by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
It's Donovan Porterie's show to run now.
After the UNM football team lost starting quarterback Kole McKamey to a season-ending knee injury early last season, Porterie got a lot of unexpected playing time.
That will come in handy next season, as Porterie is the clear-cut No. 1 option at quarterback after the departure of McKamey and Chris Nelson.
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UNM head coach Rocky Long said the loss of McKamey hurt the team last year. However, Porterie could help build the
team's future.
"Last year's problems at quarterback are a blessing for this year," he said. "Because Kole got hurt, we ended up playing Donovan a lot more than anticipated before the season started, which makes him a much better quarterback coming into this year."
Porterie, who is entering his sophomore season, said the reps he got last season will help tremendously in his first full year as a starter.
"In this particular game, experience counts for a lot," he said. "I feel like I got a great amount of experience last year. I'm just going to try to transfer that on the field during spring ball and just take in a lot."
As a whole, last year's squad - which went 6-6 - was young. This season, UNM is returning 10 starters on defense and eight starters on offense.
Having that much collective playing time should help the Lobos build on last year, Long said.
"We've got experience at almost every position," he said. "We'll see how much we improve in
the spring."
UNM has a slew of talent returning on the offensive side of the ball. Along with Porterie, running back Rodney Ferguson and receivers Travis Brown and Marcus Smith highlight the skill positions.
In his first year as a starter, Ferguson led the Mountain West Conference with 1,282 rushing yards and was named first-team all
conference.
Long said Ferguson's performance came as a pleasant surprise because he wasn't set on who the starting running back would be at the beginning of the season.
"The tailback position was really an unknown," he said. "We talked about three tailbacks playing and sharing the load, but Rodney started playing so well that he kind of became the main guy carrying the football and was very productive. It makes you feel good that you've got an experienced tailback."
While he is prepared to enter this season with all the expectations of a starter, Ferguson isn't taking anything for granted.
"I can lose my job at any point in time," he said. "I go out there and practice as hard as I can."
Meanwhile, Brown and Smith were No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in the MWC in receiving yards. Brown led the conference with 867 yards and added four touchdowns. Smith finished with 859 yards and a team-high nine touchdown catches, which was second in the conference.
Long said the two can have outstanding seasons next year after doing an impressive job filling in for former Lobo and current NFL player Hank Baskett last year.
"Last year at this time, we were talking about who was going to replace Hank Baskett," Long said. "Now we're talking about who's going to catch the most passes - Travis Brown or Marcus Smith. That's a much better scenario."
While the offense has a lot to build on, the defense struggled at times last year.
UNM is returning all but one starter on defense - after losing Quincy Black - but that lone loss will still leave a big hole for the defense to fill, Long said.
"I think we have to replace a really good football player in Quincy Black," he said. "I don't think Quincy was given the kind of credit he deserved. A guy like him is hard to replace, but yes, we're going to be much better on defense."
