Rebel tagged as Mr. Irrelevant

Steve Guiremand

Monday, April 22, 2002 | 1:40 a.m.

Sometimes its pays to be last.

UNLV defensive tackle Ahmad Miller was the 261st and last player chosen in the 2002 NFL draft on Sunday afternoon. And because of that, he wins an all-expense, week-long paid trip to Newport Beach, Calif.

Really.

The 6-foot-3, 306-pound Miller, who was chosen by the expansion Houston Texans, earned the title of the 27th annual Mr. Irrelevant, emblematic of being the last pick in the NFL draft. He will be flown to Newport Beach on June 16 and will be honored at various functions for five days, including a day at Disneyland and a banquet in his honor.

Mr. Irrelevant has grown in such stature over the years that its founder, Paul Salata, even took the podium in New York City on Sunday to make the announcement.

Before saying Miller's name, Salata, a former USC star who went on to play with three NFL teams in the early 1950s, quipped, "Now John, you're going to have to show up," referring to UNLV head coach John Robinson, a close friend from his Trojans and Rams coaching days.

"Yeah, he was talking to me," said Robinson, who was planning a brief getaway to Southern California that week anyway. "I think it's great for Ahmad. It's a kind of silly and fun event. He gets a big dinner in his honor and lots of gifts. Plus he gets to go to a team where he has a chance to play. It's a new team looking for good young players to plug in."

Several hours after the announcement, Miller, who watched the draft by himself, seemed befuddled by all the national media attention.

"Too many," he laughed when asked how many interviews he had done. "Nah, more than in my entire three years at UNLV. I've probably done between 10 and 15. I just finished doing one for ESPN Radio. I'm just happy I got drafted and have a chance to make an NFL team now."

Miller was the fourth Rebel to be chosen in the two-day draft, tying a school record set in 1975 when running back Mike Thomas (5th round, Washington), offensive lineman Joe Ingersoll (7th round, Miami), offensive lineman Blanchard Carter (7th round, Baltimore) and wide receiver Steve Haggerty (10th round, Denver) were chosen.

As expected, senior defensive end Anton Palepoi was the first Rebel picked. The 6-foot-4, 275-pounder was selected in the second round and 60th overall by the Seattle Seahawks, where he is expected to battle for the starting right end position.

"He is a little bit different from some of the guys we have," Seattle vice president Ted Thompson said. "I think he adds the ability to be a little bit more of an edge pass-rusher."

"We were out in the backyard taking a family picture when a friend of the family ran out with the phone," said Palepoi, who watched the draft at home in St. George, Utah. "It was the Seahawks saying they were going to take me. It was pretty amazing."

Palepoi said he has never been to Seattle.

"My oldest brother, Tony, took a (LDS Church) mission there," Palepoi said. "And I saw the movie, 'Sleepless in Seattle.' But that's about all I know about the place."

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the draft from a UNLV perspective was that safety Sam Brandon was picked well ahead of cornerback Kevin Thomas, the Mountain West Conference's Defensive Player of the Year.

Brandon was a fourth-round pick of the Denver Broncos and the 131st overall player taken in the draft. Thomas, who tested poorly at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, was a sixth-round choice of the Buffalo Bills and the 176th player picked.

"I was lying in bed watching the draft while my family was in the other room cooking breakfast," Brandon said. "Then the phone rang. It was Mike Shanahan. He said, 'After this soccer commercial your name is going to pop up on the screen.' And it did. Everybody just started screaming.

"It was a sweet surprise. I know a lot of publications had me going a lot later, but I always believed I could fall late in the third round or early in the fourth. There was a big need for safeties in the league this year. ... I'll always remember that soccer commercial."

Thomas, projected to be a mid-round pick, fell all the way to the sixth round.

"I thought that maybe they just forgot about me," he said. "I was beginning to wonder what was going to happen. I had to turn the TV off a couple of times to play some video games. That made it a lot less stressful. Then finally I got picked by Buffalo. I was like, 'Oh, snow.' "

Thomas said he believes his slow 4.69 40-yard dash time at the Indy combine came back to haunt him.

"I'm sure that was it," he said. "A lot of teams must not have heard that I ran a 4.50 here at Pro Day. It just makes me want to go out and prove to teams that they made a mistake by passing me up."

Robinson was happy to have a record-tying group of players drafted.

"Actually, we had five picked," Robinson said. "Don't forget about Linda Frohlich (in Friday's WNBA Draft). We're excited about her, too. I just think it's great for the kids. I'm proud of them."

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