Marsel McDuffie excited to see what UNLV football has in store for 2025

Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español

Everyone wants to know if UNLV football is going to pick up where it left off last year, winning double-digit games, pushing for a Mountain West title and competing for a berth in the College Football Playoff.

After a coaching change and significant roster turnover, it’s a difficult question to answer.

Even Marsel McDuffie doesn’t know — yet.

The senior linebacker is going into his fifth year at UNLV, and in that time he has been part of some excellent teams, like the 2024 squad that finished ranked No. 23 in the AP Top 25, and he has suffered through some downright awful seasons, like when he redshirted with the 2021 group that lost its first eight games and finished 2-10.

The 2025 team has just begun offseason workouts, but they won’t hit the field until spring practice begins on March 27. And it may take even longer for McDuffie to figure out what the Scarlet and Gray are capable of under new head coach Dan Mullen.

He does know that he is excited to find out.

“Sometimes you can tell early, and sometimes you can’t tell until you get into the middle of fall camp,” McDuffie said. “So far though, from what I’ve seen I think we’ve got the potential.”

Potential is a great word to describe McDuffie as he heads into his final collegiate season. He was in the midst of a breakout campaign last year until a leg injury in Week 2 sidelined him for six weeks. When he returned to the field, it took him several games to work off the rust before getting back to full speed.

After fully recovering from his broken bone, McDuffie finished the season with a bang, recording 13 tackles and 2.0 tackles for loss in UNLV’s LA Bowl win over Cal.

“The recovery was a long, grueling process,” McDuffie said. “My main goal was coming back, getting through the adversity and finishing the season strong. The first couple games I came back, I was bothered by it, just having not played for almost two months. But after I got used to playing in the flow of the game, I definitely got back to 100% by the time the season was over.”

McDuffie’s play to begin and end the season would have made him a hot commodity in the transfer portal, and after coach Barry Odom left for Purdue it was something he had to consider.

“I was a little shocked,” McDuffie said of the coaching change. “I heard the rumors about other schools potentially wanting him, which he deserved, and I understand the nature of the business but I was a little shocked by it. It made me sit down and have to make a decision about what I was going to do moving forward, whether it was staying put or seeing what else was out there.”

Mullen quickly got to work on re-recruiting McDuffie. He told McDuffie that after watching tape of the 2024 season, he “loved what he saw” from the linebacker and envisioned him as a versatile centerpiece of the defense.

Mullen put on a full-court press to convince McDuffie to stay, and after consulting with family he decided to skip the portal experience and stay in Las Vegas.

“From the moment he got the job, coach Mullen definitely put on the recruiting pitch,” McDuffie said. “That definitely had a lot to do with me staying. Given his track record, he knows what he’s doing. He’s won a lot of games and he has coached a lot of great players. I felt like with the hire and the way he automatically got to recruiting me when he got the job, it showed me what kind of man he is.”

Now it’s up to McDuffie to produce on the field. That means staying healthy, improving his skill set and taking on a leadership role for a defense that is losing some cornerstone players from the Odom years.

McDuffie said he is working on technique, focusing on footwork, hip movement and hand placement to make himself a more versatile linebacker. And he has been dedicating himself in the weight room in hopes of being more durable in 2025.

As for leadership, McDuffie feels he is ready to be the voice of the defense for a contending team because he has seen it done right.

“I’ve been fortunate to do this for the past four years, going into my fifth year, and I’ve had some great leaders in my time here who showed me the ropes. Guys like Austin Ajiake, Jacoby Windmon, Jackson (Woodard). No matter how they were feeling, no matter how tired they were, they showed up every day and handled business like a pro. That’s the approach I’m taking. Show up every day and lead by example.”

McDuffie reported that the defensive scheme is currently being installed via classroom sessions, and he is looking forward to applying it on the field once spring ball begins.

For now, he is in the same boat as everyone else — wondering.

“I’m just looking forward to seeing how the team looks,” he said. “This is a completely brand-new team, brand-new coaching staff, so there’s a lot of questions surrounding us. What’s the team going to be like? Offense, defense, I’m just excited to get out there and see everyone showcase their abilities.”

But if he were forced to make an educated guess? Idly muse? Ballpark it?

“We have the pieces in place and we have the talent in order to compete,” he said. “But it’s a new team.”

UNLV fans will have to be satisfied with that answer — for now.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.