North Texas head coach Neal Brown knows how dangerous UNLV running back Jai’Den Thomas can be when he gets into open space. Thomas is coming off his best game of the season after rushing for 143 yards against Hawai‘i, including a 50-yard touchdown run that helped put away UNLV’s 21-6 win.
Brown called Thomas a “game breaker” while discussing the matchup this week and pointed to how little room the UNLV running back needs to create an explosive play. “He doesn’t need much space,” Brown said. “He can get out and run.” That is exactly what happened against Hawai‘i when Thomas found an opening at midfield late in the fourth quarter and turned it into the longest run of his season.
Thomas will not be the only experienced lead back in Saturday’s matchup. North Texas has Jahiem White, who returned from a knee injury against Indiana and immediately became one of the most involved players in the Mean Green offense. White carried 14 times for 61 yards and a touchdown while also catching seven passes for 36 yards, giving him 21 total touches in his first game since missing most of last season.
The two running backs arrive at the matchup in different situations. Thomas is an established starter coming off a 1,000-yard season and now has his first 100-yard game of 2026. White is trying to reestablish himself after a significant injury, but he is doing it with a coach who already knows what he can provide. White played under Brown at West Virginia during his two most productive college seasons before the two reunited at North Texas.
Both teams also have other options in their backfields. Jaylon Glover has provided UNLV with another experienced runner behind Thomas, while Brendon Haygood and Nick Osho both received carries for North Texas against Indiana. The first two games, however, have made it clear that Thomas and White are the players at the center of their respective rushing attacks.
Thomas is coming off the performance UNLV needed
Thomas’ first two games have shown two different ways UNLV can use its lead back. Memphis limited him to 44 rushing yards on 12 carries in the opener, but Thomas remained involved by catching six passes for 54 yards. Even without much success on the ground, he finished the game with 98 yards from scrimmage.
Glover gave UNLV another option in that game, rushing five times for 49 yards. Most of that production came on a 44-yard run in the third quarter, but the play showed the type of change-of-pace option Glover can provide when Thomas is not on the field.
The running game looked much different against Hawai‘i. Thomas received 20 carries and finished with 143 yards, averaging more than seven yards per attempt. His 50-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter gave the Rebels a 21-6 lead and provided the biggest play of a game in which UNLV rushed for 248 yards as a team.
Through two games, Thomas has 187 rushing yards on 32 carries and one touchdown. Glover has 65 yards on 10 carries. The production gives UNLV an experienced one-two combination at the position, although Thomas has clearly remained the primary option.
Quarterback Jackson Arnold also adds another part to UNLV’s rushing attack. Arnold ran for 89 yards and two touchdowns against Hawai‘i, meaning North Texas will have to account for more than Thomas when defending the run. His involvement can make it more difficult for defenders to immediately commit to the running back, which could create additional space for Thomas.
That becomes important because Thomas has shown that he does not need many opportunities to turn a good rushing performance into a big one. Hawai‘i kept him out of the end zone for most of the game before one opening allowed him to break the 50-yard touchdown. North Texas will have to limit those explosive opportunities rather than simply trying to keep his average down over a series of carries.
The Mean Green showed against Indiana that they can be effective against traditional running-back carries despite the 52-16 final score. Indiana finished with 134 rushing yards, but 43 of those came on a late touchdown run by quarterback Grant Wilson. Indiana’s two primary running backs, Turbo Richard and Lee Beebe Jr., combined for 91 yards on 29 carries.
That is a more useful number for evaluating what Thomas will face Saturday. North Texas did not allow Indiana’s running backs to consistently control the game on the ground, even though the Hoosiers were able to create plenty of offense in other ways.
Thomas gives the Mean Green a different challenge because UNLV can combine his rushing ability with Arnold’s running threat. North Texas will have to defend Thomas without allowing too much attention on him to create opportunities elsewhere in the rushing game.
White returns to a familiar offense
White’s first game at North Texas looked more like a return to an established role than the beginning of a new one. He carried the ball 14 times against Indiana, while Haygood had six carries and Osho had five. White then added seven receptions, giving him significantly more total touches than either of the other backs.
