Following the 2025 season, Jai’Den Thomas could have transferred to a new program after posting a career-high 12-touchdown season. Instead, the “Jet” chose to play his senior year where he began: as a Rebel.
As UNLV collected its first win of the 2026 season over the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Saturday night in Honolulu, Thomas played a key role in pushing the Rebels over the finish line in their Mountain West opener.
The senior running back rushed for 143 yards on 20 attempts, including a 50-yard touchdown that sealed the game late in the fourth quarter.
Thomas’ touchdown accounted for the only points the UNLV offense scored in the second half, when the Rebels had five possessions and held the ball for just over two minutes in the third quarter.
It marked the 10th time in Thomas’ career that he has rushed for more than 100 yards in a game and the first time since Dan Mullen took over as UNLV’s coach that he has recorded at least 20 rushing attempts.
His previous high since the beginning of the 2025 season was 16 carries against Wyoming last October.
Most of Thomas’ damage came in the second half. The former first-team All-Mountain West honoree rushed for 44 yards on 10 attempts in the opening 30 minutes before exploding for 99 yards on the ground in the second half, averaging nearly 10 yards per carry.
Mullen credited Thomas for continuing to run hard throughout the game before eventually breaking the play that put the Rebels in position to secure the victory.
“In the end, he pounded away, he’s your guy offensively,” Mullen said on the postgame radio show on ESPN Las Vegas. “You know, he’s gonna run hard. He’s eventually gonna break one, which he did at the end.”
While Thomas provided the late spark, quarterback Jackson Arnold also made an impact with his legs as the Rebels leaned on their rushing attack throughout the game, totaling 248 yards.
UNLV struggled in the passing attack, with Arnold completing eight of 18 attempts, but the Auburn transfer finished with 89 yards on the ground and two rushing touchdowns. Both scores came in the first half and helped UNLV build an early lead it never relinquished.
Mullen praised Arnold for his physicality.
“Jackson Arnold ran tough tonight, physical guy,” Mullen said. “That is a tough, physical and gutsy win by the team.”
The running game as a whole was helped by an offensive line that had plenty of questions entering the “Ninth Island Showdown” following the confirmed absence of starting center Austin Boyd.
The Rebels allowed one sack across 61 total plays, an improvement from the six sacks the offensive front allowed in UNLV’s season-opening loss to the Memphis Tigers.
Despite the production on the ground, Mullen knows the Rebels still have work to do offensively as they prepare to face the North Texas Mean Green next Saturday.
“We’ve got to play better. We’ve got to be better especially offensively all across the board,” Mullen said. “We gotta coach the guys better.
“I’m disappointed a little bit more offensively with the coaching, which a lot of that is on me … but it is great to win the pineapple, it is great to bring it home for us.”
UNLV has now won four consecutive “Ninth Island Showdowns” and two consecutive games in Honolulu, while avoiding an 0-2 start to the season.
