UNLV Football 2025 Projected Defensive Starters

The UNLV Rebels football roster has seen a ton of turnover this offseason. They lost key defensive players to both the transfer portal and, more notably, the NFL. On defense, they lost stars like linebacker Jackson Woodard and safety Johnathan Baldwin to the NFL, and players like safety Jalen Catalon and linebacker Charles Correa to the transfer portal. New head coach Dan Mullen has done a great job reloading and building this roster to be an immediate contender for this upcoming season. Here we will project the starting defensive lineup for 2025.

UNLV Rebels 2025 Projected Defensive Starters:

DE Tunmise Adeleye

DT Jalen Lee

DT Cohen Fuller

EDGE Chief Borders

ILB Marsel McDuffie

OLB Bryce Edmondson

FS Kodi DeCambra

SS Jaheem Joseph

CB Denver Harris

CB Laterrance Welch

Slot CB Aamaris Brown

This defense is almost unrecognizable from the 2024 squad. The key players whom we expect the team to lean on are McDuffie, Borders, Joseph, and Harris. Those are the locked-in guys who the Rebels need to be great if this defense is going to be successful.

All eyes will be on the secondary at training camp. They will need players to step up at both corner and safety after all the players they lost this past offseason. The defensive line is interesting. There is room for someone else to emerge and earn a lot more snaps than currently projected if they prove to be productive assets. Guys like Cory Hall and Waisale Muavesi could make some noise. 

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