COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – UNLV football player Jackson Woodard and Nevada softball player Aaliyah Jenkins are the 2024-25 Mountain West Male and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, respectively.
Established by the Mountain West Joint Council in 1999, the MW Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award is the highest honor presented to a student-athlete by the Conference. The award is bestowed annually to one male and one female who best exemplify the term “student-athlete” by achieving excellence in academics, athletics, and community involvement over the course of their intercollegiate careers.
In addition to athletic achievement, recipients of the MW Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award must have a minimum 3.5 cumulative grade point average, demonstrate leadership, and exhibit good character and conduct on and off the playing field. Each honoree will receive a $2,500 postgraduate scholarship.
Woodard, who earned first-team Academic All-America honors in each of his two seasons at UNLV and All-America honors from four different organizations on the field in 2024, graduated with a degree in kinesiology in 2024 with a 3.80 GPA. The Little Rock, Arkansas, native earned Academic All-MW honors and MW Scholar-Athlete distinction in each of the last two seasons.
Woodard, who is currently on the Houston Texans’ roster, had a breakout senior season in 2024, as the linebacker was the MW Defensive Player of the Year after finishing fourth in the FBS with 135 tackles, third-most in a season in UNLV history, and ranked 19th with four interceptions. After leading UNLV to its second straight Old Trapper Mountain West Football Championship Game, Woodard was the Defensive MVP of the Art of Sport LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk after helping the Rebels to a 24-13 win over Cal. He captained the Rebels to their first national ranking in 2024.
He became UNLV’s first member of the Chuck Bednarik Award Watch List and the first Rebel in 20 years to appear on the Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List. He also earned a spot on the Butkus Award Watch List, was a semifinalist for the Burlsworth Trophy, which goes to the top collegiate player who started his career as a walk-on, and was selected to the East-West Shrine Bowl.
A finalist for the 2024 William V. Campbell Trophy, which honors academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership, Woodard became the seventh NFF Scholar-Athlete in Mountain West history, earning an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship from the NFF in the process. Woodard, who was named the MW’s male Hal Rothman Sportsmanship Award winner for 2024-25 on Monday, was a semifinalist for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award, which honors the player who has demonstrated a record of leadership by exhibiting exceptional courage, integrity and sportsmanship both on and off the field. He was also a nominee for the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy and Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, which recognize community service. Every offseason, Woodard spearheads a “Rebels in the Community” youth clinic in Las Vegas neighborhoods. He has also volunteered with Meals on Wheels and was part of UNLV’s “Reading Rebels” program, pairing student-athletes with elementary classrooms to promote literacy and positive role models.
Woodard is UNLV’s third MW Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year and second in three seasons. Austin Ajiake, another Rebel football alum, won the award in 2022-23.
Jenkins graduated in May with a degree in kinesiology, finishing with a 3.56 GPA. The Tracy, California, native was a four-time Academic All-Mountain West selection and earned a spot on the Mountain West Scholar-Athlete Team three times in her career. Jenkins earned Academic All-District honors as a senior in 2025, advancing to the Academic All-America ballot.
In 2025, Jenkins, who played catcher and outfield, capped an incredible career by being named the MW Player of the Year and earning second-team All-America honors from D1Softball, becoming the first Wolf Pack player to earn All-America honors since 2008. She hit .446 on the season, the second-best mark in the MW and 13th-best in NCAA Division I, including a league-leading .522 in Conference games. Jenkins also paced the league in slugging percentage (.916) and on-base percentage (.546), numbers that jumped to 1.159 and .607 in MW play, also league bests. Her overall slugging percentage for the season ranked 11th nationally.
Jenkins posted 17 home runs (matching the program record and ranking third in the MW this season) and a league-best 31 steals, making her the only player nationally to hit at least 10 home runs and steal at least 30 bases, including a MW-best 10 of her round-trippers in Conference action. She also led the MW with 17 overall doubles and a program-record 152 total bases, as well as 29 runs, 32 RBIs, four triples, 80 total bases and 16 steals in league games. Jenkins was named the MW Player of the Week five times on the season, matching the Conference record for most selections in a season. She set or matched MW senior class records in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, triples, and stolen bases in Conference play.
Powered by Jenkins’s monster season, Nevada went 41-14 overall and 18-4 in MW play, winning its first Mountain West regular-season title, setting a program record for conference wins and turning in the second-most overall wins in a season in Wolf Pack history.
In the community, Jenkins, a two-time NCFA all-region performer, four-time All-Mountain West selection and the 2022 MW Freshman of the Year, provided softball instruction to local youth at camps.
Jenkins is the first Nevada woman to be named the MW Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
MALE AND FEMALE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR ALL-TIME LIST OF HONOREES
2024-25
Jackson Woodard, Football, UNLV
Aaliyah Jenkins, Softball, Nevada
2023-24
Drew Thompson, Men’s Track and Field, Colorado State
Courtney Blackson, Women’s Gymnastics, Boise State
2022-23
Austin Ajiake, Football, UNLV
Katelyn Mitchem, Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field, Wyoming
2021-22
Kekaula Kaniho, Football, Boise State
Michelle Roca, Women’s Track & Field, Air Force
2020-21
Christopher Henry, Men’s Cross Country/Track & Field, Wyoming
Gwen Maly, Women’s Soccer, New Mexico
2018-19
Nick Smith, Football, Wyoming
Allie Ostrander, Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field, Boise State
2017-18
Mason Hampton, Football, Boise State
Jinan Andrews, Women’s Swimming and Diving, Air Force
2016-17
Devin Wright, Men’s Track and Field, Utah State
Audra DeStefano, Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field, Wyoming
2015-16
Jordan Dobrich, Football, Nevada
Courtney Frerichs, Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field, New Mexico
2014-15
Samir Iftikhar, Men’s Tennis, New Mexico
Rebecca Esselstein, Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field, Air Force
2013-14
Christian Meyer, Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field, Colorado State
Darcie Anderson, Women’s Swimming, San José State
2012-13
Luke Ruff, Football, Wyoming
Chaundra Sewell, Women’s Basketball, Wyoming
2011-12
Greg Miller, Men’s Cross Country/Track & Field, Wyoming
Kelly Williamson, Women’s Volleyball, New Mexico
2010-11
Eric Robinson, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Air Force
Therese Koelbaek, Women’s Golf, UNLV
2009-10
Zane Beadles, Football, Utah
Simone Riford, Rifle, TCU
2008-09
Kellen Fowler, Football, BYU
Abigail Rogers, Gymnastics, Air Force
2007-08
Joseph Brown, Men’s Track & Field, TCU
April Thomas, Women’s’ Cross Country/Track & Field, Colorado State
2006-07
Lars Loseth, Men’s Skiing/Men’s Soccer, New Mexico
Blair Leake, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Air Force
2005-06
Matt Karmondy, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Air Force
Maja Kovacek, Women’s Tennis, New Mexico
2004-05
Morgan Scalley, Football, Utah
Lindsey Metcalf, Women’s Volleyball/Women’s Track & Field, BYU
2003-04
Sean Murray, Baseball, New Mexico
Delavane Diaz, Women’s Volleyball, Air Force
2002-03
John Dayton, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Air Force
Theresa Kulikowski, Gymnastics, Utah
2001-02
Teren Jameson, Men’s Cross Country/Track & Field, Utah
Shannon Bowles, Gymnastics, Utah
2000-01
John Greer, Football, UNLV
Liz Toman, Women’s Track & Field, Colorado State
1999-2000
Matthieu Amgwerd, Men’s Tennis, New Mexico
Katarina Malec, Women’s Tennis, UNLV
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