Courtesy of UNLV
LAS VEGAS – UNLV football’s Jacob De Jesus is one of three finalists for the Jet Award, which goes to the nation’s top kick returner, the Jet Award Foundation announced Monday.
De Jesus (Manteca, CA) is the second Rebel player to become a finalist for a national college football award this season, joining teammate Jose Pizano, who is one of three kickers currently still in the running for the Lou Groza Award.
An All-America candidate, De Jesus leads all of college football with 1,019 total return yards and is the only player in the nation to rank in the top 15 for both punt and kickoff returns. He sits third in punt returns with 16.1 yards per attempt and 13th in kickoff returns with 26.3. Named First Team All-Mountain West as both a punt returner and kickoff returner, he is only the second UNLV player to earn two first team all-league honors in the same season, joining College Football Hall of Famer Randall Cunningham, who was First Team All-PCAA (Big West) as both a quarterback and punter in both 1983 and ’84.
Founded in 2011, the Jet Award is named in honor of legendary Nebraska player and 1972 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny “The Jet” Rodgers and awarded annually to the nation’s most outstanding return specialist. A media panel made up of members of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) selected the finalists. The other two finalists this year are Las Vegas native Zachariah Branch of USC and Jayden Harrison of Marshall.
The recipient of the 2023 Jet Award will be announced in January. The official presentation to the winner will be made at The Jet Award Gala in Omaha, Nebraska, on April 4, 2024. Proceeds from the Gala go to the Johnny Rodgers Career and Technical Scholarship for students pursuing degrees in the trades at Metropolitan Community College.
De Jesus and the Rebels are preparing to play Kansas in the 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix on December 26. Ticket information is available at UNLVTickets.com.
