June 28, 2000

LAS VEGAS - UNLV punter Ray Cheetany, who is rated the top pro prospect at his position, has earned his most prestigious honor to date by being named to the first team of Street & Smith's magazine's 2000 preseason All-America Team.

Cheetany was the only Mountain West Conference player to appear on Street & Smith's first or second teams. The magazine is scheduled to hit newsstands July 1.

A unanimous 2000 preseason first team All-Mountain West Conference selection, Cheetany was also tabbed Second Team All-America by Collegefootballnews.com earlier this month.

The senior from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, finished fourth in the nation in punting last season with 45.4 yards per kick on 65 attempts. Cheetany, who booted 39 percent of his kicks 50 yards or longer last fall, including a season-long 67-yarder, also kicks off for the Rebels. He is slated to take over the team's placekicking duties this season as well.

He is the first UNLV player to appear on a first team All-America list of any kind since punter Joe Kristosik became the school's first consensus honoree after the 1998 season. The school's only other first-team All-Americans were Randall Cunningham in 1984, Joe Ingersoll in 1975 and Mike Thomas in 1974 & '75.

Cheetany's teammate, junior cornerback Kevin Thomas, was tabbed second team preseason All-America this year by Athlon's magazine.

Also, Cheetany was the highest graded player at his position according to the spring ratings by National Football Scouting Inc., one of the two combine services that provide analyses to NFL teams. Players were graded by the typical national scale of 1 (low) to 9 (high) and only included athletes who will be seniors in 2000. Cheetany was awarded a grade of 6. Mississippi running back Deuce McAllister, who will play against UNLV in Oxford on Oct. 28, was the top player on the board with a grade of 7.6. Ratings for all positions are available at the website CBS.SportsLine.com.

2000 Street & Smith's Preseason All-America Football Team

OFFENSE             DEFENSEQB - Drew Brees, Purdue     DL -- Alex Brown, FloridaRB -- LaMont Jordan, Maryland   DL - Karon Riley, MinnesotaRB - LaDanian Tomlinson, TCU    DL -- Casey Hampton, TexasWR - Latef Grim, Pittsburgh DL - Andre Carter, CaliforniaWR - Kelly Campbell, Ga. Tech   LB - Dan Morgan, Miami (FL)TE - Todd Heap, Arizona State   LB - Keith Adams, ClemsonOL - Ben Hamilton, Minnesota    LB - Kevin Bentley, NorthwesternOL - Steve Hutchinson, Michigan DB -- Jamar Fletcher, WisconsinOL - Leonard Davis, Texas   DB -- Jarrod Cooper, Kansas StateOL - Dominic Raiola, Nebraska   DB - Antaun Simmons, USCOL - Chad Ward, Washington  DB - Bennie Alexander, FloridaPK - Jeff Chandler, Florida P - Ray Cheetany, UNLVKR - David Allen, Kansas State