Recruiting takes hit for class of ’22
This year’s juniors may not get a chance to show off for college recruiters
The clock, it’s ticking.
With New Mexico’s Feb. 1 start date for high school football just around the corner and coronavirus numbers still well above the threshold for a safe return to play, the reality of not having any prep football in the 2020-21 school year is a distinct possibility.
That’s bad. What’s worse is what it means for this year’s junior class. University of New Mexico football coach Danny Gonzales said players with college-level skills in this year’s senior class are already the target of college recruiters. It’s the players in the class of 2022 — this year’s juniors — who are hurt the most without a prep football season. Gonzales said about 90 percent of Division I college recruits who sign on the dotted line during the December or February signing periods are firmly on a team’s radar based on what they’ve done in their junior year. Those games were scouted, filmed and analyzed by coaches all over the country. If a junior does well, the senior year is a last-ditch effort to move the needle just a little more.
“And that’s every year,” Gonzales said. “That hasn’t changed.”
Minus that key recruiting window with the very likely loss of prep football in New Mexico, players here at home are going to take the biggest hit of all.
Last week, Capital football coach Bill Moon said he had seven or eight players on his roster capable of playing at the next level, either in junior college, NAIA or in the lower levels of the NCAA. One of the marquee names on that list is running back Luke Padilla, one of the top ball carriers in the state and a player who has all the tools to land on a college team’s roster.
A senior who hasn’t yet committed to a college, he is one of those rare upperclassmen who was looking forward to one final season of explosive runs and big numbers in hopes of landing a scholarship.
“And what are those kids doing now? Sitting at home going through what the rest of us are going through,” Moon said. “As adults, we need to understand how we can best support our kids without completely damaging their future.”
Gonzales sympathizes with that as much as he can, given the circumstances.
“This year’s kids, the ’21 class that has seniors that normally you’ll find a couple seniors here and there, the New Mexico kids aren’t going to have that same opportunity that we might scholarship a kid that plays really well his senior year because we haven’t seen him play,” Gonzales said. “And if they do get to play in the spring, signing date’s already gone.”
If there’s a player in state who has the skills to make an impact at UNM, Gonzales said he is probably already aware of him. Most, he said, will be invited to UNM’s camp as walk-ons, continuing a tradition of taking the top in-state players and giving them a chance to earn scholarships within a year or two.
Very few true freshmen will be offered scholarships straight out of high school, he said. Two examples of earning a spot the hard way are quarterback Isaiah Chavez and receiver Andrew Erickson. Chavez is a true freshman out of Rio Rancho, while Erickson is a redshirt freshman from Manzano.
Both are walk-ons and each, Gonzales said, is an example of what a talented local player can do if given the opportunity to compete for playing time and land a scholarship down the road. Chavez led the Lobos to their first win of the season last week while Erickson is the team’s yardage leader in receiving with 264 yards in six games.
It’s a simple as this: Regardless of circumstance, the Lobos coach understands the plight facing in-state players during the pandemic. Football or no in February, he’ll be on the hunt.
“My opinion, and because I’m a New Mexico kid, they’ll have opportunities at our place,” Gonzales said.
He also said the vetting process isn’t nearly as complete as it is in other states, most of whom have staged a high school football season during the pandemic.
“There’s a lot of kids out there that we’re still able to evaluate. We’re still able to watch current senior [year] tape,” Gonzales said. “We don’t have that opportunity for those [New Mexico] kids. Now, we’ve recruited a bunch of New Mexico kids and we have a bunch committed that we believe in from their junior tape.”