UNLV’s Brumfield Remains Questionable

Brumfield has been a needed boost to UNLV’s football program will he be able to return soon?

UNLV’s Brumfield Remains Questionable

After week 5 of the college football season, UNLV fans were ecstatic to see their team show signs of life, jumping to a quick 4-1 record. All of their wins were by 10+ points, and they were led by a third-year sophomore Doug Brumfield, who had been sitting on the UNLV bench for the past two seasons.

Brumfield took full advantage of the opportunity given to him, and the Rebels were feeling unstoppable. That is until UNLV”s miracle season suddenly screeched to a halt as Brumfield left early in their week six game against San Jose State. UNLV finds themselves on a two-game losing streak after dropping the game against San Jose State and last week against Air Force, both being 33+ point losses. Brumfield was still day-to-day early this week and is expected to be a game-time decision as he remains in concussion protocol.

Brumfield’s Good Start to the Season

Before sustaining his injuries, Brumfield was putting up pretty impressive numbers for someone who hadn’t started at the college level before. Prior to the injury, he had completed 106 of 155 for 1,231 yards while also throwing 8 TDs to INTs. He also proved himself a running threat rushing for 137 yards on 48 attempts and scoring 5 TDs with his legs. Getting Brumfield back would be absolutely huge for UNLV looks towards Notre Dame, who will be their toughest opponent for them yet.

Brumfield has been a fun story to watch. After only receiving offers from six D1 schools, Brumfield accepted an offer from UNLV. He was a three-star recruit and had a chip on his shoulder. After waiting around in the UNLV program for a couple of years, Brumfield was named the starter a few days before the start of the season and led the team to great heights. If he is able to play expect the line to get closer in UNLV’s favor.

Cameron Friel’s Return to Starting Role

The good news for UNLV is that their backup QB has starting experience and has been in this position before. The bad news is that their starter from last year the second-year sophomore Cameron Friel. Friel had a rough outing last year, finding ways to push the ball down the field but having a hard time finding the endzone and having trouble turning it over. Over the course of the 2021 season, Friel completed 141 of 226 for 1,608 yards, only throwing 6 TDs and a whopping 11 INTs.

Since stepping in for the injured Brumfield, Friel has thrown 23 of 32 and 161 yards while completing 2 TDs to 1 INT. However, the team is still not finding success on the field, putting up abysmal performances, including last week’s 42-7 loss to Air Force. Though not necessarily due to his fault alone, it’s hard to picture Cameron Friel leading this team to anything other than what’s been happening the past couple of weeks. If Friel is named the starter expect the lines to take a drastic turn in favor of Notre Dame.