The New Mexico Lobos 2020 Recruiting Class Is Complete With 24 Signings.
Class is complete with a high school focus and southwest feel.
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Danny Gonzales completes his first recruiting class in Albuquerque, and it’s a good one.
As we look towards the month of February and with National Signing Day officially in the rear view, coaching staffs can begin to regroup and look onward to spring practice. The Mountain West has welcomed four new head coaches to the conference this off season, some faces familiar and others not so much. But no matter the coach, job or school one thing remains and that’s national signing day.
Danny Gonzales is one of those familiar faces we mentioned earlier, an Albuquerque native who walked-on at New Mexico from near by Valley High School during the last years of Dennis Franchione’s tenure and in the Rocky Long’s first year in charge back in 1998. Long has had his own storied success with the Lobos as he has transitioned from player to head coach and now defensive coordinator almost fifty years later.
Gonzales has walked a similar path to Long’s and has enjoyed success in every role he’s taken while doing it. At New Mexico, San Diego State and most recently under Herm Edwards at Arizona State. Only failing to reach a bowl game in five of his 19 seasons on a collegiate coaching staff. Fans and administration are hoping he brings some of that winning pedigree to Dreamstyle Stadium this fall, everyone knows it’s overdue.
But the life blood of college football is still recruiting, and of course player development is another big component of on field success but still how do you mold that 6-4 210 pound kid from Lovington into that 6-4 255 pound NFL draft top-ten pick? Well you got to get him there first. And of course all eyes are on Danny Gonzales and his newly formed coaching staff to put together a strong first class and win down in Albuquerque.
Now let’s be a little realistic, Gonzales was hired back in mid-December. Right around the NCAA’s early signing period on December 19th. With only one player committed to the Lobos at the time in El Paso native Gabe Stonewall (a Bob Davie Commit, now commited to Lamar). It was a little hard to think he would put together a class to top the Mountain West recruiting rankings in just over a month and a half right?
But his first recruiting class at New Mexico is different, yes different in structure, origin and let’s say expectations than classes of years past. But you can attribute than directly to the man in charge and his former coach, mentor and boss who is now his employee.
Recruiting classes under Bob Davie and Mike Locksley before him tried, but often failed to have a local feel and representation to them. Both brought in local players, on scholarship and as walk-ons during their time in Albuquerque but a majority of the roster was made up of players from around the country. Locksley had connections back in the DMV (D.C., Maryland and Virginia area), which is where he brought in a lot of his players from. Davie whose connections were a bit broader brought in recruits from a little bit of everywhere.
That was completely fine but the New Mexican community like most around the country enjoy seeing homegrown kids on the field. Which has been a goal for Danny Gonzales since day one. To recruit not only regionally but locally in his home state and to give local players opportunities like the one that he was given over twenty-five years ago.
The class stands at twenty-four players signed to NLI’s after national signing day, it includes 7 Texans, 10 Californians, 3 Arizonians, 1 Louisianan and of course 2 New Mexicans. Those New Mexicans are Dion Hunter a linebacker out of Rio Rancho (Cleveland HS) and defensive end Bryce Santana of Los Lunas (Los Lunas HS). Besides a very southwest feel the recruiting class also lists only one junior college player in offensive lineman Isaak Gutierrez of Butte College. It is yet just another difference between the recruiting styles of old and new. As Davie and Locksley both heavily recruited the junior college ranks.
Next, the list:
Total New Additions: 30
- Link to the UNM golobos website with highlight videos of all 24 signees.
- Those without a highlight reel provided by UNM have their huddle link below.
The Offensive Line: 4
Leke Asenuga, 6-2 306 | Richmond, TX| George Bush High School
Jer’Marques Bailey, 6-6 320 | Humble, TX| Atascocita High School
Greg Brown II, 6-1 283 | Pearland, TX| Shadow Creek High School
Isaak Gutierrez, 6-2 317 | Chico, CA| Butte College (JC)
The Receiving Corps: 5
Conner Kinslow, 6-4 226 (TE) | Fulshear, TX| Obra D. Tompkins High School
Connor Witthoft, 6-3 212 (TE) | Tuscon, AZ| Salpointe Catholic High School
Elijah Queen, 6-5 191 (WR) | Carson, CA| Narbonne High School
Jace Taylor, 6-5 197 (WR) | Lake Havasu, AZ| Lake Havasu High School
Bobby Wooden, 5-11 179 (WR) | Pearland, TX| Dawson High School
THE Running Back : 1
Nathaniel Jones, 5-11 205 | Bellflower, CA| St. John Bosco High School
The Defensive Line: 3
OJ Bartley, 6-2 275 | Stockton, CA| Edison High School
Bryce Santana, 6-3 260 | Los Lunas, NM| Los Lunas High School
Ian Shewell, 6-3 236 | Gilbert, AZ| Williams Field High School
The Linebackers: 5
Elijah Lash, 6-3 253 | Walnut Creek, CA| Las Lomas High School
Ray Leutele, 5-11 215 | Anaheim, CA| Mater Dei High School
Semaj Sims, 6-1 211 | Oakland, CA| McClymonds High School
Dion Hunter, 6-2 220 | Rio Rancho, NM| Cleveland High School
Syaire Riley, 6-0 235 | Inglewood, CA | Palisades High School
Defensive Backs: 4
Donald Jones, 6-0 163 (CB) | Baton Rouge, LA| Broadmoor High School
AJ Odums II, 5-11 150 (CB) | Houston, TX| Westfield High School
Tavian Combs, 6-2 190 (S) | Amarillo, TX| Randall High School
Quinn Potts, 6-0 208 (S) | Compton, CA| Dominguez High School
The Athlete Addition: 1
Darius MCray, 5-11 180 | Fresno, CA| Washington Union High School
Division One Transfers: 2
Ben Davis, 6-3 317 (OL) | Elk Grove, CA| Minnesota (Big Ten)
Josh Foley, 5-10 200 (RB) | Rio Rancho, NM| New Mexico State (FBS Ind.)
