Rebels Sunia wastes no time showing leadership

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 1998 | 10:49 a.m.

It usually isn't very difficult to figure out which players will be the captains on a college football team.

Pick your top couple of seniors on offense and defense. If there is a truly special junior player, he might sneak in.

Sophomores? Almost unheard of.

Freshmen? Forget about it.

Which makes the selection of redshirt freshman middle linebacker James Sunia as one of UNLV's six captains this season all the more remarkable.

Before playing a single down of major college football, the 5-10, 245-pounder from Honolulu's famed St. Louis High School already had earned enough respect from his teammates to be voted one of the Rebels' six captains this year.

"In 15 years of coaching, I've never seen a sophomore elected as a captain much less a freshman," UNLV head coach Jeff Horton said.

"Obviously, it's a tremendous honor for James. I think the players noticed his work ethic, the intensity he plays with and how important football is to him."

"Man, I was really shocked," Sunia said. "I'm grateful the team voted me a captain, but it was a big shock."

In his first college game at Northwestern on Saturday, Sunia did little to disappoint, garnering nine tackles, including one for a loss.

Not bad considering he was playing in his first college game at a school that had won the Big Ten title in two of the past three years.

"It was really something," Sunia said. "It was a big stadium with a lot of people. It was my first game as a Division I player, but I wasn't nervous at all. I was so excited being there that I couldn't wait for the game to get started."

Ironically, Sunia was more interested in baseball and basketball until he began attending St. Louis High in ninth grade.

"I never really wanted to play football until I got to high school," Sunia said. "Then my freshman year there I went out for the JV team and started. My sophomore year, I moved up to the varsity and started at outside linebacker."

The Crusaders went 38-1 during Sunia's three years as a starter.

"I owe a lot of my success to the coaches there," Sunia said. "They convinced me that if I worked hard in football that I might end up earning a college scholarship one day."

That he did. Sunia picked UNLV over Hawaii, Utah State and Montana.

"My goal was to get a Division I scholarship," Sunia said. "Now to be picked a captain here just adds to the excitement."

* REBELS NOTES: UNLV coach Jeff Horton said he expects senior cornerback Mark Hays, who has yet to practice because of what Horton terms "personal problems", to return to practice next week. ... Buzz Preston didn't hold back when assessing his first game as UNLV's offensive coordinator. "Saturday was a complete meltdown," Preston said. He was particularly upset that UNLV failed to convert on a key 4th-and-inches play deep in UNLV territory in the second quarter. "I'm a little frustrated right now," Preston said. "Fourth-and-inches is something I pride myself on." ... It won't get any easier this week. Air Force comes into Saturday night's game at Sam Boyd Stadium tied for first in the nation in scoring defense by virtue of last weekend's impressive 42-0 blanking of Wake Forest. ... UNLV will hold a pep rally Friday night at 6 p.m. at the Fremont Street Experience. Air Force's band also is slated to attend.