Better late than never for 04 standout

The road less traveled is the road that class of 2004 top-flight corner Nehemiah Mundy (6-0, 165, 4.3) who played his high school ball at Culver City, Calif., traveled to get to a D-I school.

Mundy was part of the Culver City team and class that included Michael Bumpus of Washington State and Jaison Williams of Oregon.

"Nehemiah like a lot of young people didn't work that hard at school during his freshman and sophomore years," Culver City quarterback coach Greg Goodyear said. "He didn't take his grades seriously until the latter part of his junior year when the light came on and he realized that he could get a college education and continue to play football while doing so."

"Nehemiah didn't know how good he was until then," Goodyear said. "His senior year in high school USC gave Mundy a verbal offer contingent on his grades. That is how good Nehemiah is."

"Nehemiah is a jet."

Mundy hasn't been sitting around for two years he has been working hard getting his academics in order and staying in shape.

"Nehemiah has been working out with a personal trainer who played corner in the NFL," Goodyear said. "He's been working with him for two years.

"Nehemiah obviously thought he would pass the test and be eligible two years ago, but he never quit working on getting it done," Goodyear said. "He didn't want to go the juco route because he felt there were hazards going that way so he put all of efforts getting qualified."

"Nehemiah passed the test last June, but didn't find out about it until September or October," Goodyear said. "He didn't tell me until November when were in the playoffs.

Besides being Culver City's quarterback coach, Goodyear helps the athletes through the recruiting process.

"Once we got it together we sent out a package to 15 teams," Goodyear said. "Nehemiah received legitimate offers from San Diego State, Hawai'i, Wyoming, Colorado, Clemson and UNLV.

"Cal was close to making an offer and USC started to show interest in him again as did Arizona State," Goodyear said. "Nehemiah chose UNLV because he will be able to get in at semester and has a chance for early playing time."

UNLV lands a corner who is a tremendous hitter with outstanding ball skills.

"Nehemiah's one-on-one coverage ability is outstanding," Goodyear said. "He has speed and is very flexible. He pretty much as it all."