One could hardly confuse Carmella Garcia with a wallflower.

The Avon Lake High School grad and wife of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia shows a lot of skin for readers of Sports Illustrated’s annual Swimsuit Issue, which hit newsstands this week.

Garcia, better known locally by her maiden name Carmella DeCesare, is no stranger to appearing in magazine photo spreads. She was Playboy magazine’s 2004 Playmate of the Year, an honor that followed on the heels of her selection for one of the magazine’s monthly centerfolds in 2003.

The 25-year-old also graced the cover of a 2007 calendar published by Maxim magazine.

The photos in the current SI spread feature Garcia in a black, two-piece swimsuit.

“Yes, it’s a nice photo,” said one relative, who declined to give her name or relationship to Garcia, reached by phone Wednesday.

Garcia made headlines some years ago when she was cleared of assault charges stemming from an incident in the Flats involving one of her and Jeff Garcia’ girlfriends while the couple was still dating.

Garcia also has appeared on TV’s “Family Feud” and the reality series “The Girls Next Door.”         

The 2008 SI Swimsuit Issue features supermodel Marisa Miller on the cover, with photos of Indy racecar driver Danica Patrick, NFL cheerleaders, and the wives of other professional athletes including Boston Red Sox outfielder Johnny Damon, Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony and NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon.

Photos of Garcia’s SI spread can be viewed at www.si.com/swimsuit. The site is expected to attract 250 million hits, according to ABC News.

In November 2007, Garcia was voted 17th out of the 50 “Hottest Wife/Girlfriend in Sports” in an online poll by www.epiccarnival.com sports news Web site.

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

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