UNM football mailbag: On receivers, names to watch during spring practice and more

At long last, (spring) football is back.

New Mexico opens its first spring practice under head coach Jason Eck on Tuesday, March 11, the first of 15 scheduled sessions over the next six weeks. In a change from last year, all practices will be open to the public; the Lobos’ final session will constitute a spring game scheduled for Friday, April 18

Of course, with a new head coach and upward of 50 new players, there’s plenty of questions entering spring. Here’s Journal staff writer Sean Reider’s attempt to answer some of them, with answers including (but not limited to) the Lobos’ wide receivers, names to watch during spring practice and more.

Questions have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

I know the coaching staff is stating that (defensive line) depth is a priority, however, on paper, the wide receiver room doesn’t look that strong. Other than Shawn Miller, are there any other emerging weapons from that room that aren’t named Keagan Johnson? — Joseph Archuleta (@JosephArch0131 on X)

This is something I’ve thought about for a while — no doubt Johnson was a good get out of Kansas State, but beyond that? It’s a little tough to tell who else might emerge in a room long on interesting candidates, but short on meaningful experience.

Going off career catches at the FBS level, a look at UNM’s wide receivers:

• Keagan Johnson (73 catches for 949 yards, five touchdowns at Kansas State and Iowa)
• Michael Buckley (8 catches, 103 yards)
• Shawn Miller (1 catch, 8 yards)
• Evan Wysong (no catches)
• Elijah Brody (no catches)
• Xavier Van (no catches)
• Kader Diop (no catches)
• Ryan Cook (no catches)
• Mateo Contreras (no catches)
• Isaiah Blair (no catches)

In total, that’s 82 catches for 1,052 yards and five touchdowns. Take Johnson away and UNM’s working with a group that put up nine catches for 111 yards among two (!) players. If Luke Wysong never got injured last year against Colorado State and Buckley doesn’t have the day he did, this might be even less inspiring.

But back to the question: Who could emerge other than Johnson? I think you’re on the right track mentioning Miller, a bigger body (6-foot-2, 194-pounds) who did some nice work blocking on the perimeter last season. You could interest me in the idea of Buckley with some confidence and another offseason under his belt. Wysong, Diop, Blair and Brody are all guys I’ll have an eye out for this spring, too.

It’s probably too early to sound the alarm, but it’s fair to say there’s a lot of questions with this group heading into the spring.

I’ll also add that UNM does have three receivers joining the program from the prep ranks this fall: Farmington High School’s Mikey Beck, Verrado (Arizona) High School’s Deriece Brown and Zhaiel Smith, a 6-foot-0, 193-pound three-star prospect out of Tualatin (Oregon) High School. And the Lobos certainly could add another receiver or two from the portal this spring.

What’s the difference between (head coach Jason Eck) and (former head coach Bronco Mendenhall) offensively and defensively? Who’s the quarterback? Reasons for hope? — Mang the Mackem (@mangtheram)

Scheme-wise, Mendenhall was never super keen to categorize his own offense or defense. But for the sake of the question, I’ll say UNM ran the veer-and-shoot on offense and (mostly) worked out of a 3-3-5 on defense. They were balanced offensively, aggressive defensively.

Under Eck? Let’s call it a pro-style offense, except they rarely get under center. Expect them to stay balanced between the run and the pass, leaning on zone concepts (hello, mid zone) in the run game more than UNM did last year.

Defensively, expect UNM to be multiple out of a 4-2-5 base with a jack (a boundary end who’s more of an outside linebacker) and a star (a hybrid safety-linebacker who can play up in the box) setting the table for said multiplicity. I’m inclined to believe the Lobos will put a little more on their front players than they did last year, too.

As for reasons for hope? Not to downplay the last 10 years or so for the Lobos, but you could argue (and be right, I think) that Eck turned around a program in a far more dire position than what the Lobos are in right now. That experience paired with a pretty strong track record of player development in an era that doesn’t always reward the developers seems like fair cause for optimism.

And I’ll touch on the quarterbacks a little more below, but barring anything totally unexpected, I’m expecting Idaho transfer Jack Layne to start (and end) spring practice as UNM’s quarterback.

Is the Beau Davidson hire/poach from Memphis a sign of increasing investment from UNM into football? — Lukas Kedge

I asked Athletic Director Fernando Lovo about this a couple weeks back, and he said yes. Investing further in football has been a focus since he was hired in November and hiring Davidson, UNM’s new general manager, away from Memphis was a continuation of those efforts — if not a selling point in and of itself for Davidson.

