FRESH FACES
Lobos football signs 20 high school seniors to next season’s squad
Year two of the Danny Gonzales era officially began Wednesday with the early signing period for college football. The University of New Mexico signed 20 players — all high school seniors — that included four players from New Mexico. Dating to the late 2020 signing period on Feb. 6, Gonzales has landed 43 players and all but two of them were high school seniors.
“On paper we signed a really, really good class,” he said.
The unique challenge of recruiting during a pandemic was evaluating recruits without actually having them on campus for official visits. Video conference calls were needed to put a name to a face.
Gonzales and his staff dramatically altered their approach, doing what they could to present an energetic vibe without the benefit of face-to-face contact. He leaned heavily on running backs coach Jordan Somerville, creative services director Chase Christiansen and sports information director Frank Mercogliano to use technology to their advantage.
Videos were posted around the team’s facility, and panels of players were assigned to handle particular recruits with private meetings that didn’t involve coaches.
“I’m very thankful that [Somerville’s] young and he’s into technology because this stuff was different than we’ve ever done,” Gonzales said. “Now, being an old video coordinator guy, I tried to dabble in that. I make things harder on Chase and Frank and Jordan than probably they want, but that’s OK. It comes along with it.”
At least three of Wednesday’s group of 20 will graduate high school this month, giving them a chance to join the team when the spring semester convenes in mid-January. Among them is one of two quarterbacks in the class, 6-foot-3 Bear Milacek from the Phoenix area.
Gonzales expects Milacek and fellow QB C.J. Montes of Pasadena, Calif., to come in and make the already crowded quarterbacks room even more competitive.
What’s more, he expects a lot out of the team’s influx of speed. Gonzales added five defensive backs and three receivers, as well as two additional players who could play either way. He said he gave his position coaches autonomy over settling on final choices for this recruiting class, giving each assistant a sense of ownership and accountability over who comes into the program.
“Well, you can’t coach speed,” Gonzales said. “That’s one thing. You can’t coach height, you can’t coach athleticism. I want football players and I want athletes.”
The four local players are Ja’Shon Lowery (La Cueva, linebacker); Luke Wysong (Cleveland, receiver); Jaden Phillips (Clovis, athlete); and Larry Luna (Goddard, offensive line). Gonzales has said from his first day on the job that he would scour the state for the best available talent, something he’s done since he was hired exactly one year before Wednesday’s signing day.
“Every kid that signed a Division I scholarship from the state of New Mexico today, we recruited them,” Gonzales said. “We tried to keep them all home.”
The Lobos have five scholarships remaining, spots they’ll keep open to see if any prospects they were after might fall through the cracks.
One of the biggest gets in this class was running back Aaron Dumas, a 205-pound senior at El Paso’s Americas High School.
Coach Danny Gonzales added five defensive backs and three receivers, as well as two additional players who could play either way.
He had gotten offers from five schools, including Arizona State and Air Force. He led the country in rushing as a junior with over 3,000 yards but had his senior season cut short because of the pandemic, which drastically cut down on scouts looking his way.
Gonzales likens him to Lobo freshman Nate Jones, the team’s second-leading rusher this season.
“If we can keep recruiting kids like that, we’re going to be pretty good around here,” Gonzales said.
LOBOS NOTES
Trees on the end: The Lobos also signed tight end Jacob Trussell, a 6-6 product out of Georgetown, Texas, to add to his growing stable of tall, young players at that position. Two recruits they signed in February (6-3 Connor Witthoft from Tucson and Conner Kinslow, a 6-4 product of Fulshear, Texas) are serving as the cornerstones of what of what Gonzales sees as a trio of dominant players at that position in a few years.
Alumni connection: Of the 20 players signed, 19 came from either Texas (nine), New Mexico (four), California and Arizona (three each). The outlier was Arrison Cole, a 6-7, 290-pound offensive lineman from Lambert High School in Suwanee, Ga.
Gonzales credited former Lobo great Terence Mathis with that one. The ex-NFL wide receiver is now the head coach at Pinecrest Academy in Cumming, Ga. Suwanee and Cumming are just 25 minutes apart and Mathis tipped off the UNM staff about Cole.