Surprise, surprise!
Calvin Smith, a four-star recruit from Hialeah High School in Hialeah, Fla., sat at a podium in front of cameras on ESPNU, before donning on his Lobo hat.
Smith is coming to the University.
The nationally touted defensive lineman turned down schools such as Florida State, Notre Dame, and defending national-champion Alabama.
His decision was unforeseen.
“Calvin, I guess you could say, is the headliner of this class and just a tremendous defensive lineman,” Locksley said. “Coach (Rubin) Carter played a huge role in that as well. He is the lead guy down in that area and the fact that Rubin’s experience coaching at the NFL level and the job that he has done with our defensive line here, a lot of kids want to go where they feel they are going to get developed. Calvin has the prototype size, athleticism and speed you want.”
In fact, that’s how much of the day went as letters of intent flooded UNM’s fax machines, separating projection from actuality.
In Wednesday’s sports edition, The Daily Lobo projected Locksley’s 2010 class. As of Tuesday night, Locksley had at least three three-star recruits — depending on the Web site.
Turns out, when all was said and done Wednesday, he had more.
Among the 18 members of the UNM’s 2010 class, the Lobos nabbed one four-star recruit and seven three-star recruits, according to several online recruiting Web sites.
Many of the new recruits hail from different regions of the United States only one from the state of New Mexico and include a combined nine players from Florida, Texas and California.
Locksley acquired three players from high schools in his hometown of Washington D.C.
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Wednesday, Locksley said the Lobos filled positions in which they previously lacked depth.
“In recruiting, it always starts with finding what your needs are and any time that you are able to meet your needs in the recruiting process, it’s a successful year,” Locksley said. “So for us, when we started at this time last year, when we looked at what our needs would be for this upcoming recruiting class, there was a big premium on defensive backs and offensive lineman.”
Nine of the 18 new Lobos are defensive backs and offensive and defensive linemen.
The Lobo head coach needed to fill the void left by the departure of three senior offensive lineman — Eric Cook, guard Josh Taufalele and tackle Ivan Hernandez.
Two beefy linemen — Earl Johnson, 6-feet 4-inch, 250 pounds, and offensive lineman from Friendship Collegiate Academy in Washington, D.C., and LaMar Bratton, 6-feet 2-inches and 275 pounds — join UNM. Omar Castillo, a sophomore transfer from Texas Tech University, will also likely be used to plug gaps in the Lobos’ offensive line.
“Omar played tight end, defensive line and offensive line over there (at Texas Tech),” Locksley said. “For us, he is going to help us fill a need at offensive tackle and he is the type of offensive lineman we like to recruit.”
The Lobos also added two quarterbacks, Darian “Stump” Godfrey from Gilmer, Texas. Godfrey is a dual-threat quarterback who won the 2009 Mr. Texas Football award from handed out by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine.
Rounding out Locksley’s class is another huge transfer player, Laamar Thomas, who was wideout for Ohio State.
Thomas was an established sprinter on the OSU track and field team, as well as a flashy return man in 23 games for the Buckeyes.
In all, Locksley said he’s confident the Lobos upgraded their athleticism, something which plagued them last year.
“Going through the Mountain West Conference schedule, we were a little bit behind the eight ball with athleticism,” Locksley said.
