UNLV Rebels Amaris Brown Named Jim Thorpe Award National Defensive Back of the Week

UNLV Rebels defensive back Aamaris Brown continues to get his flowers for what has been an incredible start to the 2025 season. After sealing the Rebels' big Week 2 win over the Big 10's UCLA Bruins with a game-ending interception, he has now been named the Jim Thorpe Award National Defensive Back of the Week on Tuesday. It was another impressive performance from the star defensive back, who backed up all his trash talk from the week leading up to the game. After calling out UCLA quarterback Nico Lamaleava for being nothing special, he ended the game holding one of his passes over his head while the rest of the Rebels celebrated.

Beyond that crucial interception, he was also strong in coverage and finished the game with five tackles (four solo). This was a well-deserved honor for the star transfer. Based on his play this season, he's making a case to win a lot more awards by the end of the season, including the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

Brown's next chance to show out will come in the Rebels' final non-conference matchup in Week 4 against the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks. This week, UNLV will get to rest up on their first bye week. Originally, they were scheduled to play the Idaho State Bengals in Week 3, but that game was moved to Week 0 due to a scheduling conflict at Allegiant Stadium with the Canelo Alvarez vs Bud Crawford boxing match on Saturday, September 13.

The Mountain West made the announcement on Tuesday on their official website:

The Mountain West Conference's Announcement

"UNLV senior nickelback Aamaris Brown was named the Jim Thorpe Award National Defensive Back of the Week on Tuesday.

The former Kansas State and USF transfer leads all of college football with three interceptions through three games and has already previously won a Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week nod. Last time out, Brown (Tampa, FL) hauled in the game-sealing interception to preserve UNLV’s historic 30-23 victory over visiting UCLA at Allegiant Stadium. He also totaled five tackles vs. the Bruins, four of which were solo stops."

This was a big honor for Brown, who we fully expect to carry his outstanding play on after the team's bye week. He is the real deal and has been the best defensive player on the team so far this season. We can't wait to see what he's able to do in Mountain West play.

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