UNM football: Three things we learned from the first week of spring practice

Three down, 12 to go.

New Mexico completed its first week of spring practice Friday morning, donning full pads during its third practice under head coach Jason Eck before taking this week off for spring break.

Three things we learned from the Lobos’ first week of spring practice:

1. Maybe the Lobos are deeper up front than we thought

And perhaps Isaiah Sillemon is the best example of said depth.

Around this time last year, the 6-foot-1, 307-pound redshirt senior was seeing time at both guard spots and center — even if he wasn’t exactly thrilled by the prospect of playing the latter.

“My whole life, I ran from playing center,” he admitted Friday. To Sillemon, snapping was boring. Besides, “guards (have) more fun,” he added.

Whether it was boring or not, Sillemon didn’t have to worry about it too long. He struggled to snap the ball consistently and was eventually moved to UNM’s “rhino” position (basically a sixth offensive lineman branded as a tight end) in fall camp, playing 553 snaps out of his natural position last season. Whether he would be a big factor in his expected return to the line this spring — in a congested interior, no less — was anybody’s guess.

These days? Sillemon is UNM’s first-team center and a proud recipient of Friday’s hammer, a red sledgehammer given to whomever Eck deemed as the player of the practice. In tweaking his snapping technique, he’s elevated himself to the top half of the two-deep at a position he used to avoid, and provided some unexpected depth to a room that already had plenty on the interior in Richard Pearce, Israel Mukwiza, Kaden Robnett and Malik Aliane.

As for the tackles? Eck was complimentary of Travis Gray’s first week as UNM’s first-string left tackle in place of an injured Tevin Shaw. If UNM can get some steady development out of the Colorado transfer, the offensive line might be looked at as a true strength heading into fall camp.

2. …and a little thinner than we thought, too

Eck got ahead of it before spring even started: UNM was going to be thinner on the defensive line this spring — particularly on the interior. Pin some of it on injuries, the rest on roster churn.

But seeing the group up close has hammered that point home — gone are veterans like Kyler Drake and Garrison Walker, reliable pieces like Tyler Kiehne and edge rushers like Antoineo Harris Jr. and Moso Tuitele (both of whom UNM will see this season in games against Utah State and Colorado State, respectively).

In their place are players like Tavien Ford, who’s been moved back to defensive line for the second time in his career; Vincent Santos, a former rhino like Sillemon; Jawaun Singletary, who asked Eck to move over from center to defensive line this spring; and Gabriel Lopez, the one real mainstay over the last three years. It hasn’t helped that Keyshawn James-Newby (the presumed first-team jack, the boundary end in UNM’s 4-2-5 base) won’t be available this spring, either.

That’s not to say there haven’t been some positives — Singletary deserves some credit for how he’s handled the position switch so far — but if UNM needs reinforcements anywhere right now, it’s in the trenches.

“That’s a group we got to keep getting better,” Eck said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a strength right now.”

One particularly bright (if raw) spot on the defensive line right now: Texas Southern transfer Brian Booker. At 6-foot-3, 320 pounds, he’s arguably the most imposing member of the group, still relatively early in his transition over from the offensive line. If you put him in an NFL locker room, Eck believes it wouldn’t be obvious who the Group of Five defensive tackle was.

“I got my hands on (Booker) first and,” Sillemon paused before admitting, “it really did nothing. Like, he’s powerful. And then learning that he just flipped sides, it’s like, once he gets every little thing (down) that a D-lineman is known for?

“Dog.”

He — and others — still have to get those things down, though. After all, that’s what spring’s for.

3. Nothing’s ‘etched in stone;’ but some starting points have been set

As Eck put it, nothing is “etched in stone” at the start of spring practice — maybe even after, too.

But you have to start somewhere, right? A quick look at some of those starting points:

SAFETY: Consider Clint Stephens and Tavian Combs the informal 1A and 1B at strong safety after the two basically split reps throughout the first week. Stephens was a little more of an unknown quantity after three quiet years at UCLA, but he’s certainly got the frame for the position and appears to be picking things up.

Combs? Far less of an unknown quantity, at least around these parts. But as Eck noted, he hasn’t played a full season since 2021. These first few practices were always going to represent a hurdle of some sort for a player going on his sixth year of college football, even if the reps haven’t matched that time.

“When I watch him practice, I don’t really notice any limitations or anything,” Eck said of Combs, who’s battled leg injuries over the last three seasons. “I think it’s, physically, he looks 100%. Especially when you’ve had multiple injuries like that, I think he’s still mentally getting to 100%.”

TIGHT END: Weber State transfer tight end Keayen Nead almost landed Friday’s hammer over Sillemon, but “screwed up a screen where he ran too flat,” Eck said. “So he lost it off that.” Regardless, the 6-5, 262-pound junior has been getting a lot of reps with the first team, and some kudos from his coach for his blocking and overall physicality.

CORNERBACK: Montana State transfer Jon Johnson and Idaho transfer Abraham Williams have consistently worked as UNM’s first-string corners to this point, heading up a group Eck believes will have some good depth with Utah Tech transfer Jayden Sheridan and Stephen F. Austin transfer Azariah Levells coming back from injury.