Aug. 3, 2013
Lobo Football Season-Ticket Information
There is no such thing as aging gracefully on the Lobo football practice fields. The University of New Mexico can’t afford it.
Of the 115 players on UNM’s roster during the 2013 season, 80 are first- or second-year players. Among the 78 scholarship players in camp, 51 are first- or second-year guys.
For the 2013 Lobo team to improve upon last year’s performance, second-year coach Bob Davie told his team Saturday that it had to grow up quickly during fall camp.
“So much of our thing is our second-year guys can’t be second-year guys; they have to be third-year guys,” Davie said. “The first-year guys, I’m not sure what they are yet because they just got here. But if they’re going to play, they’re going to have to be second-year guys.
“That’s the message of this whole thing: Put pressure on them, make them grow up faster. That’s what it’s going to have to be for us.”
One way that Davie and the football staff are trying to speed up the maturation process is by constantly telling the players to keep their concentration strictly on football when they get on the field. It starts from the moment they walk out of the Tow Diehm Facility.
The players must go through the concrete walkway leading to the field. Just ahead of the walkway, a red arc is painted on the grass. All the players must enter the practice fields through that arc; they cannot go around it to get to their designated area.
“That’s called the `Narrow the Focus Line,’ ” Davie said. “When you cross that line, you narrow the focus, simplify things. You’ve got so many things that happen, whether it was in school, in the meeting room, in your personal life. At some point, when you cross that line, it’s narrow the focus – for the good of yourself and for the good of the team.”
The players took part in their first day in shoulder pads on Saturday. They will spend Sunday in shoulder pads as well before going with full pads on Monday.
The energy level picked up a bit with the players being able to bounce off each other.
“It’s a good day,” Davie said. “It’s a little more competitions a little more collisions.”
The coach added that he’s been pleased so far with his team’s performance through the first three days of fall practice, but said every coach feels that way at this time of year.