LAS VEGAS — Running backs Jai’Den “Jet” Thomas and Jaylon Glover expect to share UNLV’s carries. During fall camp, they are still pushing one another to improve, including correcting mistakes during inside run.
“Glove my bro,” Thomas said. “We always have a little bickery during inside run. We just want to make each other better. He tells me something that I’m doing wrong and I also tell him something. We just piggyback off each other, make sure each other’s great.”
Glover has a shorter name for the pairing.
“Sonic and Knuckles,” he said.
“I think watching Jet play, it only gives me motivation to be great,” Glover said. “Similar games, but I think we all have our own significant things that’s really special to us. I love playing with Jet. It’s just fun coming to practice every day because he’s a great back.”
Running backs coach Quinton Ganther is keeping both under pressure as UNLV prepares for Memphis on Aug. 29. Thomas’ standing as an established Mountain West back does not exempt him.
“There could be a battle going on for the first and second,” Ganther said. “I know about Jet, too. I know about Glover, but it’s a healthy competition within the room.”
“We don’t sit back and say, ‘OK, well, you don’t have to work today because it’s your spot. You’re returning, first-team all-league guy,’” he said. “Because when that happens, that falls on me as a coach because I’m not pushing him to get to the next level and get more out of him.”
Glover sees room for both to succeed.
“I see Jet as we’re competing, don’t get me wrong, but obviously Jet going to get his, rightfully so,” he said. “I’m just here to complement Jet. It might be games where I have a game and he doesn’t have the biggest, or it’s going to be games that he has a game and I don’t have the biggest. We want to see each other win.”
Thomas enters that partnership after rushing for 1,036 yards and 12 touchdowns on 148 carries last season. He averaged 7 yards per rush and earned first-team All-Mountain West honors. Glover finished his first UNLV season with 384 yards and a touchdown on 64 attempts, averaging 6 yards per carry. Both produced gains without a heavy average workload: Thomas had fewer than 12 carries per appearance, while Glover played all 14 games and averaged fewer than five.
Thomas also caught 39 passes for 237 yards and a touchdown, finishing second on the team in receptions. Glover had six catches for 51 yards.
The previous division of work also included Keyvone Lee, who carried 100 times for 438 yards and six touchdowns as a graduate student last season. He caught another 19 passes for 164 yards and scored a rushing touchdown in four consecutive games. Thomas led the room’s production, but the offense had meaningful work for a third back as well. The camp competition extends beyond choosing an order for Thomas and Glover.
Glover is trying to improve on a first season slowed by an ankle injury. He said he did not feel fully healthy until around the fourth week, but still held himself responsible for missed opportunities.
“Flat C,” Glover said. “Only due to the fact, just knowing the opportunities that I did have. I feel like I could have made more of them. Not to say some could say I could have got more, some could have said I needed less. Personally, me, this year won’t be the same.”
Glover has spent extra time learning the blocking schemes and where defenders should be after the snap. Recognizing the intended blocks sooner lets him choose a running lane without waiting for it to develop in front of him. He has also noticed better communication between the backs and line.
“Once you know the offense, you play faster,” Glover said. “I think I’ve been showing that out here.”
Both produced against Colorado State: Thomas ran for 131 yards and a touchdown on seven carries, while Glover had 99 yards and a touchdown on 12. Together they gained 230 rushing yards on 19 attempts.
Glover also ran for 112 yards on six carries at Boise State, including a 43-yard gain, in UNLV’s 56-31 loss.
The backs also have to handle defenders a block does not reach. On a carry, Glover described making an unblocked linebacker miss; on a passing play, the back may need to meet a free rusher before he reaches the quarterback. Glover calls that work being an “eraser.” Ganther calls the backs mechanics.
“We’re mechanics,” Ganther said. “That’s kind of our motto and our name right now. We call ourselves mechanics because we fix things. When things go wrong, we fix it and you don’t know that we fixed it. We just do our job.”
Ganther sees complementary skills across the room. Thomas can slash, catch passes and contribute on special teams. Glover offers another experienced back, and DJ Jones brings size after returning from shoulder surgery.
Jones is at a different point in his college career. He appeared in four games last season and carried twice for 9 yards after redshirting in 2023 and spending 2024 on the squad without a game appearance. The competition gives him a chance to move beyond that limited work. At Park Hill South High School in Missouri, he produced 1,394 rushing yards, 272 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns during his final season, but he has not yet had a comparable college workload.
Mohammad Maali is another back with experience before arriving at UNLV. He played 21 games over two seasons at Pasadena City College, rushing for 564 yards and five touchdowns in 2024 after 248 yards and three scores the previous year. He did not appear in a UNLV game last season. Like Jones, he is trying to turn practice opportunities into a larger role on Saturdays, with college game experience that comes from a different level.
“They’re all complementing each other well and all bring something different to the table,” Ganther said. “I’m looking forward to allowing them each to open up their abilities and help us win football games.”
For Thomas, pass protection is part of becoming a complete back.
“We have to protect our quarterbacks,” he said. “Whatever they need, I’m here.”
Ganther believes versatility will also influence Thomas’ professional chances.
“The thing about Jet is he can be so versatile,” he said. “He can catch the ball out the backfield. His thing to play at the next level is going to be able to return kicks, to find a special teams value.”
Thomas returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown against Fresno State in 2024, UNLV’s first kickoff-return score in 13 years.
Glover returned 16 kickoffs for 312 yards last season alongside his 64 rushing attempts.
His playing career included 36 NFL appearances with Tennessee, Washington, Seattle and Buffalo after the Titans selected him in the seventh round in 2006. Ganther later worked in NFL coaching, including offensive quality control with Jacksonville in 2021. When he discusses earning a place through work away from the ball, he is drawing on experience on both sides of the roster decision.
Before UNLV, Ganther coached Utah’s backs from 2022 through 2024. In his first season, three Utes running backs each rushed for more than 500 yards: Tavion Thomas, Micah Bernard and Ja’Quinden Jackson. His room produced four different players with a 100-yard game during those three years. He has coached groups in which production came from several backs, which fits his insistence that returning recognition does not remove competition in this camp.
“With special teams, when you make a roster based on special teams, it’s all about attitude and want-to,” he said. “You have to dominate your one-on-one battles. I think he’ll be able to do that.”
Thomas has added strength and weight, working in the 190-pound range. Ganther said he is as heavy as he has been in college.
“He’s taking it serious,” Ganther said. “I love what I’m seeing from him as far as his preparation and how he’s going about his business. He definitely wants to play at the next level.”
“Really this year I’m just trying to prove myself, prove my talent and prove where I can go,” Thomas said.
Assignments earn snaps before the next handoff. Ganther’s expectations extend to Glover, Jones and the younger backs. When a ball hit the ground at practice, he reinforced them.
“The standard is the standard,” he said. “There’s no negotiating the standard.”
Watch the full UNLV running backs interview:
