University of Nevada Athletics

NEVADA
Has played in 45 career games at Nevada with 120 tackles, 23.0 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, seven passes defended and three takeaways.

Senior (2015): Played in 11 games with nine starts in the regular season … Tallied 32 tackles, 5.0 tackles for loss, two sacks and one pass breakup … Tallied season-high marks with six tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack at Utah State … Also recorded one sack at Buffalo … Registered four tackles against Buffalo, New Mexico, Wyoming and San Jose State … Tallied one pass breakup against Arizona … In the preseason, was named to Phil Steele’s All-MW second team and Athlon Sports’ All-MW third team … Letter winner.

Junior (2014): Earned honorable mention All-Mountain West honors ... Played in 10 games with 10 starts at defensive tackle ... Tied for the team lead in tackles for loss with 10.5 despite missing two games due to injury ... Credited with 37 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, three pass breakups and one QB hurry ... Ranked sixth in the Mountain West in tackles for loss per game (1.05) ... Assisted three turnovers, helping Nevada rank second in the conference in turnover margin per game ... Made a season-best eight tackles at Air Force ... Posted 3.0 tackles for loss against Boise State and Air Force ... Recorded 1.5 sacks against Fresno State.

Sophomore (2013): Was a stalwart on the defensive front, playing in 11 games with eight starts on the year ... Emerged as the top defensive tackle on the front and finished the season with 35 tackles, including five for a loss and three sacks ... Also broke up three passes on the year ... Had a career high six tackles against BYU ... Recorded at least one tackle in all 11 games that he played in.

Redshirt Freshman (2012): Played in all 13 games with one start as a redshirt freshman ... Amassed 16 tackles, including 2.5 for a loss and 1.0 sack in his first season with Nevada ... Made his first career start at Hawaii and recorded a career-high five tackles with his first career sack (for a loss of 10 yards) ... Recorded another TFL the following week in a victory at Texas State.

Freshman (2011): Enrolled at Nevada in the spring semester and went through spring drills with the Pack ... Redshirted his first season.

High School
A graduate of Edison High School in Fresno, Calif. ... Was a three-time all-conference and all-league selection ... Twice named all-state and all-valley ... Helped team to a pair of Valley championships ... Also lettered three years in wrestling.

Personal
Born Rykeem Yates on July 7, 1992 ... Son of Penny Walters and Robert Yates ... Has three brothers and three sisters ... Majoring in human development family studies ... Signed with UCLA as a high school senior but did not enroll and came to Nevada in January of 2011 ... Enjoys volunteering at youth football camps.