It's not quite accurate to call Tate Smith a dark horse in the UNM football team's quarterback competition. But he is more liberated. He can thank head coach Mike Locksley for that. Remember, when Locksley was introduced to replace Rocky Long, he said every position was up for grabs.
Attitude and work ethic aren't the problem for the UNM football team's running game - it's the youth and inexperience. The Lobos will head into the 2009 campaign with an assembly of young running backs: freshman A.J. Butler, sophomore James Wright and converted defensive back Terence Brown.
To say the UNM football team's offensive line weighs a ton wouldn't be far off. The Lobos' line started off the year weighing a little more than 1,500 pounds altogether. But due to the nature of head coach Mike Locksley's system, they might shed a few pounds before the season is done.
While Lobo safety Ian Clark is still recovering from off-season shoulder surgery that has kept him from participating in spring practices, it hasn't stopped him from pumping up his teammates, especially on Wednesday at University Stadium. Clark was at the back of the north end zone at University Stadium doing his best to maintain the intensity of the defense, in particular the secondary he will lead in the fall.
The UNM volleyball team isn't getting much rest in the off-season. After traveling to the University of Arizona on March 28, the Lobos hosted the UNM Spring Invite this weekend at Johnson Gym. UNM went 6-0 during the tournament, defeating teams from UTEP, West Texas A&M, New Mexico Military Institute, in-state rival New Mexico State and an all-star team of ex-college players.
A windsock could have been handy for the UNM men's soccer team in the Lobos' first home game of their six-game spring schedule. UNM played twice on Saturday, getting in some reps against Colorado State-Pueblo later in the day. But in the first game against Fort Lewis on Saturday, it was hard to tell which team would benefit most from the blustery conditions at Robertson Field.
A football player points to the sky after scoring a touchdown. A baseball player kisses his cross necklace before stepping up to bat. An athlete thanks God in his speech after receiving an award. Religion and athletics often cross paths and sometimes seem intertwined.
When the UNM football team's defense is pitted against the Lobo offense, it is tough for there to be two winners. But that was head coach Mike Locksley's goal in Saturday's scrimmage at the UNM Indoor Practice Facility. "I want them to create turnovers on defense," Locksley said.
A conference win over Utah on Thursday was what the UNM softball team needed to get the rudders going, right? Nope. Thursday's win did little for UNM as far as building momentum, and the Lobos were swept in a two-game series against BYU. UNM lost 13-4 on Friday and 10-3 on Saturday.
World, meet Tony Danridge. Danridge was on top of college basketball - even if it was just for one night. On Thursday at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit, Danridge claimed the College Slam Dunk Championship belt with a double-windmill on ESPN, giving him a one-point victory over Charlotte's Charlie Coley III.
Willy Kesler doesn't have a shaman or a hyperbaric chamber. But he has modern medicine. And modern medicine has given the resilient right-hander an 0-2 count. Kesler, who made his first start in a 15-7 win over Texas Tech on Wednesday, has quickly healed from what doctors call ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction.
Fire up the grills was Ray Birmingham's message before Tuesday's game against Texas Tech. "We're going to barbecue their horse," the Lobo baseball head coach said. But it seems the Lobos forgot to throw on the propane tanks. UNM was handed its fifth loss of the season, 8-4.
NCAA rules allow for 15 football practices in spring, and head coach Mike Locksley and Co. need all the time they can get. For the first time in 11 years, the UNM football team started spring training with a new coach. After a disappointing 4-8 season in 2008, former head coach Rocky Long stepped down.
Missing free throws underscores a more perturbing issue that isn't conveyed in the 15-foot distance between the stripe and the basket. Because the trajectory of 10 free throws was off, the UNM men's basketball team lost out on an opportunity to beat Notre Dame and move on in the National Invitational Tournament.
A win on Saturday didn't appear to be in the picture for the UNM baseball team. But the Lobos put on their rally caps in a five-run seventh inning to boost UNM over BYU 9-5. The Lobos notched a 2-1 series win over the Cougs. Mike Brownstein had to hit a pitch if the UNM baseball team was going to salvage a win on Saturday at Isotopes Park.
It took the entire 40 minutes for the UNM women's basketball team to pull out its 65-61 win over Oregon State on Friday in the Santa Ana Star Center. The win puts the Lobos in the quarterfinals of the Women's National Invitational Tournament, where they will face Kansas on Monday.
The UNM softball team, 9-23, is in the midst of an 11-game losing streak and still has problems with inconsistency in its pitching. Following this trend, the Lobos were swept by Texas State over the weekend, losing two on Saturday, 9-8 and 4-1. Despite the two losses, the Lobos seemed to come out re-energized on Sunday, but fell 8-4 in the third game of the series.
Put it in the books. A 7-1 lead for the UNM baseball team heading into the top of the seventh inning looked impenetrable. The Lobos had the best start in program history engraved with what looked like their 23rd win, which would put them ahead of the 1973 club that opened the season 22-3.
Lee Emanuel captured what most college athletes only see in dreams: a national championship. The senior from Hastings, England, ran the mile in 4:00.65 to seal gold at the Indoor National Championships in College Station, Texas, on March 14, becoming the first Lobo runner in 32 years to win a national title.
No. 4 Vanderbilt advanced to the Sweet 16 on Monday at The Pit. No. 5 Kansas State, which made its last Sweet 16 appearance in 2002, was dismissed 74-61. For the first 30 minutes, it looked like the Kansas State and Vanderbilt fans were in for a barnburner similar to the two's 2005 NCAA Tournament game, when Vanderbilt pulled out a 63-60 victory in Seattle.
Solutions by The State News
