Nevada had a nice run going until the last two years. The Wolf Pack had four consecutive winning campaigns and four straight bowl berths before going 2-10 in each of the past two years.
Those last two seasons were all Ken Wilson had to be the head coach before being fired. Taking over is Jeff Choate, who was Texas’ co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach the previous three seasons. His other college head coaching job came at Montana State, where he was 28-22 in four seasons and led the Bobcats to two FCS playoff appearances from 2016-2019.
This is a team made up of many players who started their careers at other schools. Now this transient squad will attempt to get back to its winning ways with a new coach.
Nevada’s odds to win the Mountain West are +25000, via BetMGM.
Nevada’s win total and Over/Under is 2.5, with Under 2.5 at -135 and Over 2.5 at +110.
8/24 vs SMU
8/31 at Troy
9/7 vs Georgia Southern
9/14 at Minnesota
9/21 vs Eastern Washington
10/5 at San Jose State
10/12 vs Oregon State
10/19 vs Fresno State
10/26 at Hawaii
11/2 vs Colorado State
11/9 at Boise State
11/23 vs Air Force
11/30 at UNLV
Bold indicates Mountain West contests
LB Tongiaki Mateialona
LB Drue Watts
OL Isaiah World
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Many potential key players for this season have come from the transfer portal either this year or seasons past. The two main competitors for the quarterback job are Brendon Lewis, who began his career at Colorado and is entering his second season at Nevada, and Chubba Purdy, who had stints at Florida State and Nebraska.
This past season, Lewis appeared in 12 games for Nevada, making 10 starts. He completed 131 of 236 passes (55%) for 1,313 yards, two touchdowns, and six interceptions. He also rushed for 495 yards and four touchdowns. Purdy spent two seasons at Florida State before playing the last two at Nebraska. He appeared in 12 games for Nebraska, making four starts in those two seasons.
Leading the running game is Sean Dollars, who began his career at Oregon but led the Wolf Pack in rushing last year during his first season in Reno. He rushed for 527 yards and six touchdowns.
One of this year’s expected top receivers is Cortez Braham, who began his career at Hutchinson Community College and transferred from West Virginia.
Tight end Andrew Savalinaea joins the team after spending his first two years at Florida.
Left tackle Isaiah World has started 22 games over the past two years and heads up the offensive line.
Two others who have been with the Nevada program for a long time are linebackers Jrue Watts and Tongiaki Mateialona, who are both third-year starters.
One of the expected top defensive players will be sixth-year defensive end Henry Ikahihifo. He spent his first two seasons in 2019 and 2020 at Nevada as a tight end before moving to defensive end in his one season at the College of Canyons. He also played defensive end in his one season at California in 2022 before rejoining Nevada and redshirting last year.
Another expected key defensive contributor will be cornerback Kitan Crawford, who spent the past four seasons at Texas where he appeared in 46 games.
I predict Nevada won’t win the Mountain West title and will win two games.
Even if Nevada wins twice, it likely has to be done in the first 10 games because the final three are against Boise State, Air Force, and UNLV. For Nevada to earn two wins, it would have to beat FCS Eastern Washington. Then its two games against Sun Belt teams (Troy and Georgia Southern) won’t be easy. Other Mountain West teams Nevada could defeat are Hawaii and San Jose State. The margin for error is slim even for two wins.
If the offense improves after averaging just 17.3 points per game, Nevada could exceed these expectations, but the first season of the Choate regime may not look too different results-wise from Nevada’s previous two years.
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
click to expand photos
Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
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