What do New Depth Chart Controversies tell us about UNLV Rebels vs. Houston Cougars?

C's house the Houston Cougar Line up against the UNLV rebs this weekend but I got to ask how many quarterback should they look into [Music] face you are locked on coup your daily podcast on the Houston Cougars part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome to lockon cou day podcast about your Houston Cougars I'm host born teacher and Coach Parker anworth here to break down all things cougs and whether you're a Houston fan or just a hater that can't step by thank you for making lock on cougs your first listen of the day want to Jo the conversation but don't know what to say tell us if you're at the casino at the roulette table do you put all on red or black because this week Houston is playing those UNLV Rebels of Las Vegas uh that sounds redundant but we're going with it um and we're joined by guest Jason Kelly of the runit Pod to break down those things so Jason I got to ask I'm not going to ask actually about your gambling background I was going to say would you put it on red or black yeah so so yeah it's it's I would say it's a total kind of a tossup game but because of the uncertainty around the quarterback position and when I did my preview uh for this season I thought there would be so much instability around our quarterback position that I actually pick the rebels to lose so I uh have in my head you know I don't I don't actually gamble if I if you live in Vegas and you gamble you and and you're young you are in trouble but uh yeah so I in my head I kind of have Houston with the advantage at the moment uh but that is barring you know if one of our quarterbacks comes in and is the answer and you know get rid of all the confusion then I would feel good about the rebels but I can't in good conscious make that bet until I until I feel comfortable with the quarterback position for us so as you mentioned Today Show was brought to by FanDuel and we will break down a preview of The Game and why FanDuel odds are moving in that last segment a little bit because I think that tells us a little bit after the depth charts have come out but you alluded to the biggest news of the day uh Monday afternoon coaches media press conferences and they released the depth charts uh Houston had a couple surprises on there as i' be happy to get in with you as well but the big thing to me is the worst part of a depth chart is where it says or and at the quarterback position for UNLV it was Haj Malik Williams Matthew saluca and Cameron Freel each with an ore between them two different ores in one position group and so I gotta ask if you were head coach or offense coordinator or just had a say who do you think it should be so the correct answer is Matthew sluka that's the right answer um there have been a couple issues with him he was a late transfer from Holy Cross and two of these guys are FCS and the third one Cameron fre so HJ Malik Williams and Matthew sler are both FCS quarterbacks so lesser competition Cameron field the the other one actually in the competition was actually Mountain West Freshman of the year when he stepped in for an injury quarterback his freshman year and so he actually has like kind of a pedigree and it's funny because nobody thinks nobody thinks he's actually any good um that I shouldn't say that there are people in the UNLV program that do but Matthew sluka is the correct answer he's a dynamic Runner he's you know 63 he kind of reminds me of like a very a poverty level Josh Allen um uh but I that's who I would pick who I suspect the staff is picking and again the staff has made it very clear to all the UNLV media tight lips don't say who we're picking uh because they have supposedly informed the player who is going to be the primary starter that he is going to be the starter already that is something that's going around in UNLV media but we don't know you got saluca and You' got HJ Malik Williams uh HJ Malik Williams is also a run runner a different type of Runner admitted um and in watching Haj Malik at Campbell and Matthew sluka at Holy Cross obviously the competition's a lot different it kind of feel like they almost were like as far as a passer goes the inverse of one another sluka does a little bit more you know running over people whereas Williams a little bit more running around people uh but you feel confident saying you think you would pick sluka uh I guess I first want to ask why and then I'm also going to follow up with why would someone else be picking Williams so why would sluka get the nod in your in your opinion sluka is like a legit Talent so part part of the reason why UNLV was able to get sluka is he had power five offers um but he chose UNLV because he wanted to graduate and finish his Collegiate kind of academic career at Holy Cross and so we were willing to let him skip spring Spring ball and come to come to Vegas late uh which has actually been a total disaster for him because we have kind of a weird well we have kind of a weird play B we run this We Run The go- Go offense Bren and Marian's kind of brainchild and it's a little odd you know you have two running backs lined up on