Teammates vote Miklos to be fourth recipient of Wiesner Jersey

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Aug. 29, 2005 | 9:40 a.m.

UNLV doesn't open its 2005 football season until next Monday morning at New Mexico but senior safety Joe Miklos continues to pile up awards.

Miklos, selected to the preseason all-Mountain West Conference first team and voted as a team defensive captain earlier in fall camp, found out before Sunday night's practice that he was also the winner of the team's annual Wiesner Jersey.

That honor is voted on by fellow seniors and goes to the player who best exemplifies the courage, enthusiasm, dedication and toughness exhibited by longtime Rebel supporter and former Wisconsin football star Tom Wiesner.

Former UNLV head coach John Robinson started the award in 2002 to honor Wiesner, a successful local businessman and member of the Nevada Board of Regents who also was voted into the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame as a distinguished contributer in 1994. The popular Wiesner died earlier in 2002 at the age of 63 after a battle with leukemia.

"We announced it at a team meeting before practice today," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said. "The seniors voted and it was a landslide."

Miklos, who will have a special patch on his jersey honoring Wiesner, joins All-America safety Jamaal Brimmer (2004), Philadelphia Eagles center Dominic Furio (2003) and Tony Terrell (2002) as winners of the award.

"It's definitely a really big honor especially when you look at some of the guys in the past that have gotten that honor," Miklos said. "I'm kind of humbled by the fact that my teammates would consider me for it. It's a great honor."

Miklos, who enrolled in UNLV in 2001, said he never got to meet Wiesner before he died.

"I remember Coach Robinson really knew him really well," Miklos said. "Every year it was a really big thing to win this award just like it is this year. I've heard nothing but good things about him. It's no wonder he has an award named after him."

Fruend, who started all 11 games at tight end last year and was named the team's co-Scholar Athlete of the Year each of the past two seasons, had knee surgery in the spring but continues to be plagued by pain from the injury and will go on medical scholarship.

"When they performed the surgery, they found a fracture at the stop of his femur (thigh) bone," UNLV trainer Kyle Wilson said. "It hurts his range of motion. When he runs and cuts it causes him pain."

The loss of Freund leaves the Rebels with just one tight end on their roster -- senior Greg Estandia.

"Greg is a tight end but he's also a slot," Sanford said. "If Greg went down, I don't know what we'd do. In our offense we don't use a tight end very much anyway, so we probably wouldn't do it at all."

Welter, who holds a team record for the 40-yard dash in his size group (4.45 seconds), will need season-ending surgery to repair the injury. Welter also had surgery on the same knee in high school.

Meanwhile, sophomore wide receiver Marques Johnson, who was battling redshirt freshman Casey Flair for the starting Z wide receiver spot, is scheduled to have an MRI and several other tests today to determine the severity of a dislocated shoulder suffered in practice last week.

Wright, who must sit out the 2005 season per NCAA transfer rules, will have two years of eligibility remaining. He withdrew from USC in June after he was held out of spring practice following his arrest for investigation of sexual assualt on March 26. Police found 136 Ecstasy pills in Wright's apartment but he was never charged in the case.

Wright started four games for the 2004 national champions and intercepted two passes, including one during USC's 55-19 victory against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, and was expected to start for the Trojans this season.

Utah and Michigan State were among the other schools interested in landing Wright.