Mr. Irrelevant XXXIII also known as Mr. Academic

David Vobora is possibly a future American Idol contestant if he continues to sing.

Also, a role in the show RENO 911! is promising with his new mustache.

More importantly for Vobora, he’s getting closer to playing with the St. Louis Rams.

Vobora, the last player chosen in the NFL Draft, has earned the Western Athletic Conference Stan Bates Award, the conference’s highest academic honor named after the former commissioner.

Vobora, a communications and psychology major, becomes the second player from the University of Idaho to receive the award. In college, he made the All-Academic All-WAC team four times.

In training camp with the Rams, the 6-foot-1, 236-pound linebacker is making a statement with his play, singing and facial hair.

Vobora teamed up with defensive end Chris Long, St. Louis’ first-round draft pick, and serenaded a student trainer. The song the two sang was “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” by the Righteous Brothers.

The singing is all part of a training camp ritual in which rookies sing for veterans.

“I always have fun; you have to,” Vobora told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently. “I love football, no matter how hard it is, no matter how sore I am. I love it. And I’m going to have a good time at it.”

Vobora is doing all the right things, even impressing Long, who went No. 2 overall in the draft. Vobora was the 252nd pick.

Coach Scott Linehan, who played quarterback at Idaho from 1982 to ’86, is noticing Vobora’s talents as well.

“David was a very productive player in college,” Linehan told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “and he just happens to be from the greatest college institution in the country. So he’s got an advantage.”

Linehan told the paper he was joking, but added Vobora has a shot to make the team.

As for the rookies growing mustaches?

“They look like something out of the Village People,” Linehan told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

— From staff reports