NICK SHERRY, QUARTERBACK

Sherry became the eighth quarterback to start a season opener for the Rebels in the past nine seasons. The 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman might finally stabilize the position.

Sherry ranks third in the nation among freshmen with 253 passing yards per game. He’s on pace to shatter the Mountain West freshman record.

“He’s doing a nice job,” UNLV coach Bobby Hauck said. “Obviously he does some things that remind you he’s a freshman at times. But he’s a mature kid and he’s done some really good things.”

Sherry committed to Colorado, and former Boise State coach Dan Hawkins, in high school. The new coaching staff pulled the offer, he said. By then, the Pac-12 schools had filled their spots. That left UNLV, Idaho and San Jose State.

“I fell in love with UNLV,” Sherry said. “They have a great goal for this program. They believed in what they were doing — and I bought into it.”

TIM CORNETT, TAILBACK

Cornett, a true junior, leads the team in rushing for the third straight year. He has five 100-yard games this season and averages 106.7 yards per game. He has scored 21 touchdowns in his career.

He gets support from speedy junior Bradley Randle, who averages 48.3 yards per game and has one more touchdown (six) than Cornett.

“Both running backs that have been seeing time have been fairly productive,” UNLV coach Bobby Hauck said. “We’ve run the ball pretty well at different times. Tim, I think, is improving. We played him as a true freshman two years ago. I wish we hadn’t had to do that, but we did. He’s in his third year and doing some really nice things.”

JOHN LOTULELEI, LINEBACKER

Lotulelei, a senior, made his first career start last year against Boise State. He collected 13 tackles, part of an inspired effort by the Rebels — particularly in the first half. “He caught our guys by surprise,” offensive line coach Chris Strausser said.

That won’t happen this year. Lotulelei leads the team with 69 tackles, including 19 last week against Nevada.

Strausser considers Lotulelei the best linebacker the Broncos have faced this year. They have seen a couple of national awards candidates in Kyle Van Noy (BYU) and Max Bullough (Michigan State).

“This guy flies around and makes plays,” Strausser said.

Lotulelei is the second cousin of Utah’s standout defensive tackle, Star Lotulelei. Their grandfathers were brothers.