Jul. 30—Luke Wysong glanced down at his practice jersey and came back up with a light smile, the look of a man reunited with an old friend.
“Feels good to finally have my one-five back,” the redshirt junior wide receiver said after practice on Tuesday morning.
Because, for the first time under head coach Bronco Mendenhall, players like Wysong have jersey numbers. Twenty-six Lobos were chosen by their peers to pick numbers in a ceremony — “definitely the correct word for that,” Wysong said — on Saturday night, reuniting some returners with their old, trusted digits and a handful of newcomers with fresh ones.
Mendenhall previously employed this process as the head coach at Virginia, wherein leaders representing all 11 positions chose players eligible for number selection weekly during fall camp. Another number selection session for UNM — a process Mendenhall has likened to a draft — is expected this weekend.
“Everyone knows how hard we work here,” said Wysong, who picked No. 15 — a number he’s worn previously — during Saturday’s ceremony. “So everyone who was there got to see, you know, coaches coming up (and) talking, players announcing other players, saying some really sentimental and meaningful things. It was good to hear.”
Not that there wasn’t some anxiety among players wondering if they would get a chance to call their number.
“It was a little nerve-wracking, I can’t lie,” said Bobby Arnold III, a winter transfer out of Dodge City (Kansas) Community College who was awarded No. 0 on Saturday. “Because you don’t know if your (name’s) getting picked or not. So you like, gotta trust your teammates, your leaders to see if they picked you and see you (as) one of the contributors on the team.”
The full list of players to receive jersey numbers, in numerical order:
NB Bobby Arnold III (0)
CB Noah Avinger (1)
RB Andrew Henry (2)
S David Murphy (3)
QB Devon Dampier (4)
TE Trace Bruckler (5)
RB Eli Sanders (6)
DL Tyler Kiehne (7)
S Christian Ellis (8)
DE Gabriel Lopez (9)
P Aaron Rodriguez (10)
LB Mihalis Santorineos (11)
CB Bryson Taylor (13)
WR Shawn Miller (14)
WR Luke Wysong (15)
DE Okiki Olorunfunmi (17)
TE Magnus Geers (19)
S Dereck Moore (20)
RB Javen Jacobs (21)
LB Dimitri Johnson (22)
RB Josh Perry (23)
DL Kyler Drake (45)
OL Baraka Beckett (56)
OL McKenzie Agnello (66)
WR Nic Trujillo (81)
DE Moso Tuitele (89)
Tuesday’s practice
Roughly 20 minutes of the media’s 30-minute viewing period on Tuesday was dedicated to “non-contact” (there’s always some degree of contact) scrimmaging with no helmets. Nor were there any official statistics from the session — and no in-your-face live pass rush to deal with — but there were some sharp reps from quarterback Devon Dampier, albeit with one interception to cornerback Noah Avinger.
“That’s No. 2!” defensive end Gabe Lopez yelled on the sideline immediately after Avinger’s pick. “That’s No. 2!” Safe to assume there was one the media didn’t see?
And while the personnel shifts make it difficult to draw meaningful insights, Tuesday was another example of how strong the chemistry between Dampier and Wysong has looked over the first week of camp. UNM’s sophomore quarterback consistently hit Wysong over the middle and down the sideline — including one fabulous turn to the ball by Wysong that might’ve just been a step out of bounds — for a series of plays that speak to a connection that’s grown “tremendously” over the last year.
“Dev’s matured so much back there in the pocket,” Wysong added. “He’s learning every day, takes the meeting room to the practice field, which is good — what you need out of (a) quarterback. And he’s really, like, unpredictable. You know, Dev does a lot of things that a lot of other QBs don’t.
“And I think he brings a lot to the table that defenses have to really game-plan for.”
Two nickels
Like the team did in spring, UNM ran plenty of nickel (five defensive backs) schemes and so far, Arnold and Cam Watts, a spring transfer from Texas Tech, have been the two players splitting reps as the fifth defensive back. Originally recruited as a cornerback, Watts said he came to UNM recovering from a tibia-fibula injury and was moved over to nickel about three weeks into the summer session, but brings plenty of experience after playing a similar role for the Red Raiders.
“I love the competition, I love to compete — I love the camaraderie between me and him … regardless of who gets on the field, I think the business will get handled,” Watts added after practice on Saturday.
Arnold also said the defense has been working out dime (six defensive backs) packages, bringing in David Murphy as the sixth defensive back.
News and notes
ON HOLADAY: Through four viewing sessions, I don’t believe I’ve seen quarterback Justin Holaday take a snap under center. Instead, the starter for three games in 2022 has been getting a lot of work on special teams, and was seen Tuesday split out wide and working — either set or in motion — out of the offensive backfield.
Mendenhall has previously eschewed titles and referred to certain athletes with undefined roles or broad skill sets as “football players.” Until there’s a little more clarity on Holaday’s role — at least to match what’s been seen in practice — I’m inclined to classify him as such for now.
INSTANT IMPACT: A newcomer quickly making a name for himself is Pitt transfer Jahvante Royal, who’s been logging reps as the starting boundary corner.
“Jahvante man, (he’s) showing out,” Arnold said. “Big 6-foot-4 guy, can’t get around that — can’t teach height. And he’s very fast, too — people not gonna know that he’s that fast. 4.2 (40-meter dash time) guy also, so knowing that he’s that fast, he’s that big, it’s just good to have him in that boundary because people just can’t run around him — because he just so big.”
INJURY REPORT: Wide receiver Caleb Medford made his debut in a turquoise jersey (meaning non-contact, limited or injured) on Saturday, and remained in one on Tuesday. It is unclear his specific designation.
