Another honor for Brimmer

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 | 9:32 a.m.

The preseason accolades continue to roll in for UNLV senior safety Jamaal Brimmer.

Brimmer, a Durango High School graduate who earlier this summer became the first Rebels position player to earn preseason first-team All-America status courtesy of Athlon magazine, was also named a first team All-American by College Football News.

A 6-foot-1, 215-pounder, Brimmer, who also a second-team All-America pick by The Sporting News, is also one of just four Mountain West Conference players to be put on the watch list for the Bronco Nagurski Award, which goes to the nation's premier college defensive player.

College Football News, which revealed its All-America squad on its Web site on Tuesday, called Brimmer "the best strong safety in college football. He's a lock to be a Thorpe Award finalist."

Brimmer is also the school's first returning first-team All-American since punter Randall Cunningham in 1984. School records are incomplete and it is unclear whether Cunningham, who went on to star as a quarterback in the National Football League, was a preseason first-team All-American that year.

A school-record 13 Rebels made at least one All-Mountain West Conference squad (first through third team) in preseason magazines this summer, according to a news release issued Tuesday by UNLV associate sports information director Mark Wallington.

The Rebels open their season on Sept. 5 in a nationally televised game at perennial Southeastern Conference powerhouse Tennessee on ESPN2.