LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV had two players included on the 2023 Action Network All-America Team as receiver Ricky White III was on the first team and kick returner Jacob De Jesus was named second team.
White, who joined the program in 2022 after transferring from Michigan State, is a junior from Marietta, Georgia. The First Team All-Mountain West performer was previously named Third Team All-America by AP and Second Team All-America by College Football Network. He sits fourth in the nation with 1,386 receiving yards on 81 catches, including seven touchdowns. In conference play, he led the league in both receptions per game at 7.25 and receiving yards per game with an eye-popping 130.6.
White has already set two UNLV records in 2023, breaking Jim Sandusky’s 42-year-old mark for yards in a season and becoming the first Rebel to reach the 100-yard mark in receiving yards in five consecutive games. With the bowl game still left to play, he is seven catches away from tying Ryan Wolfe’s UNLV single-season mark for receptions (88 set in 2008).
De Jesus, who transferred to UNLV this season from Modesto Junior College, is the first Rebel in history to earn All-America honors as a kick returner, including previously being named second team by USA TODAY. 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 currently sits third in punt returns with 16.1 yards per attempt and 13th in kickoff returns with 26.3.
Also standing ninth in the Mountain West with 51 catches, his 511 receiving yards and six rushing yards give him 1,536 all-purpose yards – good for second the in the conference and 29th in the nation at 118.2 YPG. Previously announced as one of three finalists for the Jet Award, which goes annually to college football’s top return man, De Jesus is only the second UNLV player to earn two first team all-league honors in the same season (punt returner and kickoff returner), 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.
The Rebels (9-4) are preparing to play Kansas in the 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix on December 26. Ticket information is available at UNLVTickets.com.
