Jones, Hidalgo, Vieira Placed on Scholarship

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It was shaping as a normal morning meeting before workouts and lifting. It turned into anything but.  Three walk-ons, including two Albuquerque natives who have been walk-ons for the past three seasons, were put on scholarship by head coach Bob Davie.
 
The players, Rafael Hidalgo, Javohn Jones and Thomas Vieira, had no idea what was to come.
 
The meeting was really moving along like most do.  Coach Davie spoke with the players, Some other coaches spoke.  They talked of class schedules and got ready to watch a little film.  But where there is normally a breakdown of a play, or something for the players to watch, instead, a highlight video came on, with every clip featuring Javohn Jones.
 
Jones, a walk-on running back, played and lettered in each of the last two seasons after redshirting in the 2015 season.  When the highlights ended, Coach Davie smiled and asked where Javohn was, knowing full well where his seat was.  “Come up here young man, you have earned yourself a scholarship.”
 
With that, the room erupted.  The team gave Javohn a standing ovation, with the players up front passing out hugs.  But coach Davie wasn’t done.
 
The lights went back out, and up on the video popped Thomas Vieira, a walk-on receiver who finally saw the field for the final four games of the season last year, and a receiver that had a breakout Spring Camp.  It was Vieira who kept UNM in the game against Colorado State, diving on a Lobo fumbled punt, allowing the team to retain possession and eventually score.
 
Vieira was asked to come up from and accept a scholarship, again to a standing ovation.  Both Jones and Vieira are La Cueva graduates and former New Mexico Man honorees, a program started by Davie in his first season.  The New Mexico Man is selected prior to each home game, and each road game at New Mexico State, and the honoree, chosen based on academics, work ethic and presenting the ideals of Lobo Football and New Mexico.  That player carries the New Mexico state flag and leads the team on the field.
 
Overall, 23 different walk-ons have been selected as the New Mexico Man, and Jones and Vieira are the ninth and 10^th New Mexico Men to earn scholarships.
 
However, coach Davie wasn’t done.  After the room settled down from congratulating Vieira, coach Davie simply held his hands up and said, “we have one more”.  With a dramatic pause, the video began, and it was Rafael Hidalgo’s bio on the screen, followed by highlights.  There might have been sound on those highlights, but they would have been impossible to hear over the ovation for Hidalgo.  Easily one of the most popular players on the team, the Brooklyn, New York native was a junior college quarterback who after his JC career was over basically went online and researched Division I schools.
 
He looked for a while and settled on UNM, and he contacted the coaches, accepting a walk-on spot with the promise that if he worked hard, he could eventually earn a scholarship.  After redshirting in 2016, Hidalgo lettered in 2017, picking up his first catch on the final drive against New Mexico State.
 
All three players are proof positive that hard work pays off, and that every rep matters.  Hidalgo, who worked three jobs in Albuquerque while playing football and going to class, and Jones and Vieira, who are now role models for other New Mexico walk-ons, are on full scholarship.  One thing is certain however.  The hard work and dedication that earned them their scholarships?  Expect that to get ratcheted up just a little bit more.  They’ve earned all of this, and they won’t stop now.