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