*Now a group that should be watched closely is the walk-ons brought into the program. Especially with Gonzales’ history as a player and the culture at New Mexico. These guys won’t show up on any recruiting website but the list of guys brought into the program through this avenue is listed below.
Preferred Walk-on Additions: 5
Keith Alvarado, 6-1 240 DL, Albuquerque, NM | Eldorado High School | Huddle
Ryan Cosper, 6-3 200 WR | Albuquerque, NM | Hope Christian High School | Huddle
Isaiah Chavez, 6-0 175 ATH | Rio Rancho, NM|Rio Rancho High School | Huddle
Isaac chavez, 5-10 175 RB |Albuquerque, NM| Volcano Vista High School |Huddle
Cody Moon, 6-4 185, DE | Albuquerque, NM |Volcano Vista High School | Huddle
Local Guys With PWO offers but no word yet,
Zion Hall, 6-0 175 | Albuquerque, NM| Manzano High School | Huddle
Dawson Burton, 6-1 205 (DB) | Albuquerque, NM| La Cueva High School | Huddle
Caleb Marra, 6-4 200 (DE) | Albuquerque, NM| La Cueva High School | Huddle
Dominic Camacho, Not listed (K) | Albuquerque, NM| La Cueva High School | Huddle
Positions with no signing: QB
Things of Note:
The Lobos checked off some boxes on Wednesday night, adding depth to the offensive line with three guys (Davis, Gutierrez and Brown II) already enrolled for the Spring semester. Also adding some some size to the receiving corps with Elijah Queen and Jace Taylor both standing six foot five as well as two tight ends both named Connor (one spells it Conner) standing six foot four.
Maybe the most exciting signing of the day was four star running back Nathaniel Jones of St. John Boscoe in Bellflower, CA, who decommitted from UCLA and chose the Lobos over offers from Georgia, Oregon and Arizona State. He’s now listed as the third highest recruit to ever sign with the Lobos (per 247 sports) in the modern recruiting ranking era.
The home state guys,
Gonzales and his staff kept their promise of bringing local guys into the program. Though they were primarily brought in through walk-on means, which has shown success in Albuquerque in the past (i.e. Ryan Cook, Jarrod Baxter, etc.) and helps keep his promise so far. And he’s not done yet, extending an offer to Goddard junior lineman Larry Luna (6-5, 260) to get a jump on the class of 2021 and attempt to keep division-I caliber players from that class home. He was a bit late to the party on New Mexico’s other top prospects as Connor O’Toole (Utah), Philip Blidi (Texas Tech), Bryce Cabeldue (Kansas) and Dorian Lewis (Coffeyville C.C.) committed elsewhere.
They were able to bring in Dion Hunter from Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho who like current tight end Marcus Williams did before grayshirted this fall to prolong his eligibility clock from starting. Along with Hunter, the Lobos signed local two sport athlete Bryce Santana of Los Lunas. who pledged before signing day. A familiar face for metro area fans in former Rio Rancho Ram Josh Foley also committed to the Lobos after spending his first two years of college down south at New Mexico State. He joins his former high school head coach in Albuquerque.
Twitter Presence,
Gonzales and his staff have heavily taken to Twitter which has become a new outlet for recruits to showcase offers, highlight tapes and communicate with other recruits. Hashtags like #Jointhehunt and #Packmentality are being spread by assistants across their twitter feeds and recruits are buying in.
The connection to local coaching staffs which can help keep high rated players in state has been key for the Lobos this signing period as well. As several high school coaches from around the state of New Mexico have taken to Twitter to praise Lobo coaches showing up to their schools as of late. Heck, Gonzales even put one on the payroll to coach linebackers (David Howes, formerly the head man at Rio Rancho HS).
This is all paying off so far as a connection to the community was deeply lacking under the last two coaching staffs and left Dreamstyle stadium dreadfully empty at times. It was also reported by the Albuquerque Journal that a signing day meet-n-greet hosted by the UNM football coaching staff at BJs restaurant in Albuquerque Wednesday night drew a big crowd and over seventy season ticket deposits were taken in relation to the event.
More additions are possible in the coming days, especially further transfers or preferred walk-on announcements. But still, this haul feels good. And with that, the city of Albuquerque and the state of New Mexico look forward. Forward to spring practice and even further out to the first game against Idaho State on August 29th in Dreamstyle Stadium.
