UNLV Rebels Have A High Upside Secondary

When the UNLV Rebels hired Dan Mullen to be their head coach, one of the position groups he had to rebuild was the secondary. They will have all new starters in 2025 and safety Kodi DeCambara is the only returning player that is locked into a major role on defense.

Along with DeCambara, transfers Jaheem Joseph and Jake Pope are expected to play key roles at the safety position. This is a talented group of guys who have shown off their leadership skills along with their ability on the field.

At cornerback, there is talk that Denver Harris and Latterance Welch could be one of the best cornerback duos in all of college football if they can keep their heads on straight and stay out of trouble. Both guys made their way to the Mountain West Conference due to off-field issues.

That makes this an interesting group of guys. Recently, Mountain West Connection broke down the secondary and expressed how they think they'll be this season.

Mountain West Connection's Take

"The secondary is headlined by the returning Kodi DeCambara, who didn’t start last season, but was one of the highly recruited transfers UNLV got out of the portal. He came over from Oregon and he’s extremely versatile. He can even bring on the blitz too, he did it multiple times when he played in high school at Bishop Gorman. The Rebels also have Jaheem Joseph and Jake Pope working alongside DeCambara. Joseph is a transfer from West Virginia and he’s highly rated. He played in 13 games last season and made 40 tackles and one interception. Jake Pope is a transfer from Georgia. He has experience playing behind NFL talent like Brian Branch during his time at Alabama. He has high upside and will be a great piece for the UNLV secondary.

The cornerback position will be headlined by Denver Harris. He has all the potential in the world. He was a former five star recruit, he played at LSU and Texas A&M and I believe he will go off for UNLV. He played at UTSA last year and made 16 tackles and had 3 pass breakups. Latterrance Welch will be his coworker in the cornerback room. He’s a transfer from Arizona State, but he doesn’t come without controversy. He was accused of stealing a teammate’s luxury watch which caused him to be dismissed by Arizona State. Tossing controversy aside, he will be a great corner to pair with Denver Harris."

We agree with Mountain West Connection here. This is a high-upside secondary that could easily be the best secondary out of all of the G5 schools. However, they are not without risk. Things could go sideways in a hurry if things go bad. Nevertheless, this coaching staff is better on themselves to develop these guys as both football players and young men. They deserve all the credit for that if this group goes out and looks great.