Jan. 8, 2003

LAS VEGAS - UNLV senior Jason Thomas is one of three quarterbacks on his squad's roster for this weekend's East-West Shrine Game.

Thomas, who may also see time at other positions, will play for the West as part of the 78th annual event on Saturday. The game, which will be shown live on ESPN, kicks off at 11:00 a.m. PST at Pac-Bell Park in San Francisco. Proceeds benefit Shriners Hospitals for Children. The West's other signal-callers are Jason Johnson of Arizona and Justin Wood of Portland State while Heisman Trophy finalist Ken Dorsey of Miami will lead the East squad. Fresno State's Pat Hill will coach the West Team this year while Notre Dame head man Tyrone Willingham will be in charge of the East.

Thomas, who was the first UNLV quarterback to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a career (1,528) and also ran for 24 scores, finished second at the school with 6,525 total offensive yards. His total of 4,997 yards passing ranked fifth on the Rebels' all-time list. He is the eighth UNLV player to earn an invite to the East-West, the most for any postseason all-star game. It marks the third consecutive season a Rebel will suit up by the bay, following CB Kevin Thomas last year and RB Kevin Brown in 2000.

Five other players from the Mountain West Conference will take part in this year's game: WR J.R. Tolver and DL Akbar Gbaja-Biamila of San Diego State, DB Wes Crawley of Air Force, OL Morgan Pears of Colorado State and TE Spencer Nead of BYU. Also, star receiver Nate Burleson of Nevada, Reno is a member of the West Team.

UNLV PLAYERS IN THE EAST-WEST SHRINE GAME

2002    Jason Thomas     QB/ATH2001    Kevin Thomas     DB2000    Kevin Brown       RB1995    Randy Gatewood      WR1987    Kirk Jones      RB1985    Randall Cunningham  QB1984    Kirk Dodge      LB1974    Mike Thomas     RB