Mike Locksley couldn’t have waited any longer for the 2010 National Signing Day.
In a way, it could be a huge source of redemption for the controversially stricken UNM head football coach, who had a disappointing 1-11 outing in his first year with the Lobos, not to mention a few off-the-field distractions during the 2009 season.
Today, Locksley will be able to show Lobo Nation why he was brought to Albuquerque by Athletics Director Paul Krebs to coach the Lobos: his ability to recruit and recruit top-tier players, at that.
As of Tuesday night, several outlets, including Scout.com and ESPN.com, projected which players would sign with the Lobos, based off of prior verbal commitments.
In all, Locksley unofficially has 15 recruits, which includes two transfer players, though three other players will likely sign with UNM.
For Locksley, National Signing Day is one of the most significant days for a head coach, because it becomes a game of supply-and-demand.
“With every year, you lose a set of players that have been in your system,” he said. “When you lose a certain amount of guys at each position, it’s important that you replace them. We go into every year knowing what our needs will be when it comes to recruiting. It’s based on our senior attrition and based on what we have coming back. That’s how we kind of formulate our game plan for the positions that we are going to recruit for.”
Locksley is not allowed to talk specifically about players until they sign, because of NCAA bylaws, but he said he is optimistic about the talent level in this year’s class.
“Obviously, as I have said since day one, recruiting is a group effort and I have got to give a lot of credit to the (rest of UNM’s coaching staff),” Locksley said. “They did a great job of identifying and getting (players) here to visit, look at our place and finishing the job. We went into recruiting with a list of things that we had to get accomplished. I am really proud of the effort that went into recruiting and the rewards that have come up because of those efforts. ”
Locksley will need to fill the void of 17 spots from the 2009 season and the hopes to build a bigger, better, stronger and faster team over the next four years.
Those, Locksley said, are some of the traits the Lobo coaching staff is looking for. And he said the Lobos did it.
“A big need was to upgrade the athleticism of our team and whether it be with speed, size or explosiveness,” he said. “You look at the skill(ed) players and the linemen in this recruiting class, they’re all very explosive athletes. The team speed is also being improved with this incoming class.”