the same side sometimes the blocking is is weird and it's very different from what he ran at Holy Cross so I would but I would still invest in him because I think he's the best talent of everybody to be honest uh he he's he's got a very strong lower body he can break tackles he's good he's got better speed than you think um and he actually has a pretty good arm now it's not accurate like you know it's it's kind of like again Josh Josh Allen has a for an arm but the dude overthrows or underthrow everybody you know which is why Stefon Diggs is no longer a member of the Buffalo Bills t a Texon now yeah so I mean that's kind of that that's what I would pick now somebody might pick hjge Malik Williams because he was there for Spring ball he was the QB one in the spring game he's had a lot more time with the UNLV Playbook and I also think that because of that time that he's had in Vegas he's a bit more of a natural leader um and so I don't think he's a very good passer to be honest I think Matthew sluke has a better has a better arm uh but Haj Malik Williams is very fast I mean he's like he might have the second or third High best 40 time on the team I mean he is ridiculously quick up and down the field so I would say Williams has the advantage right now again that's not I do talk to people in the program but they have told me you are not getting any information on this because we do not want to tell Houston anything about who's starting um which is fair I mean like that's the way it goes so what I'm hearing what I'm hearing with that is that it's going to be fre we're you're throwing us on a complete goose chase here see that's the thing is is frel frel is like the I really wish that either Williams or sluka was way better than they actually are and so we're just GNA pick frel because like I could see them picking frel just because frel is like nobody Minds throwing Freel under the bus like if we go and loose to Houston and fre and fre is terrible nobody's going to have a problem throwing him under the bus now if Williams or sluka is terrible they're fifth year seniors they were the big recruits I think there's going to be a little bit more you know level of discomfort at the top of the program so I would pick Williams right now but your guess is literally as good as mine well talk to me about because you've seen the coaching staff much more up closing in person at UNLV obviously we're watching some video on YouTube and trying to catch up here as we're doing things in Houston trying to get ready do you think it could be the kind of game where they each get a series to open it up or they alternate a little bit and then whoever's hot gets the fourth quarter or or is that too high school amateurish for this or is is the kind of staff that would be that flexible in a game the staff is very good um it's pretty incredible that Houston wanted some of them there were people in Houston that wanted them when we were doing a coaching search last year I mean a lot of respect in Houston for the UNLV staff well there's it's kind of bizarre that our two proos PRS athletic departments have there there's just a level of mesh there's a level of like connected connectedness to between the two programs they're just is because the're FAS um and so there there's ties um and so I think this the staff is very good uh Barry odm is kind of he's kind of seen as like the he can do no wrong in Vegas right now I mean everybody loves him he's a he's he's just seen as the Magic Man and Brennon Marian I think UNLV is kind of hoping we have one of those magical years and Barry Oden gets Pride away so that we can just install Brennan Maran long term at the top of our program I think that's kind of what we hope happens um but I think that the staff will be willing to adjust to any level of speed or like they they're they're very confident the thing is like yes our quarterback position is is off but like our support positions on offense are excellent our defensive leader is is a stalwart and he's excellent uh Jackson Woodard our best linebacker so and he he'll kind of glue our defense together um and so I don't have I don't see any issue with the rebels getting into some sort of a gunfight you know kind of like a gunslinging thing with with with houst I could see the score being uh incredibly High between the two teams because again our defense is really unproven at this point um so I I could see there being a lot of scoring in this game simply because I I think Houston's line could push us around a lot and specifically um Donovan Smith I just I love him like what a great what a fun player to watch there's a he had a play against Texas I just said man this guy's going to be so fun to watch when I was going through his highlights so I could see a lot of scoring in this game I I could see it being a fairly high scoring game actually the funny thing is I I like some of our improvements we made on defense in the transfer portal and things like that as well um but I think both teams strength will be in in the Run game I want to talk more about the energy that that brings in a second but first I should probably recommend that if you are also looking