Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

UNLV’s Jamaal Brimmer still remembered for that game at Wisconsin

Brimmer, who will be inducted Thursday into the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame, finds coaching high school football to be therapeutic

Former UNLV Football Player Jamaal Brimmer

Christopher DeVargas

Former UNLV football player Jamaal Brimmer poses for a portait on the training field at UNLV, Wed. April 19, 2017.

UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame

UNLV senior defensive back Jamaal Brimmer (27) grabs the facemask of Utah State junior wide receiver Rod McNeal (23) in second quarter action on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2004 at Sam Boyd Stadium. Brimmer was penalized on the play. SAM MORRIS / LAS VEGAS SUN Launch slideshow »

The Canyon Springs High football players couldn’t get enough of this story. Coaches were reminiscing about how Jamaal Brimmer, the Pioneers defensive coordinator, had the game of a lifetime in 2003 for UNLV when it upset 14th-ranked Wisconsin on the road.

Brimmer had 11 tackles, two interceptions, two sacks, one forced fumble and a 55-yard fumble return for a touchdown to fuel the Rebels’ 23-5 upset in arguably the best individual performance in UNLV history.

“I brag all the time about what he did at Wisconsin,” said Canyon Springs coach Augustus McNair, who also played at UNLV. “He blows it off to the side. He tells them it was a great experience, but he’s more worried about helping the kids to get the same experience.”

The Wisconsin game won’t be the lone story of Brimmer’s greatness recounted Thursday when he’s inducted into the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame during an event at the Thomas & Mack Center. Brimmer was a two-time All-American and Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, and behind NFL great Randall Cunningham could be considered UNLV’s best all-time player.

“Everyone who remembers me, they remember that game,” said Brimmer, a native Las Vegan who starred at Durango High in football and basketball. “I wasn’t the only one who had a good game. I had a great individual game, but we also played really well as a team.”

Many also remember Brimmer for not sticking in the NFL. He was in training camp with the Seattle Seahawks and New York Giants, and played in NFL Europe with the Berlin Thunder, but never made an NFL roster.

That shortcoming has been tough to get over.

“I wanted to deal with football the way I wanted to. There was no need to talk about things I wasn’t ready to talk about,” he said. “People would come to me, ‘Oh, you are Jamaal Brimmer, the UNLV football player? Why didn’t you come out after your junior year?’ I lived that every day almost.”

Brimmer had 280 career tackles, 10 sacks and seven interceptions — six in his breakthrough junior season of 2003. You can argue he should have left UNLV after the season for the draft, but then again you can’t predict the future. By returning, he earned the only thing that was guaranteed, a college degree.

“Who knows how it would have worked out,” he said. “Do I feel it would have been a better business decision, of course. They want younger guys. You have to look at yourself as an investment.

“It took time to get over. Still to this day — the funny thing about me — I don’t like watching the NFL Draft. You feel for those players who are waiting around to get picked. You understand that feeling.”

He’s found therapy in coaching high school football and mentoring the Pioneers’ players. Canyon Springs won the Northeast League championship in 2016 in his first season calling the defense, including a narrow victory against Las Vegas, whose running backs coach is his father, Jimmy Brimmer.

“He really wanted to win that one,” McNair said. “He was so focused in practice that week.”

He still doesn’t like talking about the Wisconsin game or what he accomplished at UNLV — but for more reasons than the heartache. His new priority is coaching the defense at Canyon Springs and cheering from the bleachers when his son, 8-year-old Ace, has a game. Ace is already showing signs of being the next great Brimmer, dad proudly says.

“Obviously, football didn’t work out the way I wanted it to,” Brimmer said. “I have had a chance to find football in a different way with coaching. That can be closure for not being able to fulfill my football dream. I’m helping these kids fulfill their dream.”

The 2017 class is highlighted by PGA golfer Ryan Moore and Mark Wade, the point guard on UNLV basketball's 1987 Final Four team. Other inductees include football's Tony Terrell, former women’s basketball standout Gwynn Hobbs, baseball’s Eric Nielsen and the 2003 Mountain West championship team he captained, and Dick Calvert, the voice of the Rebels. Additionally, longtime businessman and UNLV supporter Rich Abajian, who died in 2016, will be the third recipient of the prestigious Silver Rebel Award.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

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