UNLV coach speaks on facing Kansas in Guaranteed Rate Bowl, mass shooting

The Kansas Jayhawks (8-4) and UNLV Rebels (9-4) kick off the college bowl season in Arizona. The teams will play in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl at Chase Field in Phoenix on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Kansas, led by senior quarterback Jason Bean and freshman running back Devin Neal, is favored by 12.5 points.

UNLV's top players are quarterback and Mountain West Freshman of the Year Jayden Maiava and third-team All-American junior receiver Ricky White.

This will be UNLV's first bowl appearance in 10 years, and just its fifth ever. The Rebels have a 3-1 record in bowl games, and their most recent bowl win came in 2000.

The Kansas-UNLV game will be their first meeting in 20 years, and third overall matchup against each other.

The teams arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on a rainy Friday and met with the media.

UNLV coach on bowl game's impact after campus shooting

UNLV had one of its best seasons ever under first-year head coach Barry Odom. He was the Mountain West Coach of the Year, leading UNLV to its most wins since 1984, and six of the team's players received All-conference first-team honors.

However, the Dec. 6 mass shooting that killed three people and wounded four on the UNLV campus hovers over the Rebels' landmark year. Odom spoke about the emotional value of looking to triumph after the tragedy in his team's rare bowl game appearance.

"We understand in the game of football and this opportunity for us, we get to represent something that's so much bigger than ourselves," Odom said. "The community of UNLV, the city of Vegas, the state of Nevada, and for us, those memories on a tragic event that we can hopefully continue to galvanize our campus together, and that's something that we take very, very personal."

Kansas coach: Guaranteed Rate Bowl affects recruiting in AZ

Early National Signing Day for Division I schools was on Wednesday. Four Arizona high school players signed letters of intent to attend Kansas. That includes three from the AIA 5A conference championship runner-up Goodyear Desert Edge in defensive back Aundre Gibson, defensive end Deshawn Warner and linebacker Jonathan Kamara, and Scottsdale Horizon offensive lineman Carter Lavrusky.

Kansas coach Lance Leipold knows how important his team playing in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl game will be for future recruitment of talent from Arizona. It could be influential to showcase his team's level of talent to young prospects from the Valley, especially because Kansas is in the Big 12 where Arizona and Arizona State will move from the Pac-12 next season.

“We’ve been able to sign four players from the Phoenix area on Wednesday. We’re very excited about that," Leipold said. "I think that the two state schools here in the state of Arizona joining the Big 12 Conference, I think that also the University of Kansas football program will be more familiar to coaches and high school student-athletes as we continue to move forward.

"We’ll be coming out here to play games during the regular season, as well. And we know that with such a hotbed of an area, a great brand of high school football, we feel that it’s something we can start work on in these next few days and can help us along here.”

Kansas driven by 2022 Liberty Bowl 3OT loss

The Jayhawks are playing in their second straight bowl game after having the program's best regular-season finish since 2007. The team's last bowl victory came in this bowl game, then named the Insight Bowl, in 2008.

The way last season ended for the team was gutting. Kansas lost in the 2022 Liberty Bowl to Arkansas in a triple-overtime thriller, 55-53.

Liepold said being back in a bowl game this year motivates the team to finish the job on top, not a long and sad ride back home.

"I think ending the season in winning fashion is really appropriate to something we want to strive for," Leipold said. "I do think we came up just a little short. We were down big three-plus scores during that game, three in the fourth quarter.

"To battle back, the resolve and resiliency that we showed was something I was extremely proud of. But yeah, we left that field and that locker room with an emptiness that we didn't quite get it done. And I know for the guys that were a part of that game last year, it's gonna be important to play well and finish the job this year."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: UNLV coach on facing Kansas in Guaranteed Rate Bowl, mass shooting