Ad
UNM FOOTBALL
Safety Tavian Combs to return for seventh year with New Mexico
Redshirt senior played a career-high 728 snaps over 13 games this season
Published
Modified
New Mexico safety Tavian Combs has signed to return for his seventh and final year of college football, the program announced Tuesday via social media.
The 6-foot-2, 196-pound redshirt senior made 71 total tackles and one interception in 13 games this season as UNM’s starting boundary safety. He represents the third defensive starter and 13th overall player to announce his return over the last month.
“I’m back,” he said in a statement released by the program on X.
An Amarillo, Texas native, Combs started 16 games and made 132 tackles over his first two seasons with the Lobos, earning All-Mountain West honorable mention marks as a sophomore in 2021. Injuries derailed his next three seasons with the program, allowing him to redshirt and get a medical hardship waiver in addition to the extra year of eligibility he gained by playing in 2020.
After entering portal and committing to Louisiana-Monroe last offseason, Combs withdrew and went on to play a career-high 728 snaps in his sixth season with UNM. He is the second starting safety to resign with the program after Austin Brawley did so last month.
Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at @lenaweereider.
