Rebels land more top prospects from Mississippi junior colleges

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Feb. 2, 1999 | 10:41 a.m.

If new UNLV football coach John Robinson is able to turn the Rebel football team around next season, he'll owe the state of Mississippi a large debt of gratitude.

The Rebels, who earlier signed one of the nation's top junior college running backs in Jeremi Rudolph of Southwest Mississippi JC, landed non-binding verbal commitments from four more top-notch JC recruits out of Mississippi on Monday.

Defensive end Ahmad Miller (6-4, 302), who played at Southwest Mississippi JC with Rudolph two years ago, defensive end Draper Redmon (6-4, 260) of Northwest Mississippi JC, a former Mr. Tennesssee Football, tight end Jermaine Curtis (6-3, 225) of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and defensive tackle Anthony Suggs (6-1, 275) of Northwest Mississippi JC all told UNLV coaches they plan to sign letters of intent with the school on National Signing Day on Wednesday.

The Rebels also are expected to land cornerback Alvin Lee (5-9, 180) of Southwest Mississippi JC and are a finalist for another top-notch defensive line recruit, Willie Sams (6-4, 285), of Southwest Mississippi JC.

Miller, who signed a letter of intent with Syracuse after starring at Bradenton (Fla.) Southeast High School along with Sams and Florida State wide receiver Peter Warrick, actually was a 265-pound outside linebacker for Southwest Mississippi two years ago where he registered two sacks and 77 tackles. Despite his size, he has been timed at 4.6 in the forty and bench presses 385 pounds.

Miller attended junior college part-time in Florida this past year and will have three years of eligibility remaining. He picked UNLV over South Carolina and Houston.

"I used to stay in California a lot," he said. "I always wanted to get back to Los Angeles and the West Coast. That's why I came out there on a trip and I really enjoyed it."

Curtis, an H-back/tight End who has been compared to Denver Broncos standout Shannon Sharpe by some scouts, should give the Rebels another big boost on offense. He caught 35 passes for 765 yards and six touchdowns as a sophomore after scoring 15 touchdowns as a freshman.

"I think it's quite a feather in the cap of Coach Robinson to come down here and get Jermaine," Gulf Coast coach Steve Wright said. "Jermaine has a chance to play on Sundays if he continues to work hard. He's one of the finest athletes to come out of here in 14 years. And he's also a great person, too."

Curtis was a prep teammate of current Tennessee quarterback Tee Martin at Williamson High School in Mobile, Ala. He also visited Southern Miss and cancelled a trip to Tennessee over the weekend.

"He would have probably gone to Tennessee but he thought they waited too long," Wright said. "He started to think maybe they were just doing it to keep Tee happy."

Curtis once again brings some much needed speed to a UNLV offense that lacked big-play capability last year. He has been timed at 10.52 in the 100 meters, anchors the Gulf Coast 400 meter relay squad and has high-jumped 7-1.

Redmon led Westwood High School in Memphis to a 12-2 mark his senior year en route to Mr. Tennessee Football honors. He picked UNLV over Oregon State.

"They're getting a lot of guys I played with and against down here who are SEC caliber players," Redmon said. "I think it will be a nice opportunity to play there. I think with their great new coaching staff, we all can go in there and make a big impact. I think we can really surprise some people out there."

Suggs, a two-year starter at Northwest Mississippi, bench presses 500 pounds and is strong and stout enough to tie up two blockers.

Sams, who visited UNLV two weeks ago and is good friends with Rudolph and Miller, reportedly will pick between UNLV, South Carolina and Houston.

UNLV is also a finalist for one of the top prep tight ends in California this year, Van Brown (6-5, 230) of Alhambra (Calif.) High School.

Brown, who also visited Oregon and Utah and cancelled a trip to Washington following the coaching change, is the younger brother of Seattle Seahawks All-Pro linebacker Chad Brown. He'll sign his letter of intent in Honolulu on Wednesday after flying there to watch his brother play in Sunday's Pro Bowl game.

One player who earlier had committed to UNLV, Fontana (Calif.) A.B. Miller High School defensive back Nick Barnett, reneged on that commitment over the weekend and will instead sign with Oregon State.

Another talented junior college defensive line prospect that visited UNLV, George Heather (6-6, 285) of Santa Maria (Calif.) Alan Hancock JC, is expected to sign with San Diego State.