The Lobo football team kicked off its spring practices Saturday, but a lack of players meant the cancellation of its annual springtime Cherry-Silver game.
Head coach Bob Davie was appointed in the off season to take over a struggling UNM football program which has finished 1-11 for three straight years.
The Cherry-Silver game is an inter-squad scrimmage that gives the fans a chance to see team members play against each other.
“There is no possible way we could play a spring game,” Davie said. “I would love to have one — that’s one of the things I look forward to every spring.”
This year, UNM has only 65 scholarship athletes on the roster. The NCAA allows it to have 85.
After last season, the team lost 18 players, who either graduated or transferred. It returns just 13 starters. Davie said the numbers at UNM are low, but that it won’t stop him from having successful spring practices.
“We are probably the lowest in the country right now, as far as scholarship athletes, but we’re not going to change one thing because of that,” he said.
Davie said he is going to use the spring practices to evaluate his players and build a base for next season.
“I just want to establish a foundation right here,” Davie said. “I’m anxious to see players and coaches — what they bring now that we go out there and actually play football.”
The team has been working out in the gym during the offseason and senior linebacker Joe Stoner said he has seen a vast improvement in work ethic from his teammates.
“The nature of the team is a lot different,” Stoner said. “I feel like we have become closer since the coaching change, and everyone is working 10 times harder because there is a new coaching staff to prove themselves to.”
The NCAA allows 15 practices during the spring season. This year, practices will be on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays until April 15.
In years past, all three practices have fallen on weekdays, but Davie said because of conflicting school schedules from his players, he had to have practice on weekends.
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“That’s not by choice,” Davie said. “That’s not something I like to do. It’s hard on our coaches and hard on our players. You hate to use up guys’ weekends in the offseason, but we have to.”
