MVP! MVP!

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, Dec. 14, 2000 | 11:01 a.m.

Winners are ...

A partial list of the UNLV team awards presented Wednesday night:

Offensive MVP: Jeremi Rudolph

Defensive MVP: Sam Brandon

Most inspirational, and man of the year: James Wofford

The most valuable player on the 2000 UNLV football team?

Take a vote of most Rebel fans and the outcome would likely go to sophomore quarterback sensation Jason Thomas.

But of the nine individual awards that were presented at UNLV's annual football awards banquet on Wednesday night at the Four Seasons Hotel, guess how many went to the 6-4, 230-pound Thomas?

Try zero.

The same could not be said for UNLV's senior players, who garnered eight of the nine awards.

"The purpose tonight is to honor the 15 seniors on our team," UNLV coach John Robinson said. "They have opened the door for what we want this program to achieve."

Senior tailback Jeremi Rudolph, who became the first UNLV back since Ickey Woods in 1987 to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and had six 100-yard games, edged Thomas for offensive MVP honors while junior free safety Sam Brandon, who led the squad with 82 tackles, was named the Rebels' defensive MVP.

"I was kind of surprised," Rudolph said of his offensive MVP award. "There were a lot of guys it could have gone to -- the offensive line, Kevin Brown, Jason Thomas, James Wofford, Nate Turner -- they all could have won the award.

"This whole year at UNLV is such a thrill that it's really hard to talk about. The way our offensive line blocked and the fact we stayed together. This team never quit. We had a winning season and now we're going to (the Las Vegas Bowl)."

UNLV's coaching staff picked all but one of the award winners. The team voted on the Bill "Wildcat" Morris Most Inspirational Award, which went to senior fullback James Wofford.

Wofford also garnered the new John Robinson Man of the Year Award, which will be presented to the student-athlete who possesses the highest integrity while aspiring for excellence.

Other award winners included punter Ray Cheetany (Special Teams Player of the Year), senior cornerback Amar Brisco (Rene Arceneaux Scholarship Award), senior safety Sharif Hamilton (Jack Gilmore Coaches Award) and senior offensive tackle John Greer ("Doc" Tobler Senior Award).

Greer, Wofford and senior safety Randy Black were also honored for being named team captains.