for energy you know I mentioned I'm a teacher I'm a coach obviously I'm sitting here podcast I'm about Houston Cougars each and every day I need energy as much as the next guy when that lunch wall hits I got to go grab a 5our energy now it's an actual scientific fact research shows that more than 70% of us hit a wall after lunch and you can let five out energy help you leap over that wall instead of crashing into a zero sugar it's convenient portable size it's great pickme up for getting stuff done 5 500 a bunch of flavors I like like the watermelon grapey fruity stuff they got all kinds of different things going on 5H Hour Energy as well as if you go to 5our energy.com that's the number five hour energy.com get some 5our product today use code locked on CFB and receive 20% off your order offer is only valid through September 30th on one order canot be used with other promotions code is not good on subscription offers get five hour energy.com code locked on CFB go to 5our energy.com today all right back with Jason Kelly talking more about the Houston and UNLV football game um I guess I so you mentioned these quarterbacks run a lot um Houston's done a lot to improve their linebacking core and secondary in the transfer portal um so much so that it's actually it feels like um as you go through here the majority of the starters were not on the roster last year both starting linebackers are new to the transfer through the transfer portal um I guess latr McCutchen one of the two starting Corners was here last year but was actually sitting out because he had transferred from USC the other Corner Johnny Carter was not here um a lot of new faces in the Houston Couer defense talk to me about the receivers and the pass game that UNLV brings to the table because you said go go go off the goo offense right um but I I guess I wonder you talk about how much these quarterbacks run what kinds of threats are out there on that outside to run the score up so this is where UNLV is probably at its strongest like we have a very good running back room obviously to support you know our quarterbacks who run as well but and and this will come out I'm listen I'm a homer I'm a UNLV guy I think we have the best rece I think we have the best receiver in college football easily Ricky White he is the he was the leading receiver in college football last year and he's returning this year um I would I would rather have Ricky White than any other player in the country in in the wide at the wide receiver position if you go through his film last year the guy just I mean he could have had he he caught for like, 1500 yards but he could have had way more than that and he was just always open he's lightning fast on the outside uh and he's got great instincts and unbelievable hands and so that that's part of the problem with the quarterback controversy is we need somebody to get him the ball because I he's our best player it's not going to be our quarterback who's our best player it's Ricky White um and so if if any Houston you know zone defense man defense it's all going to be centered around making sure that Ricky White doesn't burn you um I'm sure that's what they're talking about it's what every team talks about when they play UNLV um and then there's also we have but that's not it we also have Casey Kane a a transfer from Texas who we're very confident in uh Damian uh McDaniel who we really are confident in on the outside uh but probably my favorite player is Jacob De Jesus he is primarily a slot receiver but he also does like punt returns I want say he's the shorter return guy yeah he's lightning fast I mean he he was our best player on he was the best player on the team last year at several points uh and then we also have a pretty good tight end core uh uh C bingy I think I'm saying his name right but we have a lot of weapons on the team I it's it's if if I felt good about a quarterback if Jaden Maya was coming back I would feel so good about this team because we lost our quarterback to to USC last year to uh and he's not even starting USC it was really dumb of him to leave uh but he got that bag so whatever I can respect whatever yeah um yeah he's going to do his thing but there's a lot of great weapons on the outside is is the quarterback going to be able to get the ball to them that's gonna be the big question for the revs so Ricky White you mentioned the yardage on the season he uh for folks at home he had 88 catches for 1483 yards eight touchdowns in the season last year and is back at UNLV this year listed 61 a buck 85 I I watched some YouTube stuff on him obviously you watch him a lot closer uh he had seven games of over 100 yards receiving last year and an eighth that was at 97 I me he he's very consistent too this one like he had a 250 yard game and just sat down the rest of the season right um my question to you is obviously having a great quarterback helped some last year but is this just raw speed is it cuts is it moving running after the catch what is it that Ricky does that hurts other defenses he's very good at punishing lazy defenses uh if if a guy is sitting back in zone um Ricky is really good at watching kind of the