New UNLV wide receiver Jacob De Jesus enjoyed quite a Saturday at Allegiant Stadium -- both during and after the Rebels' annual Spring Showcase.
 
With a couple thousand fans looking on, including nearly 100 former letterwinners, the 5-foot-7 ball-catcher and punt returner from Manteca, California, made a big impression with a slew of tough catches, including a 20-yard grab-and-run for a 20-yard touchdown thrown by quarterback Harrison Bailey. Then, after doing interviews, De Jesus got engaged. The midyear signee from Modesto JC employed some of his teammates to help with the unusual, on-field marriage proposal, which his now-fiancee Kirstien agreed to.


 
The hullabaloo put a ribbon on a big day for the program under new head coach Barry Odom, who teamed with his staff to hold a 90-minute scrimmage in the world's greatest college football venue before inviting Rebel fans to come on the field to meet the team and take photos with the coveted Fremont Cannon.
 
Save for De Jesus' acrobatic snags, the buzz on Saturday came primarily from a UNLV defense that grabbed five interceptions, including two from portal addition Jett Elad, a Canadian who formerly played at both Ohio University and Garden City Community College.
 
In addition to De Jesus' score, Rebel touchdowns came from a five-yard toss from Bailey to his former high school teammate Ricky White and a five-yard rush by Jordan Younge-Humphrey after a long drive engineered by redshirt freshman QB Jayden Maiava. Three Rebel kickers each added at least one field goal of varying lengths (two by Jose Pizano and one by both Andre Meono and Ryan O'Hara).
 
Odom would meet with the media following the showcase and reviewed what was his 15th and final practice of his first spring spent in Las Vegas.
 
ON THE SCRIMMAGE OVERALL:
As the head coach you want the offense to score a whole bunch of points and the offense to not give up any. There was a balance of that today. Secondary made some plays, which was good to see. I feel like our offensive line – the guys going with the ones -- there was some push there and we were able to run the ball. Defensively, we'll have to check the film, but it seemed like we played really fast. Special teams, you saw how important that was today with flipping the field and downing a ball inside the five-yard line. That has to be a huge key for us to win games. We also understand that our games will be won or lost in the fourth quarter. So our habits, our attention to detail, our team togetherness and the ability to finish – those are all so important for this team to continue to grow and get where we need to end up.
 
ON THE STATE OF THE PROGRAM:
We'll take today and then we'll combine it with what we've done since we've started and look at the body of work on what each individual player has done, what the position group looks like. We need about 15 more practices. Unfortunately, we don't get 'em. So now the approach for us -- we've got a four-week cycle in the weight room and the development that we need for our team to get ready to attack the summer -- the months of April and May are going to be so important to get ready to go attack June and then once the calendar hits June, game one will be here before we know it.
 
ON THE QUARTERBACK UNIT:
I think number one, we have to protect the ball. And that's everybody. That's not just a quarterback. I mean, we've got to look at it -- did the receiver break the route off too quick or not quick enough, was the protection there the way it needed to be? We can win with our quarterback room. I don't doubt that at all. I'm excited about the progress that they've made. And just like every other position on the field, we've got to get better.
 
ON THE RECEIVERS:
I think Jacob De Jesus had a big day but he's had a big day every day this spring. We are thankful that we were able to get him midyear and he came in and he understands the offense and he's a mismatch issue at times and excited about what he did. And then I think Ricky White came on and was very, very productive today which was really good to see.
 
ON WHAT HE'S LEARNED THROUGH SPRING BALL ABOUT HIS TEAM:
They want to be coached. They're a group hungry to have success. They want to be coached and when we give them the plan, they're going to work to go fulfill it.
 
ON HAVING NEARLY 100 FORMER LETTERMEN ON HAND:
It's huge. We had 100 or whatever today -- next year, I hope we have a thousand. And I'm going to try to do everything I can to make sure they understand that this is their team and they have poured into what this team what this program is. I've got a responsibility to make sure it's done right for them so that they're proud to walk around with being a former Rebel player and that's near and dear to our staff's hearts.
 
ON COACHING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ALLEGIANT:
There is not another stadium in all of college football that can rival this and it's not even close. So prospects that want to play in the greatest environment, they're going to come here and it's going to be hard for them to walk away and say no. It's off the charts. This has got to become Vegas' team and we can get this place rockin'. I've got to help turn it into a home field advantage and that's our mission.