UNLV’s undrafted Nate Turner agrees to deal with the Chargers

Steve Guiremand

Monday, April 23, 2001 | 10:20 a.m.

Nate Turner grew up idolizing a brash and extremely talented wide receiver at USC named Keyshawn Johnson.

Now the UNLV wide receiver will get a chance to learn from the ex-Trojan assistant who recruited and coached Johnson to All-American status at Troy.

Turner agreed to a two-year free agent contract with the San Diego Chargers following the conclusion of the NFL draft on Sunday. And the Chargers' wide receiver coach, Mike Sanford, was the USC assistant who not only helped develop Johnson into a NFL first-round pick, but also tutored future NFL stars Johnnie Morton and Curtis Conway.

"We're really excited about signing Nate," Sanford said Sunday night. "We thought he was a good enough player to get drafted. Obviously, we have extremely strong regard for what John Robinson says about a player like Nate. And when John says he can play, we listen."

Turner, who led the Mountain West Conference in receptions (66) and yards (947) last season, was disappointed not to be drafted -- no Rebel was picked in the seven rounds -- but happy that he was going to San Diego.

"I was surprised I didn't get picked but I look at it like this: God placed me in this position for a reason," Turner said. "If I had been drafted in the third round maybe I would have gone in there with a fat head and not worked as hard. Now I'll be going in there to show them I was good enough to be drafted."

And he'll be seeing some familiar faces when he takes part in the Chargers' mini-camp May 4-6.

San Diego head coach Mike Riley recruited Turner to Oregon State before leaving for the NFL. The man who recruited him for the Beavers, Michael Johnson, is also an assistant with the Chargers. And Sanford and new Charger offensive coordinator Norv Turner are both ex-Robinson assistants who are expected to take part in this weekend's John Robinson Celebrity Golf Tournament in Green Valley.

Sanford said he thought Turner was hurt by a poor 40 time (4.75) at NFL timing day at UNLV when it came to the draft.

"But we watched a highlight film of his and the thing that we saw is that he's a playmaker," Sanford said. "And that's most important to me."

Turner wasn't the only UNLV player to agree to free agent contracts after the draft concluded.

John Greer, the only unanimous first-team all-Mountain West Conference offensive lineman, agreed to a two-year deal with the Seattle Seahawks while running back Kevin Brown signed with Indianapolis.

"It's such a treat to be offered this chance," Greer said. "From walking on here to the NFL ... it couldn't have ended any better."

Especially since Greer spent the first eight years of his life about three hours south of Seattle in Vancouver, Wash.

"I still have a lot of family who live in Washington," Greer said. "My dad lives a couple hours south of Seattle. When I called and told him that I had signed with the Seahawks, he couldn't believe it. All my cousins and aunts and uncles have been calling all night from up there."

Brown, who rushed for 798 yards on 148 carries (5.4 avg.) last season, finds himself joining an Indianapolis squad that could challenge for a Super Bowl berth.

"They only have two running backs there, Edgerrin James and Kevin McDougal, so it turned out to be a pretty good place for me to go," Brown said. "The coaches there told me I have a great chance there to work myself into the rotation."

Three other Rebels, safety Randy Black, running back Jeremi Rudolph and punter Ray Cheetany, were still hopeful of landing free agent offers in the next couple of days.

Black, who said he was led to believe that he would be between a third and fifth round draft pick, suffered through the longest weekend.

"I'm really befuddled," Black said. "I don't know if it was my injuries or what that scared teams away at the end. A lot of teams acted like they were going to draft me."

Including Green Bay and Jacksonville, both of whom called Black during the seventh round to say they planned to select him only to change their minds when they made their picks.

"It was a rough weekend," the Clark High graduate said.