body language the eyes of a player and punishing them for lack of DET lack of attention to detail uh he does have world class kind of speed I think he's going to be I I wouldn't be surprised at all I think he'll be a first round pick in the NFL next year uh barring any major injuries um but he's very good at getting behind receivers and almost making you it's bizarre because everybody would be focused on him but players constantly kind of forgot about him last year and I was like how is Ricky so open and it was just because he has great instincts at attacking and defense and finding space um and a lot of that also is just like the staff runs really good praise like Brennan Marin's a very good offensive coordinator and I think that it's just a combination of those two things so he's really the whole package I mean I I I can't even point to one specific aspect whether it be speed athleticism I wouldn't say he's a great leaper you know I didn't see him jump through the you know I didn't see him like a Megatron style receiver but he is just his speed and his decision making is excellent and so he'll get open it's just if our guys will be able to get him the ball and punish defenses that that leave him open that that's the only question again he had five games over 150 yards three games and multiple touchdowns I mean he he's a real threat if they can find someone to get him the football if we're predicting a high-scoring game the other side of this is going to be the UNLV defense as we continue to list names here for Houston Cougar fans to get acquainted with to get ready for the weekend um I should stress that on the viral picture that's going around of the picture of the dep chart I'm assuming Cooper Webb is 62300 pounds not 62 20000 pounds as a defensive tackle um 62 200 pounds be small for the high school team I used to Coach G be really and so I I'm assuming that's a typo 62300 but outside of that um what would who who sticks out on the defensive side of the ball because it could come down to a single stop so I would say if you are a Houston the person to look out for is Jackson Woodard uh we've got greatly improved Talent un you know unrefined Talent you know on the outside in the corner position but our whole defense is kind of like a funnel to Jackson Woodard uh we try we kind of try and keep uh running in front of us uh limit uh yard you know yardage to like three four yards and let Jackson Woodard uh kind of the quarterback of the defense pick up I mean his number I I don't actually remember exactly how many tackles he had last year but it was one of the highest you know number of pure tackles in the country last year and it's basically a giant funnel to him that's the goal of the defense it's pretty conservative um if you've got a good receiver which uh is is Kobe young isn't that one of your receivers do I have that name right Kobe young is is Young no pun intended um he's a freshman uh on the the two deep Houston also has a number of guys uh Joseph manjack returned from last year Stefon Boogie Johnson had the H are that beat West Virginia um and then Jonah Wilson's a red shirt freshman that people in Houston are really excited about as well um I it's funny I would argue Houston's got a pretty strong receiving core somewhat ironically it looks like they're kind of switching to more of a 5050 maybe even 60 40 run-based offense next year so we'll see how we how we run how we get them the ball but I think the receiver was pretty strong for Houston yeah I mean if if you guys can run against us it'll be very difficult uh and and we're going to be at our healthiest so I mean we brought in a lot of talent this last year but again the UNL football program you have to understand is that we have been Barren and destitute forever and only recently kind of since we moved into Allegiance stadium has the UNLV football program we got you know we playing one of the best stadiums in college football uh in terms of just like facilities and only recently have we really you know the has built a practice facility for us out in Vegas and so our T Talent level on the defensive end specifically is getting better but there's there's some holes there I'm not going to lie there there's some big opportunities uh if if Houston can can take advantage of those it'll be very difficult for us to get stops it will have to win a you know high-scoring game well in looking at the depth chart here it looks like three of the four starting I guess the nichel is the fifth but three of the five starting DBS are all transfers as someone around the program more what I mean whether it's Jaylen catalon Tony Grimes Malik shavis what can you tell us about those guys sure uh there's a lot of talent there a lot of them we had some players from Texas Catalan is a guy that I'm I'm a really big fan of and Grimes is kind of a kind of a prodical son in in my view a little bit kind of a journey man I wouldn't necessarily call him a journey man but he had kind of an interesting path to UNLV these guys have a lot of talent I have no idea if they're good or not I haven't seen them play yet um their transfers they've got the physical attributes to to to