Season-ending injuries plague UNLV at wide receiver

UNLV has lost its third starting wide receiver to a season-ending injury in Darren Woods Jr., who will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury suffered in Saturday’s 45-20 win over Fresno State at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Woods Jr., a redshirt freshman who is second on the team in receptions (13) and receiving yards (189), suffered the injury in the second quarter when he took a helmet hit to his right knee after making a catch. He will have surgery this week, Rebels coach Tony Sanchez said Tuesday, and isn’t eligible for a medical redshirt.

Junior Kendal Keys had season-ending knee surgery less than a week before the opener, and his replacement, sophomore Brandon Presley, suffered a season-ending foot injury in the opener. The rash of injuries leaves junior starter Devonte Boyd as the team’s only wideout with more than seven career catches heading into Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. Mountain West game at San Diego State.

“We kind of feel like a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest right now at that position,” Sanchez said. “But it is what it is. We’re going to have to have some guys step up. We’ll go into this game with three scholarship receivers, and we’ll probably have to use some tight ends (at receiver).”

Besides Boyd, the other two scholarship receivers are true freshmen Mekhi Stevenson — who has seven catches for 73 yards and a touchdown — and Elijah Trosclair, whose only career catch was a 61-yard touchdown against Fresno State.

HIGH AND TIGHT

Sanchez plans to split versatile tight end Tim Holt and/or tight end Andrew Price out wide against the Aztecs, but Holt is day to day with an injury suffered Saturday.

“We’ll see how Holt is by the end of the week,” Sanchez said. “If he’s ready to go, he’s a guy you can definitely flex out, along with Price.”

PUTTING UP STRONG FRONT

UNLV (2-3, 1-0 Mountain West) is second in the nation in sacks allowed with two after finishing 106th in the country last season, when it allowed 33 sacks. The Rebels also feature the nation’s No. 9 rushing offense with 273 yards per game and 14 rushing touchdowns, including runs of 91 yards by quarterback Dalton Sneed and 85 and 55 by running back Lexington Thomas.

“You’ve got to give it up to (Thomas) and (running back) Charles Williams,” center Will Kreitler said. “If you give them a little bit of a hole, they’ll find their way, and those big, long touchdown runs really help the stats look really good.”

UNLV CONNECTIONS

San Diego State’s two associate head coaches — offensive coordinator Jeff Horton and special teams coordinator Bobby Hauck — served as head coaches at UNLV and led the Rebels to a bowl game. Aztecs receivers coach Hunkie Cooper played six positions, including quarterback, for UNLV in 1990 and 1991.

REBELS RECORD-SETTERS

Cooper, who coached San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey, the nation’s leading rusher (750 yards), at Canyon Springs High School, holds the Rebels record for most rushing yards in a game by a quarterback with 165. Sneed came up 18 yards short of that record Saturday, when he finished with 147 rushing yards, 91 of them on the touchdown run that was the longest offensive play from scrimmage in school and Sam Boyd Stadium history.

LAS VEGAS ROOTS

In addition to Pumphrey, San Diego State features three other players from Las Vegas high schools in starting linebacker Randy Ricks (Liberty), starting defensive lineman Noble Hall (Valley) and reserve receiver Isiah Macklin (Green Valley).

GOING BACK TO CALI

UNLV freshman wideout Mekhi Stevenson and the Keys brothers, Kendal and Rebels safety Kenny, played at San Diego’s Helix High School. Offensive lineman Michael Chevalier transferred to UNLV from San Diego Mesa College.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow him on Twitter: @tdewey33