2019 Fall Camp Begins in Earnest on Friday

Upcoming Fall Camp Practice Schedule
(check @UNMLoboFB on Twitter for updates)
 

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The wait is finally about over.  When the 2019 fall camp opens at 10 am on Friday morning, it will have been 251 days since UNM’s last football game (November 24, 2018), and the Lobos have been anxiously awaiting a chance to get back out onto the Dreamstyle Stadium turf.  Those 251 days translate into just under 36 weeks, or just over 6,000 hours, and well over 21 million seconds.
 

Friday cannot get here soon enough.  UNM will be looking to prove the pundits wrong, and the Lobos have some history on their side as they will seek to prove this isn’t a sixth-place team.  Since the Mountain West moved to the divisional format in 2013, four of the six teams predicted to finish sixth in the Mountain Division qualified for a bowl game.  In fact, of the 12 teams to be selected either fifth or sixth, two have won the division title, including New Mexico in 2016.

 It’s stats like those that have UNM head coach Bob Davie excited for the 2019 season, and he is ready to get practice underway.
 
“I think we’ve built this back up,” said Davie at his preseason press conference.  “We have some talent and there’s reason for optimism.”  A big part of that optimism has been the offseason leading up to the 2019 campaign.  It was an offseason of tremendous work in the classroom and the community, and of a team dedicated to doing the little things in the weight room, in conditioning and in the film room.
 
“I’ve been in this a long time, and this has been very close to the most positive off-season I’ve ever been involved with,” said Davie.  “We talk all the time about how our team gains will come from individual gains starting with how you take care of your business in all facets of your life.”
 

Making a difference in our community! Our LBs went to @RoadrunnerFdBnk and prepared 30,000 pounds of food for the ABQ Community! That’s 15 tons of food! Amazing way to spend a Friday AFTER weights and conditioning!!!! #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/J0VKbvqni9

— New Mexico Football (@UNMLoboFB) July 21, 2019

It’s a life lesson that Davie and his staff have worked to impart on the 100+ players in the program.  It’s about ownership in every facet.  That ownership has manifested itself since November 24.  For Lobo fans, it memorably came to a head when UNM dominated Albuquerque social media, and pretty much every other media in early June when five Lobo walk-ons, including three from New Mexico (Albuquerque’s Andrew Erickson, Rio Rancho’s Hayden Wilson and Clovis’ Micah Gray) were put on scholarship.  The team’s announcement videos made  the rounds of the NCAA’s social media along with many national publications.
 

Congratulations Bobby Cole, YOU’RE ON SCHOLARSHIP! pic.twitter.com/hBon49OgyZ

— New Mexico Football (@UNMLoboFB) June 7, 2019

UNM is coming off back-to-back 3-9 seasons, and those were on the heels of back-to-back bowl appearances for the Lobos.  While that can look like a significant drop off, UNM isn’t far from four straight bowl appearances.  In 2017, UNM lost three home games by a field goal or less, the only time that has ever happened in the history of Lobo football.  Last year, UNM had three games;  Liberty, at Colorado State and San Diego State; that could have just as easily been a Lobo win.  It will come down to the close games again in 2019.
 
“For us, like a lot of teams, it’s going to come down to winning those close games.  In 2015 and 2016, we won a lot of close games, and in the last two seasons, we haven’t.  We need to win those.  Winning a game like that can turn a season around,” said Davie.
 
The Lobos will open their fall camp on Friday morning with the first of five straight practices, and fans once again can come out to watch camp.  The practices are almost always on the south practice fields. The best way for fans to watch, while staying cool, is by bringing a chair and sitting in the shade of the Indoor Practice Facility.  Practices on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to start camp will run from 10 am to 12:25 pm, and parking is free in the Stadium West lot off University Blvd.
 
“We’ve had camp open every year,” said Davie.  “Nothings changed there.”  Davie is also excited for the home schedule with more fan friendly times (a Friday night against Colorado State is the only night game).  UNM will host New Mexico State in the annual Rio Grande Rivalry game at 2:30 pm, and open the season with Sam Houston State at 4 pm.  Davie hopes the fans will come out and support a team that might feature five New Mexicans in the starting lineup and has more New Mexico players (on the team or on scholarship) than any other Division I program in the nation.

“I’m thinking about some outside-the-box things,” said Davie, jokingly adding,  “We might have a dog night.  Bark in the Park.”