Lobo football observations: How the offense looks (so far), a coaching change and more

The message to New Mexico football’s offense throughout their first three days of fall camp?
Simply put: Start fast. Finish strong.
“We’ve started fast a couple of times,” offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent said on Saturday. “We’ve gotta put the second part of it together — where we can finish strong. Games are won in the fourth quarter, and we haven’t gotten to that point yet.”
The Journal was there for all three days at the start of fall camp, with plenty of observations as the offense started to reveal itself and worked toward that final goal. The rundown:
Running backs
After three days of camp without full pads, a guess at the top of the running back pecking order: Andrew Henry, Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Christian Washington. Henry being at or near the top isn’t surprising. He might have the best burst out of anybody in that room and has made his expected mark so far.
Little bit of a different story seeing Croskey-Merritt. The Alabama State transfer ran to a great introduction on Thursday. Looked good on Friday. Saturday morning, he opened the first team session by gashing the defense for three long runs, pumping up the offensive sideline in the process.
“He has the mentality and mindset that we’re looking for in our running backs,” Vincent said of Croskey-Merritt. “He runs with a violent purpose. He’s a north-south guy, he understands the scheme and he’s looking to finish. Just been very impressed with him the first three days.”
All that said, it seems like Washington could be out of contention with one great day of camp from one of the other frontrunners. Still, I don’t know if there’s a ton separating Henry from the two of them. Setting an order for the rest right now feels like splitting hairs, too: Sherod White or Dorian Lewis? Dorian Lewis or Sherod White?
Let’s revisit this when UNM goes full pads next week.
Wide receivers
If it feels like the running backs saga is far from over, it doesn’t seem like much of a guess with the wide receivers. D.J. Washington and Jeremiah Hixon are safe bets for the first team, almost always doubled up on the same side, occasionally swapping inside and out. It was UNM’s best pairing this spring, and it’s a better one with a summer of work to back it up.
“(Jeremiah’s) personality and his mentality is contagious,” Vincent said. “And he shows up every day with a great attitude and a great mindset. D.J. is the alpha. He’s got that alpha mentality and his leadership has really come out and shown this summer and the (start) of fall camp.”
So much is undetermined, but I think people will enjoy watching them on the field together. It’ll be interesting to see how the two — a long, physical 6-foot-5, 219-pound Washington and the fast, “sparkplug” 5-foot-11, 167-pound Hixon — develop over the next two weeks.
“That’s gonna be really hard to stop,” Hixon said. “You gotta choose one. You gotta choose No. 0 (Washington) or you gotta choose No. 8 (Hixon). Either way, it’s gonna be a long game for you.”
It won’t be all transfers, however. Luke Wysong has bounced back and forth with the first and second teams, making nice plays with both units. While it might be easy to forget about Andrew Erickson, he’s picking up right where he left off from the spring and getting a ton of good run.
“Shoot, he’s like 30 years old so he should be. He’s got that dad strength,” head coach Danny Gonzales joked about Erickson, a super senior after gaining extended eligibility due to COVID and redshirt injury years. “He had a really good summer and earned his way back with the ones … He’s got (his) confidence back after getting over the leg injury.”
Caleb Medford is starting to make another push from the second team after sliding toward the end of the spring. His best play of camp so far came Saturday with a diving catch on a long ball from DC Tabscott — one that came just a play after Croskey-Merritt’s three straight hard runs during the opening team session.
Mississippi State transfer and former three-star recruit Kaydin Pope put together a nice Saturday with the second team. I’m curious to see more of true freshman Nic Trujillo after what he did on Friday. It looks like Duece Jones is taking steps in the right direction as well.
I’m not sure it’s quite as deep a room as I thought it would be in the spring. But there’s some legitimate, versatile talent in the front of the room.
Quarterbacks
Nobody was shocked when Dylan Hopkins was named the starting quarterback entering camp, and he’s looked the part so far. There were a handful of rough sequences Saturday — a couple would-be sacks from a simulated rush and two interceptions, one an underthrown pass picked off by Donte Martin — but it’s been steady work otherwise.
Tabscott and Devon Dampier are sitting at second- and third-string, respectively, and while neither is playing poorly, there isn’t enough to warrant calls for a reevaluation at this point. Tabscott looks a touch sharper passing and while Dampier’s ceiling is high, there’s plenty more work to be done.
Tight ends
A healthy Trace Bruckler is UNM’s best tight end right now with few reservations. The past three days have been his first playing in Vincent’s brand of 12 personnel after he missed the spring recovering from double-labrum surgery, and it hasn’t looked like much of an adjustment.
His impressions of the offense? “I would say we’re on track, man,” he said. “I don’t want to get too high or too low — stay medium. But I think we’re at a good spot right now.”
East Carolina transfer Max Lantzsch has looked solid learning on the fly after being cleared for practice, while Caleb Marra‘s emergence on the second team has been a relative surprise. Head Coach Danny Gonzales said Everett Hunter is battling a shoulder injury that’s been undetectable as he continues to develop steadily among the first and second teams.
Offensive line
The first team offensive line remains as promised: left tackle J.C. Davis, left guard Isaiah Sillemon, center C.J. James, right guard Shannco “Ise” Matautia and right tackle Devon Smith. There’s always the caveat of no pads but they looked particularly good on Friday and Saturday, with Jer’Marques Bailey swiping some reps at left guard and D.J. Wingfield continuing to work himself back to right tackle on a “pitch count” between the ones and twos.
“He needs to get bumped around a little bit to realize that he’s gonna be okay,” Gonzales said of Wingfield. “We had him up to 80 miles per hour on the treadmill (on Thursday), which means he’s full speed. Now it’s just a matter of getting confidence, but we don’t want to wear him out or do something silly.”
Coaches
It was never formally announced and Gonzales indicated that might’ve been by design. But it’s official now: former Cleveland High School head coach Heath Ridenour is UNM’s running backs coach after serving as the team’s quarterbacks coach and interim offensive coordinator for six games in 2022.
Ridenour said he was shifted to his new role in early June, while former running backs coach Jamie Christian remains as UNM’s special teams coordinator.
“Heath helped with all the positions in the spring,” Gonzales said on Thursday night. “We shuffled some things around — sometimes it’s good to have different voices with different people … It’s good to spread that around and Heath has done a great job in every facet since he’s been here.”
Which means Ridenour is now helming arguably the most congested position group the Lobos have. His approach?
“Creating competition. Competition makes everybody better,” he said. “I tell them my job is to put talent in the room, coach them up and make sure they understand the offense to its fullest extent. It’s their job to separate themselves.”
Extra points
I don’t know what role he’ll play this fall. But true freshman wide receiver Jacob Godrey has been a joy to watch. On the smaller side (listed at 5-foot-9, 172 pounds), the Spanish Fort High School product (Alabama) and former UAB commit has consistently gotten open and made some really nice plays with the third team.
On those missing practice, per Gonzales: offensive lineman Cayden Romero is out for approximately three weeks after twisting his knee, linebacker Ray Leutele has been absent so far to attend a funeral and safety D’Arco Perkins-McAllister was held out of practice for most of Friday and all of Saturday after tweaking his back.
He’s not in Albuquerque yet, but Gonzales said former UNM defensive end Joey Noble is joining the Lobos as a graduate assistant. Noble tallied 134 total tackles and 11.5 sacks with New Mexico over three seasons before declaring for the NFL Draft in 2022.