LAS VEGAS — Jai’Den “Jet” Thomas and Lucas Conti had opportunities to leave UNLV, but both stayed because the program that developed them still had a championship left to win.
Thomas could have taken the production that made him one of the Mountain West’s most explosive running backs and pursued another opportunity. Conti could have used his experience and versatility along the defensive front to find a different role elsewhere. Instead, both returned to the teammates, coaches and city that helped transform them from young players searching for opportunities into veterans responsible for carrying one of the highest standards in program history.
Photo: Jay Soares / The Scarlet StandardTheir decisions represent more than roster retention for Dan Mullen entering his second season. Thomas and Conti have grown alongside UNLV as the program progressed from hoping to reach a bowl game to expecting to compete for the Mountain West championship and College Football Playoff access.
When they arrived, UNLV was still learning how to sustain success. The Rebels are now coming off three consecutive Mountain West championship game appearances, three straight bowl trips and 30 victories over the past three seasons. Reaching December with a championship available has become the expectation rather than an achievement the program is satisfied simply celebrating.
Thomas and Conti have experienced that entire shift. They remember what UNLV looked like while it was still trying to prove the breakthrough was real, and they understand what the program feels like now that opponents prepare for the Rebels as one of the conference’s established contenders.
Thomas’ connection to UNLV begins with the opportunity the program offered before his name appeared in the school record book or on preseason award lists.
“From day one, this was the first school that gave me an opportunity to play here,” Thomas told The Scarlet Standard during an appearance on Rebel Daily Drive at Mountain West Football Media Days. “I kept that really dear to me. Showcasing my ability in Vegas has been a really great opportunity these past couple of years, and I’m very excited for this fall.”
Thomas arrived as a young running back who needed a place to show what his compact frame, vision and explosiveness could become. He enters his senior season as the centerpiece of UNLV’s offense and one of the most productive runners in school history.
He rushed for 1,036 yards and 12 touchdowns on 148 carries last season, averaging seven yards per attempt. Thomas also caught 39 passes for 237 yards and another touchdown, proving he could affect games as more than a traditional runner.
His production moved him to eighth in program history with 2,457 career rushing yards and fifth with 31 rushing touchdowns. Thomas enters 2026 with nine career 100-yard games and a realistic opportunity to continue climbing a record book led by Charles Williams and Tim Cornett.
Thomas did not return because he had calculated the exact number of yards separating him from those names. He said he did not know how close he had moved to the career rushing record until the possibility was raised during the interview.
“I didn’t even know,” Thomas said. “Now it puts a little bit more fuel in my tank.”
Thomas joked that he planned to contact Williams and warn him that he was coming for the record. The exchange showed the confidence that has helped him consistently play larger than his listed size, but his expectations extend beyond UNLV’s record book.
Thomas wants to compete for the Doak Walker Award and establish himself nationally as one of the best running backs in college football. He does not want his production viewed only through the context of the Mountain West.
“My number one goal is the Doak Walker Award,” Thomas said. “That’s something I want dearly, just to put my name up nationally, not just in the Mountain West, so I can compete against the top running backs in the nation.”
Those individual goals fit the larger direction of the program. Thomas’ growth has occurred during the same period in which UNLV stopped measuring success through occasional victories and began expecting to compete for championships.
A school rushing record would carry greater meaning if it came during the season that finally ended with the Rebels lifting the Mountain West trophy. National recognition would become more realistic if Thomas remained the foundation of an offense capable of placing UNLV in the College Football Playoff conversation.
Photo: Jay Soares / The Scarlet StandardConti’s development reflects the other side of the program’s rise.
He has grown from a young defensive lineman learning how to contribute into a versatile veteran capable of aligning across the front. Conti started 10 games last season and finished with 22 tackles, four tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. His best statistical performance came against New Mexico, when he recorded six tackles, a sack and another tackle for loss.
Conti also returned because three trips to the championship game without a trophy left him unwilling to walk away from the players who experienced those losses beside him.
“It always comes down to that itch of winning the championship,” Conti said. “Coming back, I wanted to finish it with my guys. I’m such a competitor, so it would mean a lot to win this year.”
Photo: Jay Soares / The Scarlet StandardThat motivation gives his junior season a different weight. Conti is not returning only to improve his statistics or create better professional opportunities. He is returning with knowledge of how close UNLV has come and how quickly another championship opportunity can disappear.
His value is not limited to the numbers he produced last season. Conti can line up on the edge or move inside, giving defensive coordinator Paul Guenther the ability to change fronts and matchups without replacing personnel.
That flexibility requires more than athletic ability. Conti must understand several responsibilities, recognize different blocking schemes and adjust to offenses that can look completely different from one week to the next.
Air Force will challenge UNLV’s discipline with the option. Hawai‘i can spread the field and force defensive linemen to affect the quarterback without losing containment. North Dakota State will bring the physical running style that helped it dominate the Football Championship Subdivision.
Conti’s experience allows him to help younger players prepare for those changes. His role is no longer limited to winning his own matchup. He must help the players around him understand the standard required to compete through an entire Mountain West schedule.
That leadership represents significant growth from his first season. Conti has now experienced multiple championship races, three title-game preparations and the disappointment that followed each loss. He knows what UNLV looks like when it is playing meaningful football in December and what prevents a good season from becoming a complete one.
Conti also learned how much preparation away from the field affects his availability on it. Injuries limited him at points last season, although he did not require surgery. The experience changed how he approaches recovery and the workload required to remain productive throughout a full college football season.