Brown made White’s place in the offense even clearer this week when he described him as North Texas’ most effective offensive player through preseason camp and the Indiana game. “We’ve got to continue to get him going,” Brown said.
The connection between Brown and White is an important part of the matchup. White transferred to North Texas after spending his previous seasons at West Virginia, where Brown coached him during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. White rushed for 842 yards while averaging 7.7 yards per carry as a freshman in 2023 and followed that with 844 yards and seven touchdowns in 2024.
White had already established himself as a productive back in Brown’s offense before his 2025 season was cut short by a knee injury. He returned against Indiana with seven career 100-yard rushing games and nearly 1,900 career rushing yards, so North Texas is not relying on an inexperienced player to become the center of its running game.
The Indiana game showed that White did not need much time to regain a significant workload. He finished with 61 rushing yards and scored on a 9-yard run during North Texas’ best offensive stretch of the game. The Mean Green opened the second half with a 75-yard touchdown drive that briefly cut Indiana’s lead to 24-13, and White contributed both a 19-yard run and the touchdown on the possession.
His seven catches were also a career high. That gives North Texas another way to get the ball to White if UNLV is able to take away traditional rushing lanes. The Mean Green do not have to rely only on handoffs to keep him involved, and his 97 total yards against Indiana showed how his rushing and receiving production can work together.
That makes White different from a running back whose effectiveness depends entirely on how well the offensive line creates space. North Texas still needs its front to establish the run, but White can remain part of the game plan when the offense gets behind the chains or has to throw more often.
Haygood and Osho should still receive opportunities, but the Indiana game did not look like an evenly divided committee. White had 21 touches, Haygood had seven and Osho had five. Brown’s comments this week suggest that distribution was not accidental.
UNLV will have to defend more than White’s rushing total
UNLV’s defense was much better overall against Hawai‘i than it was against Memphis, but the official rushing numbers need some context before using them to evaluate Saturday’s matchup.
Memphis rushed for 195 yards on 34 carries in the opener, averaging 5.7 yards per attempt. Hawai‘i’s official total dropped to 118 yards on 33 carries, but UNLV’s five sacks accounted for 28 yards of losses that are included in college rushing statistics. Hawai‘i running backs DeVon Rice and Sitani Mikaele still combined for 112 yards on 24 carries.
The Rebels still showed improvement. Hawai‘i scored only six points, never reached the end zone and had difficulty finishing drives. The five sacks also showed that UNLV was able to create more pressure than it did against Memphis.
White will test a different part of the defense. UNLV cannot judge its success against him only by how many rushing yards he finishes with because North Texas has already shown it is willing to use him in the passing game. If White is held to a modest rushing total but catches another six or seven passes and consistently turns them into positive plays, he can still become one of the most important players in the game.
That puts more emphasis on tackling after the catch and preventing short gains from turning into explosive plays. White’s 21 touches against Indiana are a better indication of his role than his 61 rushing yards alone.
North Texas has a similar concern with Thomas. Memphis kept him to 44 rushing yards but still allowed him to finish with 98 yards from scrimmage. Hawai‘i allowed him to break the 50-yard touchdown after keeping him out of the end zone for most of the night.
That is what makes the two backs an important part of Saturday’s matchup. Neither needs to dominate every carry to affect the game, and both offenses have already shown different ways to keep their lead back involved.
Thomas has the advantage of continuity and enters Saturday with the stronger recent performance. He is coming off a 1,000-yard season and just rushed for 143 yards, while Glover gives UNLV another experienced option behind him.
White is only one game into his return from injury, but he already has a significant history with Brown and was immediately given the largest workload in North Texas’ backfield. His 21 touches against Indiana showed that the Mean Green are comfortable putting him back at the center of the offense.
Saturday’s running back matchup will ultimately be less about deciding whether Thomas or White is the better individual player and more about which team is able to consistently get its lead back involved. UNLV will look for Thomas to build on the running lanes he found against Hawai‘i, while North Texas will try to establish White both on the ground and through the passing game.
Both teams have additional options in their backfields, but the first two games have established where the offense starts. For UNLV, it starts with Thomas. For North Texas, White has quickly shown that Brown intends for the same thing to be true on the other sideline.