April 20, 2006

LAS VEGAS - Three players who originally walked on to the UNLV football team will be on scholarship next season, head coach Mike Sanford announced this week.

Las Vegas natives Matt Seccombe and Mario Jeberaeel along with Rancho Palos Verde, Calif., product Kip Facer all earned the honor.

Seccombe, a linebacker who plays primarily on special teams, is a graduate of Cimarron-Memorial High School and will be fifth-year senior this fall.

"Matt has been in this program for four years and has become an outstanding special teams player," Sanford said. "He is big contributor through a specialty role and we are happy to award him a scholarship."

Jeberaeel, an offensive lineman out of Chaparral High School, earned his first letter as a Rebel last fall.

"Mario is a guy that has worked extremely hard here," Sanford said. "It was a unanimous choice among our staff to put him on scholarship."

Facer came to UNLV out of nearby Dixie State College and earned the starting job in preseason camp as a junior. He finished 2005 ranked third in the Mountain West Conference and 47th in the nation with a punting average of 41.0.