The New Mexico football team went back to work this morning, completing an upbeat 90-minute practice, despite more cold and rainy weather, at the Sam Boyd Stadium practice fields. Fortunately, the familiar faces of the crew from Rex’s Hamburgers in Albuquerque were set up and churning out the burgers and sandwiches hot off the grill.
Later, the Lobos converged at the ESPN Zone outside of the New York, New York casino for the team welcome reception. Following speeches by Las Vegas Bowl officials, UNM head coach Rocky Long and UCLA interim head coach Ed Kezerian, the Lobos and Bruins squared off in a heated battle…of singing and eating.
The UNM quarterback trio of Tali Ena, Justin Millea and Casey Kelly lost a disputed decision in the Elvis Sing-along contest. However, New Mexico pride was restored just moments later when freshman Robert Turner led the Lobo offensive linemen to an impressive victory over UCLA in the pie eating contest. Turner devoured his pie in mere minutes, followed closely by teammates Fred Tucker, Melvin Foster, Nate Hembree and Derek Watson. Following the competition, the two teams adjourned to the second floor of the ESPN Zone for food, drinks and all the video games they could handle.
Junior offensive tackle Jason Lenzmeier and senior cornerback Brandon Gregory shared their thoughts about their first full day in Las Vegas:
“It’s been good so far, I love it here,” said Lenzmeier. “The weather was bad, but that’s nothing new. We’ve practiced in bad weather before. We had a good practice though. I think we got a lot done, we just have to keep working hard.”
“Man, I’m loving it,” said Gregory. “We just got in last night, but it feels like we’ve been here a week. I’m loving every minute of it. I’m a big video game fan, so this is probably the best thing to happen to me so far. The first day of practice was really good. I think everybody came out fired up and had a good practice. Coach Long was pleased and everybody came out with intensity. We realize that in order for us to play well on Wednesday, we have to practice well. We have to overcome all the distractions and practice hard when its time to get to work.” y