Last NFL pick has local ties

Barry Faulkner

Georgia Felix always feared it would be an injury that would prompt

her to scream if she let her son play football.

Sunday afternoon, however, Felix was screaming with joy when a

call on her cell phone notified her that her son, Andre Sommersell,

who attended Estancia High as a freshman and sophomore, was chosen by

the Oakland Raiders as the final pick in the 2004 NFL draft.

“She was screaming in her car when she got the call,” said

Sommersell, who, by virtue of being the 255th and final selection,

becomes Mr. Irrelevant XXIX. “She never wanted me to play, growing

up, because she didn’t want a skinny little kid like me to get hurt.

But, now, she’s pretty excited.”

Sommersell, who went on to star at Fountain Valley High and then

started 17 games as a defensive end at Colorado State, will try to

make the Raiders as an outside linebacker and special teams

performer.

Before training camp opens, however, he will be honored in Newport

Beach, June 21-26, as part of Irrelevant Week, the brainchild of

Newport Beach businessman and former NFL and USC receiver Paul

Salata.

Salata, in New York Sunday along with Mr. Irrelevant XXVIII, Ryan

Hoag, who announced the final selection on national television,

created the annual event as a way to honor the underdog and do

something nice for someone for no reason.

Sommersell, whose mother and younger sister, Keisha Felix, live in

Long Beach (older brother Chris Felix, a former Estancia standout in

football and track and field, now lives and works in Orange County),

is anxious to experience the spoils that go with the title Mr.

Irrelevant.

“It sounds kind of nice,” said Sommersell, reached by phone in

Fort Collins, where he is preparing to graduate in May with a degree

in liberal arts/sociology. “Even though I lived in Orange County, I

never knew they celebrated Irrelevant Week in Newport.”

Sommersell, 23, who grew up in Costa Mesa, attended College Park

Elementary and TeWinkle Intermediate, said he often rode his bike to

Newport Beach to bodyboard as a youth.

The strong, fast and powerful 6-foot-2, 227-pounder, who ended his

senior season last fall at a mere 215 pounds, knew little about

football, before he transferred to Fountain Valley High the summer

before his junior year.

“I wasn’t allowed to play when I was younger and I only played a

couple of games my freshman year at Estancia,” he said. “I didn’t

really like it all that much [that first season]. I remember starting

at defensive end, but I didn’t have a real good feel for it. And when

I messed up, I got a lot of ridicule from some of the guys on the

team. That really turned me off and I quit after a couple games.”

Sommersell played basketball and competed in track and field as a

high jumper and long jumper his two years at Estancia, earning a

varsity letter in track as a sophomore.

But when his family moved to Fountain Valley, he decided to give

football another try. He stopped playing basketball as a Baron and

competed only casually in track, he said.

“[Then-Fountain Valley football coach] George Berg showed me a lot

of love and told me he would love to have me on the team,” Sommersell

recalled. “I could always run and I loved the contact, but he really

helped me learn the game. I guess I had a pretty good career there.”

Sommersell’s speed -- he ran 40 yards in 4.52 seconds at the

scouting combine -- made him an instant hit on special teams. And his

natural strength and explosiveness helped him excel on the defensive

line as a prep.

He was recruited by several Pac-10 schools, before being wooed to

Fort Collins by Rams Coach Sonny Lubick.

He played four games as a redshirt freshman in 2000, then was a

regular on special teams as a sophomore, while also seeing time at

defensive end.

He cracked the starting lineup his junior year and made four

starts. Starting all 13 games as a senior, he had 51 tackles, sixth most on the team, including nine for loss and two sacks. He received

honorable mention for All-Mountain West Conference laurels. He

totaled 104 tackles and four sacks at Colorado State, which has a

history of sending defensive ends on to NFL linebacking futures.

“We have Joey Porter and Clark Haggans at Pittsburgh and Adrian

Ross is with the Bengals,” Colorado State defensive line coach Tom

Ehlers said. “And Andre is the faster than all of them. He’s strong

and smart and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he made it. He’s a

terribly talented guy and I’m fired up for him.”

Sommersell said he is anxious to make the transition to

linebacker.

“I think linebacker is my natural position,” he said. “I was one

of the smallest defensive ends in the nation. Guys I went up against

would look at me and wonder what this 215-pound guy could do to them.

It was fun for me, because, in the beginning of games, the

[opponents] would be yapping about how small I was. But that wouldn’t

last long.”

Colorado State defensive assistant Jesse Williams said

Sommersell’s work ethic is just one reason the NFL beckoned.

“On paper, he’s off the charts,” Williams said. “He has run faster

than 4.5 [over 40 yards] and he benches 400 pounds. He power cleans

380 and he is a big-time squatter. He is really blessed genetically.

I told a lot of [NFL] guys that I liked his chances and I really

think he has a big up side. The guys picked on the second day,

whether it’s in the fourth round or the seventh, are going to have to

make the team on special teams. As a junior here, he was the best guy

we had on our kickoff team and he was a stalwart on our punt teams.

We kind of relieved him of those duties last year, because we needed

more out of him on defense.”

Sommersell, who shares a house near campus with several Denver

Broncos fans and roomed formerly with ex-Ram and Newport Harbor High

star Pete Hogan, is anxious to finish college and give professional

football his best effort.

“I need to get out of Bronco country,” he said with a laugh. “When

I came to college, I really didn’t have the ego most players come to

college with. But people have been telling me I was good enough to

play at the next level.”

Berg, tickled to hear ofSommersell’s selection, was among the

first to see his NFL potential.

“After his senior season here, I told him, and I didn’t tell too

many kids when I was coaching, that he had the one thing that could

get him to the pros, which was speed,” Berg said.