His personal goals begin with eliminating mistakes against the run, controlling his assigned gap and creating additional plays when the opportunity develops.
“My goal is no mistakes in the run game,” Conti said. “Cover my gap, make some two-gap plays and raise my numbers from last year.”
That may not sound as dramatic as chasing a rushing record or national award, but it reflects what UNLV needs from its defensive front. The Rebels do not require Conti to turn every snap into a sack. They need him to prevent ordinary runs from becoming explosive ones and help younger players understand how quickly one missed assignment can change a championship-level game.
Thomas and Conti have developed into leaders because UNLV’s expectations have grown with them. Neither can approach 2026 as a young player concerned only with earning snaps or building an individual résumé.
The Rebels need Thomas to provide stability for an offense preparing to transition at quarterback. They need Conti to establish consistency for a defense blending returning veterans with transfers and younger players.
Jackson Arnold and Alex Orji give Mullen different possibilities in the quarterback competition. Arnold arrives after passing for 1,309 yards and six touchdowns at Auburn last season while adding 311 rushing yards and eight scores. Orji returns after an injury limited him to three appearances, three completed passes, 42 rushing yards and one touchdown.
Thomas and Conti did not attempt to declare a winner during Mountain West Media Days. They described two quarterbacks whose different abilities could help the Rebels depending on the opponent and situation.
Orji’s development has already influenced the returning players. After suffering an injury against UCLA, he remained involved on the sideline and used his experience to help teammates understand what he was seeing.
“He stayed focused and stayed locked in,” Thomas said. “He was teaching us each and every day, telling us what we should do and how we should do it.”
Arnold brings starting experience from the SEC and the ability to create as both a passer and runner. Orji brings familiarity with Mullen’s expectations, physicality and leadership strengthened by contributing even when he could not play.
Whichever quarterback wins the job will enter an offense built around Thomas’ experience. The starter will not have to create the entire identity alone, but he will be responsible for complementing one of the conference’s best running backs and managing the moments that determine whether UNLV can finally complete its championship run.
That championship remains the central expectation because the Rebels have already accomplished nearly everything short of winning it.
UNLV has played in three consecutive Mountain West title games and lost each one. The program has demonstrated that it can survive coaching changes, roster turnover and quarterback transitions without falling out of contention, but repeated appearances have made the absence of a championship more visible.
Thomas reduced that challenge to the same word that defines the next stage of the program’s growth.
“I would say the hump is just finishing,” Thomas said. “We haven’t finished, so we need to finish better.”
That answer carries additional weight coming from a player who has grown through each phase of the rise. Thomas remembers when becoming bowl eligible represented a breakthrough. He now plays for a program in which another bowl appearance would be treated as only part of the expectation.
Conti has watched the defensive standard change in the same way. UNLV no longer enters games hoping to prove it can compete physically with the conference’s best teams. The Rebels expect to win those matchups and understand that one missed assignment can be the difference between another title-game loss and the trophy they have been chasing.
Their growth also gives UNLV more continuity than it possessed entering Mullen’s first season. The Rebels returned only 17 lettermen and two starters in 2025, forcing a reconstructed roster to learn new coaches and teammates while protecting expectations created by previous teams.
UNLV still won 10 regular-season games and reached another Mountain West championship game, but Thomas described the transition as more chaotic than the environment surrounding the 2026 team.
“I would say the vibe in the locker room is great,” Thomas said. “It’s not as chaotic as last year. It’s just great for everyone to come together for the standard of winning.”
That difference matters because the Rebels cannot spend half the season deciding what kind of team they want to become. Thomas, Conti and the returning veterans are responsible for showing newcomers what the program expects before the pressure of the schedule exposes any uncertainty.
Thomas described the relationships inside the locker room as “brotherly love.” Players spend time together away from the facility, allowing the trust required during games to develop beyond practices and meetings.
That chemistry does not guarantee UNLV will win the championship, but it gives the Rebels a stronger foundation when the season becomes difficult. Thomas and Conti have already experienced the emotional swings of a championship pursuit and can prevent one loss, injury or poor performance from changing the direction of the team.
The schedule will demand that maturity. UNLV opens against Memphis and later faces Cal, North Dakota State, Air Force, New Mexico, Hawai‘i and several other opponents capable of testing different parts of the roster.
The Rebels will also attempt to retain the Fremont Cannon for a fifth consecutive season when UNR visits Allegiant Stadium in the finale. The rivalry once represented an opportunity to salvage difficult seasons. It now exists within a larger championship expectation.
UNLV has grown beyond measuring an entire year through one rivalry victory, one bowl appearance or one winning record. Those achievements remain important, but the program Thomas and Conti helped build expects more.
The Rebels want to win the Mountain West and position themselves for the College Football Playoff. Those goals would have sounded unrealistic when Thomas and Conti first began their careers in Las Vegas. They now represent the standard attached to the program.
That transformation is why their return matters.
Thomas has grown from an overlooked young running back into a potential national award candidate and one of the most productive players in UNLV history. Conti has grown into a versatile starter and leader responsible for helping the next group understand what championship preparation requires.
UNLV has followed the same path. The program moved from irrelevance to bowl eligibility, from bowl eligibility to conference contention and from contention to three consecutive championship appearances.
Thomas and Conti returned because they do not believe the story should end there. Thomas’ final season and Conti’s continued development will help determine whether the Rebels can finally meet the championship standard they helped build.
Watch the full Rebel Daily Drive interview with UNLV running back Jai’Den “Jet” Thomas and defensive lineman Lucas Conti: