sports@dailylobo.com
@ThomasRomeroS
Fans and the media might not yet be buying into the New Mexico football team, but its players are.
At the team’s media day Aug. 1, head coach Bob Davie said all 115 players on the roster have decided to stay at UNM: a 100 percent retention rate, a rarity in college sports.
“It’s pretty unusual. I hate to make that a big deal but I think it is significant coming from where the retention rate has been,” Davie said.
Davie also mentioned that junior running back Crusoe Gongbay, sophomore defensive back Donnie Duncan and sophomore Johnny Vizcaino all returned to UNM after leaving the program.
Senior defensive end Jacori Greer said that, after years of seeing guys come and go, it’s great to see players commit to the program.
“It’s amazing. We talk about it all the time that if my class alone would have just stayed together — I wonder all the time how good we would have been,” he said. “Just to know that we’ve built it now to where all the guys are back, that all guys realize that the team is important to them now. When it’s important to you — that’s when you play better.”
Senior center Dillon Farrell noted the vast culture change the program has undergone. He said the most drastic difference between the Mike Locksley era and the Davie era is how discipline has overtaken every aspect of the team.
“I’m always talking to people about when I came to the program in 2009 — from where the culture has changed from then to now,” Farrell said. “Discipline is a big part of our culture and with discipline comes winning games. And that’s how you really win games and excel as football players or just as people.”
With 80 percent of its roster underclassmen, UNM will go into the season as one of the youngest teams in college football, Davie said. The team will also have six new starters on offense to go along with seven new starters on defense.
Davie said the sooner he can find out which of the underclassmen are ready to play, the quicker the team will be able to improve on last season’s 4-9 campaign.
“My goal is our youth can be an advantage for us not a disadvantage. I joke with these guys that we have a youthful exuberance and we have that,” he said. “We have some feisty guys, we have more competition at positions, we have better depth — hopefully our youth can be an advantage.”
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
At the Mountain West Conference media day two weeks ago, media members picked UNM to finish dead last in the Mountain Division. The conference will be split into two divisions for the first time in league history with the other one being the West Division. There will also be a conference championship game which will be another first.
The expectations from media members may not be high, but Davie said he expects to see improvement in every area.
“If you look at it on paper, there’s no reason to think on paper to think we’re better,” he said. “On paper there’s no reason to think we’re going to be better, but I’m going to be extremely disappointed if we aren’t better.”
