UNLV Quarterback Jackson Arnold Honored by Campbell Award for Second Straight Week

LAS VEGAS — For the second straight week, UNLV senior quarterback Jackson Arnold has earned Honorable Mention Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award National Player of the Week, organizers announced Tuesday. The national nod followed a day after the Denton, Texas, native was named Old Trapper Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week on Monday for a five-touchdown performance in Saturday's 39-31 win over Cal at Allegiant Stadium — a night when Arnold accounted for all five Rebel touchdowns and became the first UNLV quarterback to post a 100-yard rushing game since 2024.

The back-to-back honors bookend a week that has turned Arnold into the Mountain West's most decorated offensive player of October. He now leads the league with 13 touchdowns responsible for, ranks second in pass efficiency and passing touchdowns (8), third in rushing touchdowns (5), third in passing at 212.6 yards per game and ninth in rushing at 54.4 yards per game, UNLV Athletics reported.

Against Cal, Arnold had a hand in every Rebel score. He threw for three touchdowns and twice found the end zone on the ground, and also rushed for a two-point conversion against the Golden Bears, UNLV Athletics reported. His ground day included an early 55-yard touchdown run and a late two-yard score. Through the air, three of his 11 pass attempts went for scores: a 70-yard bomb to Kayden "Big Play" McGee, a 36-yard strike to Taz Reddicks and a 10-yard touchdown to tight end Keyan Burnett in the fourth quarter that gave UNLV a 32-25 lead.

Arnold is UNLV's first offensive-side Mountain West Player of the Week since quarterback Anthony Colandrea earned the honor four times last fall en route to winning Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors, the school noted.

The Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award recognizes the top offensive players in the nation who either played at and graduated from a Texas high school or are currently playing at a Division I school in Texas. Arnold starred at Denton's Guyer High School before signing with Oklahoma to begin his college career, a Texas pedigree that keeps him eligible for the weekly honor. The senior transfer route — Oklahoma to Auburn to UNLV — has made his final college season a national conversation.

Arnold's road to this moment ran through three of college football's biggest brands. He signed with Oklahoma out of Denton's Guyer High School, later moved to Auburn, and arrived at UNLV as a senior transfer — and the Rebels have handed him the keys. Under head coach Dan Mullen, the offense has become a showcase for a quarterback who can beat defenses both ways, and the conference and national hardware is accumulating accordingly.

The timing of Tuesday's national nod matters. College football's weekly awards often reward the same highlight names; back-to-back Honorable Mention citations from a national body, layered on top of a conference Player of the Week honor announced Monday, signal something rarer: a quarterback whose production is impossible to ignore two weeks running. Arnold's case is built on efficiency as much as volume. Against Cal, three of his 11 pass attempts went for scores — a strike rate that says every throw carried maximum weight.

For the Rebels, the timing could not be better. After a 3-2 start that includes a statement win over an ACC program in Cal, Arnold's dual-threat surge has given head coach Dan Mullen's squad a clear identity: an offense that runs through its senior quarterback in every sense. His 287 total yards against the Golden Bears were the kind of complete performance that changes a season's trajectory — and the weekly honors from both the conference and a national award body say so.

Saturday's kickoff against North Dakota State is UNLV's Homecoming game at Allegiant Stadium. The Bison arrive at 5-0 and have never played the Rebels before, making the meeting a genuine novelty for a Homecoming crowd — and a measuring stick for where Arnold and the Rebels stand in the Mountain West race. Both teams are unbeaten in Mountain West play, per the school, which puts early-season conference positioning on the line under the Homecoming lights. Single-game tickets for the 2026 home schedule are available through unlvtickets.com or by calling (702) 739-FANS, according to the university.

His 13 touchdowns responsible for lead the Mountain West, and the rest of the league's statistical tables tell the same story: second in pass efficiency and passing scores, third in rushing touchdowns, third in passing yards per game. No quarterback in the conference is doing more right now.

For UNLV fans, the math is simple: the Rebels have the best quarterback in the Mountain West, the awards to prove it, and a Homecoming opponent that has never visited Allegiant before. October in Las Vegas just got a lot more interesting. Read more Las Vegas sports coverage.