Bond between stars Ricky White, Jackson Woodard drives UNLV into big season

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, July 12, 2024 | 2 a.m.

Ricky White and Jackson Woodard spent more than six straight hours Wednesday talking to reporters at Mountain West Media Days, but the most important conversation they had around the event might have taken place the night before.

The UNLV football team’s two biggest returning stars sat down for dinner on the eve of the official festivities beginning at Circa and spoke intimately and candidly to each other about the upcoming season. Woodard described the experience as eerie — in a good way.

Their chatter was the latest example of how Woodard, a senior linebacker, says he’s “so similar” to his White, his senior receiver teammate.   

“It’s like, ‘Dude, I was thinking about that today,’” Woodard recounted his reaction to much of what White said. “It’s all football-related. We’re thinking about like who we should talk to on the team, what confidence we need to bring here, the standard, what we need to do.”

The standard is no secret. Both Woodard and White said anything less than a Mountain West title coming off a year where the Rebels lost in the championship game would be a disappointment.

And the tight-knit pair is more than comfortable with being tasked as the shepherds to what might be the most anticipated season in UNLV football history, or at the very least, the one with the highest expectations.  

UNLV ranked second in the Mountain West preseason poll, tying for its highest-ever standing. The last time the Scarlet and Gray were picked second was in 2001.

Voters tabbed Woodard as the Mountain West’s Preseason Co-Defensive Player of the Year coming off a season where he had 117 total tackles including nine for a loss. It’s the first time since two years before Woodard was born that a UNLV player has gotten the honor — Kevin Thomas was the last in 2000.

White likely drew some nods for the conference’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year award too, though Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty ultimately got the honor. White is coming off a season where he had 88 catches for 1,483 yards and sat second in the nation to only top-10 NFL Draft pick Malik Nabers with 3.6 yards per route run per TruMedia.

White and Woodard both believe they can be even better in their final collegiate campaigns. And it has a lot to do with the way they’ve pushed each other in the offseason.  

“When your best players are your hardest workers, then things seem to trend to go in the right direction,” UNLV second-year coach Barry Odom said. “That doesn’t guarantee you’re going to win X amount of games, but for those guys, the way they’ve approached every day habits and work ethic, the things that they’ve done from a leadership standpoint from our bowl game last year until today is as good as I’ve seen.”  

The duo may like an odd pair at first glance.

Woodard, known for his physicality, has a pet pig named Calvin living inside his family’s home on a farm outside of Little Rock, Ark. White, known for his speed, is more of a city guy after growing up in Atlanta as one of 11 children.

Woodard is gregarious; White self-spoken.

But they were drawn to each other immediately despite the differences when Woodard followed Odom from the University of Arkansas to UNLV, where White had already played one season after transferring from Michigan State, last year. Perhaps that’s in part because there was no way they would avoid each other — They both practically never leave UNLV’s Fertitta Football Complex.    

“You can just tell when somebody really wants something,” White said of Woodard. “He invests everything — his time, his body, everything and I do the same. So, when you have those same similarities, your personalities click and you bond together.”

Woodard said he reported to the facility by 7 a.m. every day of this offseason, and wouldn’t leave until 4:30 p.m. He’s refined some of his workouts — and particularly stretching regimens — over the last year to emulate White.  

“I tell guys in the locker room, ‘All you have to do really if you want to be great, if you want to be an All-American, if you want to win championships, is just to watch Ricky White,” Woodard said. “That’s what I do.”

White will need to help bring the best out of a new starting quarterback for the Scarlet and Gray. UNLV may have a great starting point on both offense and defense but are unsettled at football’s most important position after Mountain West Freshman of the Year Jayden Maiava transferred to USC in the offseason.

Odom scooped a couple of promising Football Championship Subdivision transfers in Matthew Sluka (Holy Cross) and Hajj-Malik Williams (Campbell), but said the quarterback battle was no two-man race at Media Days.  

He was adamant Cameron Friel, who also won Mountain West Freshman of the Year in 2021, could also win the job.

“The practice structure going into fall camp is they’ll all get even reps,” Odom said. “I think we’ve got three quarterbacks right now that can play winning football and play at a high level.”

Odom is entering his third decade as a college football coach, so it’s no faint praise when he says White and Woodard stand out as one of the best leadership cores he’s ever been around. White said Odom has preached the virtues of making the Rebels a “player-led team” to him, and he’s taken the challenge seriously.   

He’s thankful to have a wingman at the forefront in Woodard. White joked that Woodard doesn’t like to do much outside of football except, “stay inside,” but they’ve had plenty of time to bond on the practice field and training room.

And grabbing meals together isn’t going to stop anytime soon. White and Woodard are committed to staying on the same page in an effort to lead UNLV to not only matching but surpassing its unprecedented expectations.  

“People that have a winning standard and a way about life have a way of attracting each other,” Woodard said.  “You want to be around other winners and you don’t really want to be with people who aren’t doing that. You don’t want to be with people who don’t hold the same standard, so as soon as I got (to Las Vegas), I knew what kind of player Ricky was going to be and I knew we’d be very close.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or