Media magnet

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, July 31, 2001 | 10:53 a.m.

Jason Thomas faced his first blitz of his 2001 season today.

A media blitz, that is.

The Mountain West Conference held its annual football media day at the Four Seasons hotel and, not surprisingly, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Thomas was the center of attention.

Actually, the junior Heisman Trophy candidate from Compton (Calif.) Dominguez High School has been spending much of his summer rehearsing for the media spotlight that is sure to follow him during the season, as he tries to catapult UNLV's once-floundering football program even higher into college football's national mainstream.

Already he has spent several days with ESPN The Magazine for an upcoming feature. He also has been interviewed by several newspaper reporters in Southern California for feature stories and columns. And famed NFL draftnik Mel Kiper Jr. recently rated Thomas the nation's No. 1 quarterback prospect for next year's draft.

Meanwhile, UNLV has placed several schedule billboards around town featuring Thomas. He also is the centerpiece of the school's football schedule poster and media guide cover.

It could be enough to overwhelm a number of young college athletes. But for the 21-year-old Thomas, it has almost become second nature. After all, he already was getting featured in newspaper articles in his native Southern California as an eighth grader as he began his journey to becoming arguably the most highly touted two-sport star to come out of the area since John Elway.

"It doesn't get any easier but you just have to deal with it," Thomas said of the media glare. "When I was in the eighth grade and getting interviewed by you guys it was fun. I was just happy you guys wanted to deal with me. But now I've come to know that it's a job you guys have to do just like playing quarterback here at UNLV is my job. I just try and take care of what I need to do so you guys can do your jobs."

Thomas said he was caught off-guard the first time he drove by a billboard that featured his image.

"It was kind of like, 'Oops', and you do a double-take," he said. "I couldn't believe it was me. It was kind of a strange experience, but an enjoyable experience for that moment. But you can't just live for that moment. You've got to keep moving forward. That's what I'm trying to do now."

Thomas, who excelled more as a basketball player in grade school than in football, said he never dreamed of one day having his name mentioned in the same breath as the Heisman Trophy.

"Not at all," the preseason conference MVP according to Lindy's magazine said. "I never thought about the Heisman Trophy. I used to dream about playing professional ball and playing at the next level. But I was always thinking, '3-2-1 and hit the jump shot to win the game.' At that time I was more of a basketball player than a football player."

But that would all change at Dominguez High School where he would go on to garner Parade All-American honors as a quarterback and earn a rare perfect "10" in the the Long Beach Press-Telegram's prestigious Best in the West poll of college football coaches.

Thomas was also considered a strong Division I college basketball prospect but elected to focus on football for one simple reason.

"You don't see too many 6-4 forwards in the NBA," he said.

Although his considerable football talents were already well known in Southern California, Thomas finally began to attract national recognition following his sensational sophomore campaign at UNLV when he passed and ran the Rebels to an 8-5 record and a stunning 31-14 thumping of Arkansas in the Las Vegas Bowl. That was enough for folks like Kiper to begin tossing around the "left-handed Daunte Culpepper" comparisons of Thomas that had already been making the rounds in Las Vegas and Los Angeles for several years.

Which brings up this question: If Thomas has another big year at UNLV, would he skip his senior year and head off to the NFL?

"(UNLV coach John) Robinson told me he would sit down with me and evaluate me at the end of the season and let me know if he thought I was ready for the NFL," Thomas said. "If he thinks I'm ready to make the jump, then I'll probably leave."

For now, however, Thomas has more immediate goals.

"I just want to go out and succeed and prove to my teammates and fans that I'm worthy of all this attention," he said.