Lobos' Keyshawn James-Newby makes impact at Shrine Bowl

There were only five plays for Keyshawn James-Newby to learn, a necessity given the heavily streamlined schedule of the East-West Shrine Bowl, which took place Tuesday in Frisco, Texas and ended with a 21-7 win for the West.

There was, however, one major message within those plays, or lack thereof.

“Our defensive coordinator (New Orleans Saints assistant Terry Joseph) said specifically he wants to see if we can win one-on-ones,” New Mexico’s fifth-year defensive end told the Journal on Wednesday. “That was kind of his main message — like, ‘the playbook’s simple, so we wanna see what you guys can do one-on-one.’”

Message received.

Playing against a bevy of players from the Power Four ranks, James-Newby made his mark in the Shrine Bowl with one assisted tackle and two quarterback hurries, tied for the most of any player who took the field.

The 6-foot-2, 224-pound All-Mountain West honoree’s efforts helped fuel a defensive performance that saw the West hold the East to just 146 total yards on its way to a narrow win. He was just one of four players from the Mountain West selected for the Shrine Bowl, one of college football’s most prominent all-star games and a key part of the scouting calendar.

And if James-Newby’s night didn’t exactly jump off the stat sheet, UNM’s sack leader found a fitting and familiar way to make his presence known on the field.

“I make the quarterback make dumb decisions,” he said. “And, you know, that’s something that probably a lot of (NFL) teams saw (Tuesday).”

Exhibit A: On second-and-9 in the second quarter, James-Newby roared past the right tackle and cornered Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels in the pocket. Daniels turned to run and heaved the ball away as James-Newby caught him, resulting in a play that would’ve been ruled intentional grounding if that foul was called in the Shrine Bowl.

Exhibit B: On fourth-and-2 on the same drive, James-Newby burned the edge once more, catching Daniels dead-to-rights in the pocket. He promptly slammed Daniels to the ground and was flagged for unnecessary roughness — the Shrine Bowl does, in fact, call that — but he made his point all the same. 

“(In the) Mountain West, maybe they could say the competition isn’t there or whatnot,” he said. “(I was) just showing that I can put speed against bigger schools (or) conferences — you know, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC teams.”

For James-Newby, Tuesday’s game was the culmination of a little less than a week’s worth of time spent in Frisco, featuring practices and long meetings with NFL scouts. He estimated he met with scouts from roughly "80%" of the league's teams before kickoff, his first real exposure to the NFL’s scouting process.

Football was not the primary topic in those meetings, though. “They kind of already know how you play and they’ve already seen what they need to see,” James-Newby said. “ … They’re kind of like the FBI in a way; they want to know everything about you and what you’re doing and, you know, just make sure you’re a good person off the field as well as on the field.”

In regards to the on-field component, James-Newby flew back to Orlando, Florida the day after the Shrine Bowl to continue training for UNM’s pro day in March. The hope is that his message from the game remains clear, especially as the calendar narrows to the NFL Draft in April.

“I’m a valuable player,” he said, “whether it comes with sacks or without sacks.”

Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at @lenaweereider.