“Doesn’t matter,” said Coach Long about the
blowing wind.
“As long as we are out on the field.” The more you hang out with Coach
Rocky
Long, the more you see he truly enjoys coaching the game of football.
He loves
doing the X’s and O’s, he loves the camaraderie with the players and
fellow
coaches, he loves being on the side lines, and he loves teaching young
men how
to play football…
As
I pulled into the stadium parking lot today the wind was
brutal, dust was in the air, and it was cold. This of course coming off
two
weeks of beautiful summer like weather, winter was back. I was
thinking… Ahh
must be time for Spring Football! And indeed it was, but I had a treat
today as
for the first time I was able to watch my first Lobo practice in “The
Rock
Shop” aka the Indoor Practice Facility.
What
a freaking building. It truly is immense being in
there, it is kind of weird how quiet it is during practice as you can
hear
coaches screaming, players grunting, helmets smacking, but it is done
so
quietly…
Anyway I snapped a few photos of some of the news guys that
are enjoying their first ever Lobo football practice and here they are
obviously only in shorts and helmets. Coach Long said NCAA rules
prohibit the
Lobos from running with any pads for the first couple of days.
C
Ben Contreras
WR Bryant Williams
OG
Josh Taufalele
OT Karlin Givens
After
checking out the facilities and grabbing some pictures
and since they aren’t in pads, I settled down to watch the wide
receivers.
Obviously the loss of Travis Brown and Marcus Smith quite possibly the
greatest
WR tandem in the history of the University of New Mexico there is
concern about
replacing those players so like I said I was watching them and the
first three
guys that stood out…. Chris Hernandez, Michael Scarlett, and Roland
Bruno.
Hernandez
early in spring finds himself atop the depth chart
and folks it ain’t no fluke that he is there. Nor is it simple
attrition, the
former Offensive Scout MVP from Las Cruces flat out makes plays. He
stretches,
he twists, he goes down for balls, and at 6-3 he can jump up and snare
some
balls. Not only that the young man has a good work ethic and you can
see that
he has no problem catching the ball in traffic, nor laying someone out
blocking
for his running backs.
The
other two players find themselves competing for the same
position and both bring different dynamics as Michael Scarlett at 6-2
170 and
Roland Bruno 5-10 166 use their talents in different ways Bruno seems
the
quicker and more elusive of the two when going through the middle, and
don’t
let his smaller frame fool you, he can evade and make defenders look
silly,
plus he has something that Scarlett does not, experience! Scarlett
doesn’t seem
to fear contact and his size allows him to bounce off tackles and he
has nice
speed, and good hands. This will be an interesting battle during the
spring and
into fall for playing time, as both young men seem to be up to the
competition.
I
felt that Sr. Jonathan Brooks also made some nice catches
during practice. As a senior this is Brooks last go around. The last
position
is the Z position on the roster currently the starter is Daryl Jones
Jr., and
followed by Jermaine McQueen, and highly regarded JUCO transfer Bryant
Williams. Jones has the spot now, however, he has to step up to keep it
as McQueen made a few nice catches today
but
still seems plagued by drops as well, and of course we will see more of
Williams ability as spring continues.
On
the defensive side of the ball, it was a treat watching
DeAndre Wright play corner. He alone is worth the price of admission.
Just
watching him anticipate, and getting into the right play at the right
time.
Truly a special player!
Who is this guy helping out with the
linebackers?
Offensive Player of Practice
#18
Chris Hernandez
Remember the defense isn’t allowed to with any
kind of
gusto, so the receivers did get some love taps… Still Hernandez looked
good
catching balls, he did drop one, which ticked him off, but still a good
practice today.
Click here
to listen to an interview with Chris Hernandez
Defensive Player of Practice
#92
Wesley Beck
DeAndre Wright was spectacular today, but who is
that big
beast of a man wearing #92 that kept crashing into the middle,
disrupting
running and passing plays? That would be Wesley Beck.
Okay folks, time to start thinking about Sending
YAFL kids
to Lobo football games. Your $36.00 donation will send 6 different
young
boys/girls from across the state to a Lobo football game. All proceeds
go to
purchasing tickets so that we can get these guys infected with the Lobo
football bug! If you are interested in donating a season ticket please
contact
us at admin@theredmenace.com
or
call me at 505-239-4584!