnold had time to find Reddicks for gains of 45 and 59 yards and Lyons for 36, and once those throws connected, Akron could no longer leave as many defenders sitting around the line of scrimmage.
Mullen also said the line handled several defensive looks against Akron that UNLV had identified during the week as potential problems. He pointed to those adjustments as evidence of the group beginning to play better together rather than simply handling the fronts it had already seen repeatedly during spring practice and training camp.
UNLV will still go into Saturday without three offensive players who were part of the rotation earlier in the season. Glover remains out of the running back room, Irvin remains unavailable at receiver and Boyd is still missing from the middle of the offensive line. McGee returns to a receiver group that got a career-best performance from Reddicks at Akron, while Purcell gives the defensive front another interior option after two games without him.
Boyd’s update reaches beyond Cal. UNLV still has to play without him Saturday, but the possibility that he could return with several games remaining is considerably different from where the Rebels thought the injury had left them when it happened.
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