Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2002 | 9:49 a.m.
All-MWC
The 2002 All-Mountain West Conference football team:
OFFENSE: Bradlee Van Pelt, Jr., QB, Colorado State; J.R. Tolver, Sr., WR, San Diego State; Kassim Osgood, Sr., WR, San Diego State; Cecil Sapp, Sr., RB, Colorado State; DonTrell Moore, Fr., RB, New Mexico; Joel Dreessen, Soph., TE, Colorado State; Jordan Gross, Sr., OL, Utah; Morgan Pears, Sr., OL, Colorado State; Adam Goldberg, Sr., OL, Wyoming; Dustin Rykert, Sr., OL, BYU; Tony Terrell, Sr., OL, UNLV; Joey Ashcroft, Jr., PK, Air Force; PR/KR Dexter Wynn, Jr., PR/KR, Colorado State.
DEFENSE: Peter Hogan, Sr., DL, Colorado State; Jason Kaufusi, Jr., DL, Utah; Brady Poppinga, Soph., DL, BYU; Garrett Smith, Sr., DL, Utah; Kirk Morrison, Soph., LB, San Diego State; Charles Moss, Sr., LB, New Mexico; Anthony Schlegel, Soph., LB, Air Force; Jamaal Brimmer, Soph., DB, UNLV; Wes Crawleym Sr., DB, Air Force; Brandon Ratcliff, Jr., DB, New Mexico; Antwoine Sanders, Jr., DB, Utah; Matt Payne, Soph., P, BYU.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jamaal Brimmer, DB, UNLV
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Bradlee Van Pelt, QB, BYU
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: DonTrell Moore, RB, UNM
COACH OF THE YEAR: Rocky Long, UNM
Jamaal Brimmer had just finished taking a final exam in a communications class when he ran into teammate Tony Terrell at the Lied Athletic Complex.
The topic: The all-Mountain West Conference football team. And Brimmer passed with flying colors.
The 6-foot-1, 205-pound sophomore safety from Durango High School, often compared to New Orleans Saints All-Pro safety Sammy Knight by Rebels coach John Robinson, was named the MWC's Defensive Player of the Year.
"Oh yeah, I'm very surprised," Brimmer said. "When Tony told me, my mouth kind of dropped. I was hoping to just make all-conference."
"We are excited about Jamaal's selection," Robinson said. "He is a great attacking player and will lead a defense next season that should be fast and formidable."
Brimmer led the MWC in tackles for loss with 17 for minus 62 yards. He also finished ninth in the league in tackles (8.3 per game) and was fifth in the conference in quarterback sacks with 5.5. He also led the Rebels in pass breakups with six and was tied for second in the MWC with three forced fumbles.
Brimmer's breakout game came in UNLV's 24-3 upset of BYU on Oct. 21. He was named conference defensive player of the week after recording eight tackles and forcing two fumbles, including one that he picked up and ran 27 yards for the game-clinching touchdown.
Brimmer and Terrell, a rare four-year starter at right guard and the leader of an offensive line that produced the nation's 19th-ranked rushing attack, were the only Rebels to garner all-MWC first team honors.
Three players -- sophomore linebacker Adam Seward of Bonanza High, the conference tackle champion with an average of 11.1 per game, senior running back Joe Haro and sophomore wide receiver Earvin Johnson -- made the second team.
Six others -- junior defensive tackle Dietrich Canterberry, junior running back Larry Croom, senior safety Connie Brown, junior defensive end Chris Eagen, senior tight end DeJhown Mandley and senior linebacker Tyrone Tucker -- received honorable mention status.
Colorado State quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt was picked the conference's Offensive Player of the Year in the poll of the league's eight head coaches and a conference-wide media panel. New Mexico running back DonTrell Moore was named Freshman of the Year while Rocky Long of the Las Vegas Bowl-bound Lobos was named Coach of the Year.
Although Robinson has been criticized for not being able to convince all of the top prospects in Las Vegas to attend their hometown college, two of the Rebels' all-conference picks, Brimmer and Seward, are local products. And Brimmer, the 1999 USA Today Nevada Player of the Year, was not heavily recruited by any other Division I school because of his subpar (4.8) 40-yard dash time.
Robinson, however, decided to take a chance on the former two-way star for the Trail Blazers because he said he reminded him of Knight, a player he helped develop at USC who also was knocked for his lack of speed, even while starring in the Pac-10.
"I was kind of a bubble player," Brimmer admitted Tuesday. "I'd get random calls from Colorado State, Oregon State, Arizona State and a couple of Division 1-AA schools, Weber State and Southern Utah. Syracuse talked to me about maybe being a quarterback. But there was nothing real serious."
It's the second straight year that UNLV has been rewarded with the Mountain West's Defensive Player of the Year. Corneback Kevin Thomas, now a member of the Buffalo Bills, claimed the honor last season.
So what does Brimmer do for an encore?
"I still have a lot of goals I want to accomplish here," Brimmer said. "Hopefully we can go to a bowl game and win it. That's one of the main goals. And I'd like to win (the award) again next year. (Defensive coordinator Mike Bradeson) sat me down today and told me I'd be kind of a marked man now. I've just got to go out and work even harder now."
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