Aug. 5, 2013
Photo Gallery of 2012 Camp at Ruidoso
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
Ruidoso is a beautiful mountain town. The Lodge at Sierra Blanca is a sweet resort embraced by 18 holes of greenery. Deer come down and graze on the grass. But the University of New Mexico Lobos are heading South with one thing on their minds:
To become a better football team.
“This is probably the most important camp I’ve ever gone through,” said Lobo Coach Bob Davie. “There are so many new pieces to put in place. The next step is to put this thing together as fast as we can.
“We go down there with a young, inexperienced, willing football team and need to come back as a football team that can play the game. You hope to build it day by day and come back as a football team.”
The Lobos already are light years ahead of Davie’s first sojourn to Ruidoso and there is at least one thing Davie knows his football team can do – run the ball.
But UNM needs to beef up its passing game and add some diversity to its pistol offense. The Lobos also are going into the 2013 season with only three starters back on defense and 80 Lobos in either their first or second year with the program.
|
NEED TICKETS? |
The Lobos’ 12-day trek to Ruidoso will be a key stage in UNM’s development for the 2013 season.
“It’s obviously a beautiful place to go to a great resort environment but we are going down there to play football and get better as a team,” said Dillon Farrell, an offensive lineman and one of the captains for the 2013 season.
“It think a huge thing for us is the bonding that takes place. That’s such a huge aspect of this camp. You get away from your Albuquerque routine and it’s football 24/7 and that’s a great way to grow and get better.”
Said sophomore quarterback Cole Gautsche: “This camp helps us immensely. It’s a time when everyone is in a total football environment talking about football, learning from each other and working as a unit to make this football team better.
“It’s nice to do football 24/7 because that’s what we love to do. That’s why we are on this team.”
The Lobos take their football focus to a different level in Ruidoso because its football morning, noon and night. The behind-the-scene guys in this program also take their job to another level. Going to Ruidoso isn’t just a bunch of student-athletes jumping on a bus with a travel bag.
The Lobos take a weight room, a training room and an equipment room down South via trucks. The move includes free weights, weight rack, elliptical machines, treatment and diagnosis machines, helmets, shoulder pads, jerseys, fax machines, video equipment, tape – well, pretty much a complete football program.
The UNM travel party will be between 140 and 150 which includes about 105 players, the coaching staff, the football office staff, sports information folks, LoboTV, trainers, videographers, a team doctor and nurse – even radio guys working to learn the ins and outs of the 2013 Lobos.
The Lobos will have a full-functioning football program set up in the Ruidoso Convention Center which is next to the Lodge at Sierra Blanca. The Lobos also will eat buffet-style three times a day in a portion of the convention center which has been set up as a cafeteria.
The Lobos sometimes have a few tough days adjusting to the higher altitude in Ruidoso, but the mountain environment also makes for cooler practices.
“It’s cool down there,” said Crusoe Gongbay, a UNM running back, referring to the weather. “There are a lot of clouds that come in and give you cover and it rains a lot, so it’s not that hot.
“But we are down there for football. The atmosphere is just different. When we are in Albuquerque there are things to do, but when you are in camp everybody is locked in on football. ”