Travis Booker saw it all when Jai’Den Thomas was 9 years old. Saw the potential as a Division I running back.
Saw what might emerge once Thomas grew and matured.
“None of what he has done surprises me,” Booker said. “My son and him played Little League football together and even then, you knew. When it came to college, all Jai’Den needed was an opportunity. He wasn’t highly recruited, but he was going to make the most out of any chance.
“So when (UNLV) called, I told him he had to commit. He did and has been great ever since.”
Booker was Thomas’ running backs coach at Westlake High in Atlanta, helping the young man nicknamed “Jet” — maybe because he runs like one — prepare himself for life after prep football. Thomas has delivered, and then some.
The Rebels open training camp on Wednesday under second-year coach Dan Mullen, and it’s no surprise who they will rely on most when it comes to those carrying the ball.
The 5-foot-9, 195-pound Thomas enters his senior season ranked eighth in school history in career rushing yards (2,457) and fifth in career rushing touchdowns (31).
He’s the second Rebel to have two four-touchdown rushing games and holds the record for receptions in a game by a running back with 11.
Yep. Booker was spot on.
All that was needed: Opportunity.
“Jet continues to grow and develop to become a more every-down player,” Mullen said. “Listen — my expectation of him is to find a way to get better every single day. He’s a 1,000-yard rusher and did all these great things last year but, hey, just do your job and be the best you can be every single day.”
It began early for Thomas, this fascination with the game.
Earlier than most.
Mom knows best
Candace Thomas is Jet’s mother, and she remembers talking with her son’s preschool teacher in New Jersey, where he was born. How the little one would always be running around the playground with a football tucked under his arm.
His love for the sport came from his father, Kenneth, a high school star running back who played college ball and passed away in June of last year.
“Jai’Den was always special,” Candace said. “Anything he wanted to do he pretty much did. I was surprised how he maintained after his (father’s passing), especially during football. He took all the lessons his Dad gave him. They were best friends. Jai’Den stayed focused and stayed the course. Most kids might not have done that, but he did.
“The school part as a (Business major) has gone great. He has been able to juggle that and football. He’s focused and getting great grades and doing what needs to be done. I’m proud of him.”
Remaining loyal
The world of college athletics is defined by a transfer portal and what sort of NIL deals players can receive to entice them to depart one school for another.
UNLV is like any in that it has had its share of those leaving for such things. Thomas easily could have following last season, when he finished with 1,036 yards and 12 touchdowns over 13 starts and 148 carries.
As a first-team All-Mountain West selection, he averaged 7.0 yards per rush, which ranked second nationally.
Such numbers are in high demand by others.
But he remained at UNLV.
He remained loyal to the program.
“Just the love of this community and being here,” Thomas said. “It’s an honor to showcase that I’m a Rebel. This was my first opportunity to play in college, and that meant a lot to me. To see the loyalty from the fan base. … It’s an easy question to answer about why I stayed.”
Said Mullen: “We want players who love football and want to be coached hard and want to be developed. Just like Jet. He gets all these calls and people probably throwing all this money at him to leave, but he sits here and says, ‘I can accomplish everything I want to at UNLV. I don’t have to go somewhere else.’
“That shows a lot about the team and the player and the culture and what it’s all about within this program.”
Thomas is a big part of UNLV’s turnaround, one that has seen it post 30 wins over the past three seasons.
He arrived in 2023 and made an immediate impact, running for 503 yards with a school-record freshman rushing touchdown mark of 12.
He remembers his first trip to Las Vegas as an 18-year-old, seeing the Strip for the first time, the bright lights, eating the food, enjoying a drive through Red Rock Canyon and viewing the Hoover Dam.
“Coming from Georgia,” Thomas said, “we don’t have that type of stuff.”
So he fell in love with the town from the beginning.
All he needed was the chance to make it home.
Being recruited
Brennan Marion is the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Colorado, the same position he held under Barry Odom at UNLV in 2023, back when Marion heard about a certain running back from Atlanta who was garnering little interest from colleges.
Thomas had, at that point, one offer.
From an FCS school.
“Jet was special the minute he stepped on campus,” Marion said. “The first or second time he carried the ball in fall camp, he went for like a 70-yard run. When you’re a freshman at 170 pounds and running through tackles in major college football and scoring 12 touchdowns, you’re a really tough kid.”
Marion remembers most the no-nonsense approach of Thomas’ parents, of his father’s New Jersey-toughness, of how impressed the coach was with their son’s like-minded attitude. Thomas was a serious sort who wanted to work from the outset.
“We started this thing at UNLV that really helped us turn things around where kids practiced on their own like three days a week,” Marion said. “Ricky White, Jacob De Jesus, Hajj-Malik Williams. Jet was among those guys. He had his own drills. Kids like that who follow a blueprint never surprise me. Doing everything extra. Jet came to my office all the time asking questions. He was always trying to become the best.”
Marion calls Thomas a diamond in the rough. UNLV learned about him late in the process when Thomas’ high school coach called Marion, who immediately watched film on the player.
The Rebels already had an assistant — then running backs coach Cornell Ford — in Atlanta recruiting.
“I told him, ‘Go and see this Jet Thomas kid, and if he’s taller than 5-7, offer him.’”
The rest is history.
Getting better
The football part has just gotten better and better as the seasons move forward, and it’s obvious Thomas has worked to become a more all-around player.
He caught 39 passes last year for 237 yards and a score. He is proving better and better when thrown to out of the backfield and in space. That’s where the Jet part comes into play.
“I’m biased, but I think he’s the best running back in the country,” said UNLV defensive back Mumu Bin-Wahad. “He’s a poised guy. A lot of things make him great — his vision, his speed, his strength, his change of direction in the open field. I love going against him every day in practice.
“He’s always out there on the field, working out with a trainer or by himself. He definitely loves the game and our program.”
So too agrees the guys blocking for Thomas.
“It’s awesome,” center Austin Boyd said. “He makes us look so good. His talent, his ability to make people miss. As long as we get a hat on a hat, Jet is going to make special things happen.”
He has been doing so for a while now and those closest to him saw it far before he arrived at UNLV.
He didn’t know what to expect when stepping on campus to a program that had lost for so long, few remembered when Rebel football elicited many positive vibes.
But he wouldn’t hear of such things.
“To be honest, I didn’t come here thinking it would be a difficult situation,” Thomas said. “I was just a kid trying to learn and be happy that I was here. But, yeah, winning is always better. Who doesn’t want to win? Nothing like it brings out that joyful feeling.
“It just brings more fuel to the fire.”
He has lit things up as a Rebel.
A loyal one.
Contact Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.