“I think there (were) a lot of reasons — I don’t wanna speak for Beau — that were very appealing to him,” Lovo said. “But investment is always a part of it, right? And so that was certainly part of the discussion.”

Any word on the return of the side profile Lobo (on helmets)? I have seen and heard about how much some hate the shield lol — Justin Martinez (@JustinM57)

No word — yet. But for what it’s worth, I prefer the side profile Lobo as well.

Frankly, I’m just happy UNM will have jersey numbers this spring.

1. Have you taken coach Eck out for a beer yet? 2. Position group (besides running backs) you think will step up the most this year? — Tomas Serna (@Tserna121)

1. No. But if I were to do that, I’d take Eck — a Wisconsin guy at heart — to Howie’s Sports Page.

2. You could sell me on the lines — and if this team is going to be successful, they’re going to need both to step up — but I’ll play it safe and go with the linebackers here. Dimitri Johnson, Randolph Kpai and Jaxton Eck all bring a wealth of experience and production to the table. Mihalis Santorineos should be healthy again after missing almost all of last season with a leg injury. And there’s some solid young talent like Niko Bohler to build depth.

Does the room have a crazy high ceiling à la UNM’s running backs? Maybe not. Is it probably the sturdiest, most reliable position on the Lobos defense, at least right now? I’ll say yes, and give them the nod off those qualities.

Any JUCO or small school transfers we should keep an eye out for? — Pat Chim (@pat_chim93)

UNM added a good deal of transfers from small-ish schools, but I’m itching to see Israel Mukwiza out of Mercer (enrollment: 4,800). The 6-foot-1, 320-pound left guard earned first team All-Southern Conference honors on a good Bears team last season and afforded himself well in a 52-7 loss to Alabama, too — keep an eye out for him and tight end Aiden Valdez out of Campbell (enrollment: 5,000).

As for JUCO players, I’m interested in seeing what wide receiver Isaiah Blair from Cerritos (Calif.) Junior College does this spring. Hard to say how fast he is until we see him up close, but the 6-1, 190-pound former three-star looks plenty athletic (if a little raw) and posted some downright silly catches for the Falcons last season.

1. Can any of the other QBs in the room give Layne a battle for the job? 2. How many returning starters on defense? 3. Did they end up getting Jaylen Clark to come here from Boise? 4. Candidates for LT? (I think it’s going to be Shaw if healthy) — Juan (@juiceman_52)

1. Besides Layne, UNM has four other quarterbacks on its roster: Isaiah Chavez, one of the longest tenured Lobos; Emery Floyd and James Laubstein, both fresh off their first seasons with the program; and Gabriel Motschenbacher, a lefty transfer from Los Angeles Southwest (Calif.) College.

I haven’t seen Layne or Motschenbacher live yet. And after a mostly quiet couple seasons on that front, UNM is probably overdue for a true quarterback battle — so never say never, right? But if any of those four were to truly threaten (not just compete with) Layne for the starting job this spring, it’d be a pretty unexpected development.

Why? Consider that more of a credit to the Idaho transfer’s previous experience and production working with Eck and offensive coordinator Luke Schleusner: Even in a year marred by an early collarbone injury, Layne led the Vandals with 1,477 passing yards and 14 touchdowns last season.

“He’s really a coach on the field … He wants to be a college football coach,” Schleusner told the Journal in February. “He was pre-med and a 4.0 student — both his parents are doctors, so he was a little nervous when he had to call them and tell them he wasn’t doing pre-med anymore.

“But he’s a leader, an extremely hard worker and just a great guy to have in the program. He’s already doing a great job in winter workouts of just showing the guys, like, this is the standard that we want.”

I’m curious how Floyd, Chavez and Laubstein look in this offense after taking a backseat to Dampier last season. Motschenbacher’s also a bit raw, but showed he could sling it last season at L.A. Southwest with a league-best 72.2% completion rate and 2,824 yards as a freshman.

And we would be remiss if we didn’t mention that De La Salle (Calif.) High School product Toa Faavae — talk about a guy that can run — will be coming in this fall. But for now, let’s consider Layne the clear frontrunner.

2. Returning starters on last year’s defense, in no particular order: Johnson (LB), Kpai (LB), and Gabe Lopez (DE). But Tavian Combs — a guy that’s been starter-caliber when healthy — will also be back for his sixth season with the Lobos after playing in just one game last year.

3. Clark, a former Boise State cornerback, visited UNM in January but never announced a commitment and isn’t listed on the roster. Let’s go with no at this point.

4. I’ll agree Shaw makes a lot of sense at left tackle and would expect it to be a competition between the 6-6, 320-pound former Houston transfer and Elvin Harris — but, hey, we’ll see soon enough.