to Really you know make things better than they were last year because our defense was was was Fried Chicken by the end of last year was terrible um and uh so I I really believe in them but I need to see it first before I can can really say that these guys are going to be kind of lock down players the one player you can trust is Jackson but besides him everything's kind of up in the air at the moment but there's Talent there's a lot more Talent than there used to be in Vegas that's for sure speaking of that talent I want to break down the game itself a little bit and make some maybe predictions talk about what FanDuel says but first if you can't wait till the weekend to get into football you got to go download the newest football video game ultimate college football head coach I got to take him on to tell you about how much you're going to love this game because it's amazing it's got all the simulations you can step into the shoes of the head coach of the cougs or the revs or whomever and actually build the program from the ground up from recruiting players and hiring coaching staff to overseeing training camps handling school scholarships you get control everything and every detail of your program if you can handle that kind of pressure 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that and those kind of things right but as someone who lives in Las Vegas I would imagine you see lines move a lot uh on Sunday this game opened at a one and a half Point Houston favor as we're recording on Monday night it's a two and a half favorite uh I got to ask first of all as a UNLV person what does that tell you about what the nation's thinking about this game well I always kind of like to When A Game's between one and three I don't really see like personally for me I don't think it makes that big of a difference in in how I feel about a game going into it uh based on whether it's going up or down or a lot but it basically just means like people people see uncertainty around UNLV football and I think that that's the reason why the lines moved there was probably some hope maybe that there would be a by the way Matthew sluke is our guy kind of moment um and I would think that's the primary reason why uh but also you know the headlines that I've been reading out of Houston football have been pretty positive it seems like there's a nice energy around the program and so I think there's just positive betting momentum towards Houston um and it doesn't surprise me at all um I still think it's kind of a coin flip game um maybe 55 45 favoring one team over the other but it's it's pretty close and that it doesn't surprise me too much well and again that we're talking about less than a field goal right so it's not like it's moved a whole heck of a lot and they're not predicting some sort of a blowout or anything all of a sudden but it just interesting to watch the way that tracks for the week and kind of how people are are n because I'm I'm like you I think if y v had came out on Monday and had a real definitive this dude is our dude that would have showed almost some confidence that could swing gamblers one way or the other and maybe move that line some uh I'm not going to ask again other bets and stuff way I do want to talk about the over under later because that feels low to me we're talking about shootouts here um and talking about the game and predicting the game itself uh you is on the road Houston is a big 12 program it's been about 14 months but Houston is a big 12 program UM quarterback battle in in Las Vegas Houston's got a guy returning from last year but as new coaching staff um what are you seeing as someone who's followed UNLV very closely as the outcome this weekend sure so I predicted that the rebels would go eight and four this year um and one of the four losses that I predicted was Houston I I said that this is going to be a tough kind of a tough spot for a team with a lot of uncertainty rolling around it I think Houston's going to be motivated you know you got kind of the new new car syndrome a little bit uh we saw that with Reno and SMU last week you know sometimes when you have a new coach in there you have a really motivated team and so you know I don't I'm not saying that I think it's going to be a blowout again I would put the 5545 probably uh in favor of the Cougars uh but uh I would pick Houston as of right now um and ultimately I think the rebels are GNA be very good so I mean I know there's some unlb fans that didn't love me saying that that I thought that that was going to happen but eight and four for this program would be still a great season and I think that's ultimately where we're going to end up but it's just going to take a little bit of early growing pains for us to kind of establish our eles and so that's kind of way I feel about the way uh the game's going to go I I could see a game in maybe like the 40s 40 44 38 something like that seems because that that over under the point total just seems way too low for me I think this is going to be a very high scoring game so that that's kind of 44 38 that's kind of what I'm seeing 37 I don't know exactly but around that range but when when