Courtesy of Kerr Adams/Daily Lobo
As the New Mexico Lobos prepare to enter Autzen Stadium for the first time in program history this Saturday, second-year head coach Mike Locksley will have his hands full with an eager Duck faithful itching for a new year in Oregon football.
The Lobos finished their 2009 campaign with a 1-11 record overall, while their lone win, a 29-27 defeat of Colorado State, didn’t surface until late November.
Starting the 2010 season, New Mexico features an influx of new blood throughout the program, with 31 underclassmen on the 55-man depth chart. The program has a 2-21 all-time record facing nationally ranked opponents on the road.
“They’re a very athletic team,” Oregon linebacker Spencer Paysinger said. “They have a big offensive line; you know, some of them are returning.
“They have a fresh quarterback coming in, so hopefully we can use that to our advantage.”
That quarterback, sophomore B.R. Holbrook, will be making his first career start for New Mexico after seeing limited action during his redshirt freshman year in 2009. Similar to the Ducks’ quarterback competition between Darron Thomas and Nate Costa, Holbrook was not named the starter until the conclusion of fall camp.
Holbrook will head a Lobo attack in its second year as a no-huddle spread offense, which Locksley implemented when he arrived in 2009. The new-look offense showed mixed results, however, as New Mexico was outscored 431-196 on the season. They averaged just 16.3 points per game, while giving up more than 35.
“Anything can happen, you know what I mean,” Oregon junior rover Eddie Pleasant said. “We’ve got to go out and look at it as any game. If it was Ohio State, if it was USC, they play college football just like we do — I’m sure they’re going to be ready too.”
Defensively, the Lobos will show a 4-3 front, with one of the nation’s top linebackers anchoring the unit. Junior Carmen Messina — named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list for the nation’s best defensive player — returns from a stellar sophomore campaign. In 2009, Messina paced New Mexico as the leading tackler in the country, accumulating 162 total stops, 68 more than his second-leading teammate, Clint McPeek, who tallied 94 takedowns.
Messina, an honorable mention All-American selection, averaged 13.5 tackles per game in 2009, including a stint of eight straight games in which he recorded just fewer than 15 tackles per outing. The 6-foot-2, 236-pounder has the speed (4.76 in the 40-yard dash) and athletic ability (33.5-inch vertical jump) to contain some of the nation’s top offensive weapons.
This offseason, the Lobos were able to ink one of the highest rated recruits the program has ever seen, tying down four-star defensive lineman prospect Calvin Smith. Smith, a two-time first team 6A all-state selection in Florida, turned down a slew of scholarship offers from the nation’s traditional powers to play for New Mexico.
During the recruiting process, Locksley understood Smith would be the headliner of his first recruiting class at New Mexico, and he felt he couldn’t have picked a better young man for the job.
“I said, ‘Calvin, how are you going to justify coming to New Mexico to all the negative people?’ He said, ‘Coach, I’m a leader, not a follower,’” Locksley said during his national signing day press conference. “To me, those are the type of kids that you’re going to win with. It speaks volumes about his character, his family and the way he’s been brought up.”
Smith was a U.S. Army All-American Bowl nominee after posting 50 tackles, eight sacks, and scoring three defensive touchdowns during his senior season. He will likely see consistent action on the interior alongside junior defensive end Johnathan Rainey.
Rainey was one of the most productive defensive linemen in the conference last season, recording 9.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss.
