Davie establishes a limit on Lobo practice sessions
There is no NCAA-imposed limit to the number of practices a college football team can have in preparation for a bowl game.
New Mexico football coach Bob Davie, though, is imposing limits of his own.
Since the Lobos (8-4) ended the regular season with a 56-35 victory over Wyoming on Nov. 26, they’ve had only one light practice session. They won’t have another until Friday evening, just eight days before their Gildan New Mexico Bowl game against UTSA (6-6) at University Stadium.
Many coaches extol the virtues of the bowl practices as a jump start toward the following season. Davie believes they’re overrated.
Will the players get out of shape? No. They’re lifting and doing conditioning on a daily basis. Will they forget how to run, throw, catch, block and tackle? No. They don’t do much of the latter two skills in practice once the season starts, anyway.
Meanwhile, Davie and his staff are seeking to jump-start next and future seasons by going out recruiting this week. Davie, though, will be in town today for the formal announcement of the UNM-UTSA pairing. ON RECRUITING: Bryson Carroll, a dual-threat quarterback who committed to UNM in July, was named the Texas District 26-6A Offensive Most Valuable Player after his justcompleted senior season at Roosevelt High School in San Antonio.
Carroll, listed at 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds, rushed for 1,003 yards on 132 carries, passed for 700 yards (48-of-96) and accounted for 15 touchdowns.
He is the only high school player who currently is committed to UNM. Darrion Green, a defensive back from Wilson High School in Dallas, committed to the Lobos in June but later de-committed.
Karson Block, an inside linebacker from Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif., announced his commitment to UNM on Nov. 20. KELLY TO SPEAK: Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly, who quarterbacked the Buffalo Bills to four consecutive American Football Conference championships in the 1990s, will be the guest speaker at the Gildan New Mexico Bowl Kickoff Luncheon on Dec. 16.
Kelly is a two-time cancer survivor.
“Reaching out and getting Jim to come here and tell his story is going to resonate with the student-athletes really well,” New Mexico Bowl executive director Jeff Siembieda said in an interview with KRQE-TV.
Kelly, who played in college at Miami, began his pro career with the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League.
With the Bills, he played 11 years and threw for more than 35,000 yards and 237 touchdowns.
The Bills played consecutively in Super Bowls XXV, XXVI, XXVII and XXVIII, losing to the New York Giants (20-19), the Washington Redskins (37-24) and twice to the Dallas Cowboys (52-17, 30-13).
Kelly was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002. He follows former NFL
stars Archie Manning, Tony Dorsett, Joe Theismann, Mark Schlereth and Warren Moon as a speaker at the Kickoff Luncheon.
WUERFFEL TROPHY: Texas A&M quarterback Trevor Knight has won the Wuerffel Trophy, presented annually to the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision college football player judged to have best combined community service with excellence on the field and in the classroom.
Lobo offensive lineman Garrett Adcock was a finalist for the award with Knight and Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey.
On Twitter, Adcock congratulated Knight. “It was an honor to be considered with these two awesome young men,” he wrote.
Knight, a graduate transfer who came to A&M from Oklahoma, at both schools has been a vital part of four humanitarian trips to Haiti.
Adcock and his family have established a 35-bed hospital in Ateiku, Ghana. He also has been a Special Olympics volunteer. Until concussions cut short his 2016 season, Adcock was playing his senior year while in his second year of law school.
THE LINE: Oddsmakers have installed UNM as an early 7-point favorite against UTSA.