you're saying you see unv going 8 and4 this year me they play another big 12 team later this year in Kansas uh Syracuse as well if I'm not mistaken that's three pound power conference programs and then whatever we're calling Oregon State later in the I mean that that's a tough handful of games uh for just based on difference in resources right obviously UNLV had a really good year last year it's looking to build on it great coaching staff um I I too feel like Houston's gonna have some extra momentum and umph playing the opener at home Fritz's first game as the head coach um I've been saying like nine or 10 points that's I'm kind of somewhere in there and I I think the reason I'm like closer to nine than 10 is honestly out of respect for Mary and what they're doing Maran and Odum and what they're doing at UNLV um but I I think there's just gonna be too much good mojo going on for UNLV in for Houston in this game for UNLV to have a shot um I I really do Wonder though about this over under set at 54 A2 in Vegas like what do they know that we don't as as as far as like the coordination and the and the game call is it they just don't think there's be enough possessions with both teams running the ball more or what I would say that they probably think it's gonna be clunky you know like first games of the season a lot of times there's a lot of especially if like we start a quarterback especially Luca starts I mean I don't think he knows the Playbook yet he's had some terrible moments in practice where receivers have been you know 80 yards to the right and he's been like you know confused so I mean I just think that that's probably why the line's lower than it is uh you have teams that are relatively you know unlb has had a lot of turnover on the defensive end and so maybe it's just that they're just early season kind of and instead of resulting in a high-scoring game it results in a lows scoring game that happens sometimes in in early season games so that's probably my guess I can't I can't see another reason why they would assume that it's going to be this low scoring of a game maybe they think Houston is just going to dominate but I mean if they did they probably have the line a lot further apart than they did you know so it doesn't make doesn't make a ton of sense to me last question get you out of here obviously this is a non-conference matchup are you predicting at 8 and4 another Conference Championship kind of appearance that I mean as far as unlv's goals and rebuilding their program I'll get you out of here on what what do you see after this weekend for UNLV yeah um I think that we have a very strong uh chance to get back to the Mountain West championship game I really do um I think there's going to be Clarity after this game I think this this Houston game is going to be the splash of cold water that the program needs um I don't think we're going to beat Kansas I do think we'll beat Syracuse pretty pretty handily that's a home game uh we'll split to boisey and Fresno State the two other top teams in the conference um and I think one conference loss is going to be enough to get us back to the Mountain West championship game against uh and maybe and a loss to Oregon State but Oregon State doesn't actually count against your conference record if you lose them I don't think we're going to go into Coralis and win there's still too much residual Talent um but that loss doesn't really count against us if we lose it in terms of a conference race so that's where I see the Rebel Sport losses coming we'll split with Fresno and boisey we'll lose this game we'll lose to Kansas and I think that'll be enough to get us back to the Mountain West championship game uh where we'll have to take probably face a very good Boise State team for a second year in a row a second year in a row um anyway good time talking to Jason obviously you're doing all things UNLV uh football basketball everything Show's called let's run pod uh work can people find you in that work yeah uh you just go to my Twitter uh page Jason K Redline jasonk Redline you'll see the link to my pod it goes up on all the big all the big podcast platforms but I also just post live versions of it onto Twitter so if you want to check out if you're a Houston fan and you want to see what the enemy is saying leading up to the week which is what I always do I always find whatever locked on pod from that school and I got to listen to it because I got to know you know what the other fans are thinking if you want to come and listen to UNLV sports I promise we won't be uh we won't be uh too mean to you although we do have some pretty Rowdy fans so find me Redline that's part of the fun right Jason K red much on X and Twitter or whatever you want to call it these days I'm park ranger host lockon cougs if you're looking for a second listen of the day lock on sportsday is getting ready for all things college football going on each and every day there's like a bajillion game starting as early as Thursday so check out locked on sports today that'll be breaking down the latest over there thanks again lock good Prim lock on podcast your team are Houston Cougars every day go cougs