UNLV Establishes Florida Pipeline As Dan Mullen And Staff Recruit Tampa Bay Hard

Dating back to his days with the Florida Gators, UNLV Rebels head football coach Dan Mullen has had a connection with the Tampa Bay area when it comes to recruiting. He brought in recruits from Tampa Bay every season he was coaching at Florida. The Rebels also have assistants in Akeem Davis and Denzel Nickerson, who are linked to their Tampa Bay Pipeline. Nickerson talked about his goal of recruiting Tampa kids and how coach Mullen wants to Rebels to have a presence in Florida.

“You know I’m going to bring as many of them as I can,” Nickerson said. “I know the area very well having coached in Polk, Hillsborough and down in Venice. Coach Mullen is letting me recruit like we are an in-state school, because I know where the guys are... Coach Mullen wants to be prominent in the state (Florida). He wants boots on the ground... Kids want to play for Mullen because he’s a winner and he knows how to connect with them,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to do. Florida kids rely more on relationships, not logos.”

Dan Mullen Also Spoke About Recruiting Florida Kids:

“I think you go into recruiting, the reputation of the city of Las Vegas is very different now than it was 20 years ago. Everyone’s trying to move to Las Vegas. And so in recruiting for high school kids, like, boy, this is a place everyone wants to be at... Our guys are with every top pass rusher in the NFL working with them in the summer. Guess how many schools offer that? One."  

Florida is known for producing some of the best football players in the country. Mullen and his staff's links to the state could pay massive dividends for UNLV. It opens up a recruiting pipeline that coaches in the past have not had access to.