Lobos’ Chavez: From unknown to hero
It's good to be Isaiah Chavez these days. Less than two weeks ago, he was barely a household name outside of his own home. Now he's the toast of the town, the homegrown hero who led the moribund and comically awful University of New Mexico football team out of the gutter and into the win column – twice.
Hailed by fans and a certain faction of the media that covers him as the savior of Lobo football, he's suddenly the flavor of the month, the proverbial new-car smell, the shiny new toy on Christmas morning.
On Monday (Dec. 14) the 19-year-old true freshman sat in his car in the University Stadium parking lot answering questions from the media after he was named the Mountain West Conference offensive player of the week.
"It's crazy," he said. "Crazy ride, I'll tell you that much."
Until the late hours of Dec. 5, Chavez was known only as the fifth-string quarterback, a former star at Río Rancho High School and the state's reigning Gatorade Player of the Year. In college football parlance, he was a scrub, a backup, a scout-team tackling dummy whose main value was giving the team another warm body during practice.
A walk-on who once pined for a chance to leave New Mexico and play for anyone else, even he would admit his only hope of seeing the field in 2020 was running out to pick up the tee after kickoffs.
Sports sure has a funny way of finding its storybook ending. So often, it's the least likely choice who comes through, the longest of long shots who saves the day.
On Monday, he talked about being humble, about shying away from praise and knowing there's always going to be someone ahead of him. The belief that there's someone better is his motivator and is a constant reminder to keep his head down and work hard.
"Training in silence is always better than training with noise," he said.
Chavez moved up to fourthstring QB in August when thirdstringer Brandt Hughes suffered a season-ending injury. He moved up another spot when No. 1 signalcaller Tevaka Tuioti suffered a concussion in November and never returned.
By Thanksgiving, he was promoted to second-string when Trae Hall went down with a seasonending rib injury. By Dec. 5, he became QB1 when Connor Genal broke his wrist while falling backward onto the turf.
All he's done since is the stuff of legend.
He led a fourth-quarter comeback to stun heavily favored Wyoming, snapping UNM's 14-game losing streak that was, at the time, the longest active skid in the country. He followed that with his brilliant performance in last weekend's win over Fresno State, engineering seven touchdown drives to push the Lobos into the offseason with two straight wins.
He said he wasn't sure what his performance meant to people back home until he sat on the bed of his hotel room on Dec. 5. He started scrolling through his Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter accounts and was stunned to see dozens of follow requests.
He stayed awake until 1:30 a.m. that first night trying to respond to all of them, eventually tossing his phone aside. The requests kept pouring in all week, spiking again after Saturday's finale that left Lobos head coach Danny Gonzales admitting that it might be time to put Chavez on full scholarship and allow him to compete for the starting job next season.
With all five QBs scheduled to return in 2021, Chavez said he'll prepare as though he's No. 1 even if he's still slotted into that fifth spot on the depth chart.
For now, he's just trying to soak it all in. He was a high school star in Río Rancho but now he's suddenly the face of UNM football. At this pace he might have fans trying to commission the school to erect a bronze statue of him atop the north end zone video board at University Stadium.
The message? Soak it in, Lobos. Revel in the pride that a homegrown kid has given the fan base. Bask in the moment knowing Lobo football is as popular (for the moment) as it has been in 15 years. Take a deep dive in knowing the 2020 season, for all its woes during a global pandemic that forced the Lobos out of town and became the flashpoint of debate over the state's suffocating public health order, was a surprising success thanks, in part, to a kid with fuzzy chin hair and endless pride in the state he represents.
Brighter days are ahead for Lobos football and when those days finally get here, fans can look back at the sudden emergence of Isaiah Chavez and know that he was the catalyst for the on-field reversal.
Live big, No. 13. You've earned it.
Will Webber is the Santa Fe New Mexica's sports editor, having covered all things local for 24 years. Contact him at wwebber@ sfnewmexican.com. The Santa Fe New Mexican, is a sibling publication of the Taos News.