UNLV Football: First Look at the Bryant Bulldogs

The Rebels begin their 2023 campaign at home against Bryant. Here’s a first look at UNLV’s upcoming FCS opponent.

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The Rebels draw a potentially dangerous foe.

UNLV Football: First Look At 2023 Non-conference Opponents

Bryant | Michigan | Vanderbilt | UTEP

Note: Headline photo provided courtesy of Bryant Athletics.

At the beginning of a season that will arrive with high expectations, UNLV football will open 2023 at home against the Bryant Bulldogs. It’s a game that the Rebels won’t take for granted considering the program’s recent track record in such matchups, losing to Howard in 2017 and Eastern Washington in 2021, and because the Bulldogs might have the talent to surprise people this year.

Location: Smithfield, Rhode Island

Conference: Big South

Series History: This will be the first meeting between UNLV and Bryant.

2022 Record: 4-7 (2-3 Big South)

Head Coach: Chris Merritt (fifth year, 17-21 overall). Following a long and decorated tenure as head coach at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, Merritt’s four years leading the Bulldogs have had their share of ups and downs. After leading the Bulldogs to a 7-4 record in 2021, that record flipped last year in large part to hard luck in close games: After losing a one-point, four-overtime heartbreaker on the road against Florida International to open 2022, they dropped a six-point decision to Brown in double overtime two weeks later and would eventually finish with a 2-5 record in games decided by eight or fewer points.

Key Players

Zevi Eckhaus, QB

Eckhaus has spent the last two seasons as one of the top young signal-callers at the FCS level. In 2021, he landed on the all-Northeast first-team offense and earned that conference’s Offensive Rookie of the Year honor while finishing as a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, given annually to the top freshman at that level. Last year, he followed that up by completing 60.8% of his throws for 3,228 yards and 26 touchdowns with a 3.6% interception rate, scoring a spot on the all-Big South second-team offense and cementing himself as a potential problem for secondaries everywhere.

Anthony Frederick, WR

Frederick might be listed on the roster as a wide receiver, but he does most of his damage as one of the best return specialists in the country. The Big South’s reigning Special Teams Player of the Year ranked third in the FCS by averaging 30 yards per kick return and 14th with 141.4 all-purpose yards per game, so he’s exactly the kind of athlete who could flip the contest on a dime.

Oh, but he’s also averaged 15.4 yards per catch and snagged 14 touchdowns in his career with the Bulldogs. Frederick is very good.

Kenny Dyson Jr., DL

Bryant’s best defender has been a problem for opposing quarterbacks for a couple of years now, cracking the starting lineup in 2021 and never looking back from there. In that time, he’s notched 24.5 tackles for loss, 16.5 sacks, and 55 quarterback hurries, meaning that Doug Brumfield will want to know where #8 is at all times.

Landon Ruggieri, WR

After making four starts back in 2021, Ruggieri exploded onto the scene with a breakout 2022. He set a school record by catching 65 passes for 986 yards and six touchdowns, earning his way onto the all-Big South first-team offense. If his senior year goes as planned, he could leave Bryant as an all-time program great.

Ethan Gettman, K/P

Gettman began his Bulldogs career as the team’s punter in 2021, but adding kicker responsibilities to his repertoire is what really allowed him to shine. He averaged a net of 34.7 yards per punt and landed 6-of-22 attempts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line last season but, more importantly, he also connected on 14-of-15 field goal tries which included a Bryant-record 56-yard bomb. That helped him take home the Fred Mitchell Award as the top kicker among the FCS, Division II, and Division III ranks, so he’s a singular weapon who could be a difference maker in a tight game.

Overview:

Offense

The Bulldogs knew their offensive identity and stuck with it through thick and thin, finishing 12th among FCS teams with 449 team pass attempts and averaging 7.76 YPA in the process. That enabled them to convert 50% of their third-down tries, one of only eight offenses to reach that mark, and score 33.3 points per game.

Nearly all of last year’s major contributors are back to improve upon those numbers, with Eckhaus set at quarterback and Ruggiari, Frederick, and tight end Jihad Redmond (25 catches, 274 yards, five touchdowns) as his primary targets. The situation with the ground game is a little less certain as last year’s leading rusher, Ishod Byarm, has moved on, though the trio of Ryan Clark, Fabrice Mukendi, and Kyle Cichanowsky combined for 124 carries in 2022. Their primary focus will be to improve upon the 4.1 yards per carry they averaged last season.

Bryant will also benefit from an offensive line that returns all five starters from last season, as well. Senior guard Jamichael Watts was the lone member of that group to finish 2022 as an all-conference selection, but he, Trevor Smith, and Michael McNish are all multi-year starting veterans up front.

Defense

If the Bryant offense was powerful, its defense was a bit shaky, allowing 5.85 yards per play and 30.1 points per game. Defending the pass was a particular concern since the Bulldogs allowed 8.13 yards per attempt and a 60.8% completion rate to opponents.

Additionally, the defense also has a couple of major disruptors, star linebackers Joe Andreessen and Ryan Saddler, to replace in the front seven. Dyson Jr. will set a tone up front, but Ben Silver is the only other Bulldog defender here for 2023 who had more than one sack last season. Considering they posted 27 sacks as a team last year, finding reliable contributors in the front seven will be paramount.

The secondary returns largely intact and the seasoned group, led by TJ Butler (28 tackles, 2 pass breakups), Jayvis Rayside (49 tackles, 1.5 TFLs), and Lake Ellis (44 tackles, eight pass breakups, two INTs) will get a chance to improve after being pushed early and often a year ago.

Early Prediction

The Rebels might get pushed more than anyone expects by a talented Bryant offense, but the reality is that they will probably have an edge over the Bulldogs on defense, anyway, which should allow them to keep things from getting too dicey.

UNLV 38, Bryant 20

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Story originally appeared on Mountain West Wire