Cibola’s Brown, 15, receives first D-I offer
And he has yet to play in high school
Something you don’t see every day, particularly if you live in New Mexico, is athletes receiving a Division I college scholarship offer before playing their first high school game.
Unless you are a member of the Brown family, in which case this is becoming old hat.
Incoming Cibola High freshman boys basketball player Amari Brown earlier this week received his first D-I offer, from Western Illinois of The Summit League.
Brown, 15, already is considered one of New Mexico’s best players, even if his prep career with the Cougars hasn’t officially begun.
“I was surprised,” Brown said of this first offer. “It’s just very exciting for me. It’s not a common thing.”
His older sister, Amaya, currently a member of Florida State’s women’s basketball program, also received her first D-I offer before her high school playing days at Cibola.
To that end, Amari said, he’ll be able to lean on Amaya for advice and guidance during what is sure to be an extremely active multi-year recruitment process.
“I’ve seen my sister go through it, so I know what to expect,” Amari Brown said. “She always tells me, ‘Just always be yourself and keep doing what you do.’ ”
Also, Brown confirmed to the Journal that he’ll be playing
at Cibola, and not Albuquerque High where his father Greg last year was named the Bulldogs head coach.
“Me and my friends, we’ve been excited to play with each other,” Amari said. “We’ve been playing together since we were young.”
Amari’s mother, Tina Dunn, said she learned by watching Amaya that the recruiting process can be exhausting.
“It is a long process,” she said. “At the end, you’re trying to decipher which program is best for you, off of the relationships you build. And it’s hard.”
LOVATO TO UNM: Albuquerque High offensive lineman Carlos Lovato will be walking on with the hometown University of New Mexico Lobos, he announced on his Twitter feed Friday.
Whether this will become a preferred walk-on situation is unknown, as the Lobos won’t be entirely sure about the numbers in their program over the few months.
“Hopefully,” Lovato said, “this will turn into a scholarship somewhere along the line.”
The 6-foot-4, 318-pound Lovato, who plays tackle and guard, said he won’t join the football program until the spring 2022 semester. He bypassed scholarship offers from NCAA Division II schools Western New Mexico, Eastern New Mexico, New Mexico Highlands and two-year New Mexico Military Institute.
“Me and my family, we talked for hours — days — about this,” he said. “We’ve always wanted to be a part of the Lobos, ever since I was a kid.”
UNM assistant coach David Howes called Lovato on Tuesday to extend the invite, Lovato said.
“Even when I do walk on, I feel like I have the potential and work ethic to move forward and be a starter,” Lovato said. He wants to get into UNM’s Anderson School of Business and eventually attend law school.
“I just wanted them to give me a chance, let me show them that I’m worth it,” he said.
NEXT STEP FOR CHAVEZ: Cibola sophomore quarterback Aden Chavez has been invited to the Elite 11 quarterback regionals in June in Los Angeles.
The top QBs to emerge from the regional combines will get invited to the national Elite 11 event later in the year.
The 6-foot-5, 190-pound Chavez enjoyed a terrific freshman campaign for Cibola, throwing for 13 touchdowns and nearly 1,500 yards in six games. A knee injury sidelined him in the second half of the year.
Chavez is rated as one of the top 40 pro-style QBs in the country in the Class of 2023 by QBHitList. com.