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Lobo Football Lends a Hand … 250 to Be Exact

(8/7/2019) Football Campus Clean UpALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Five straight days of practice is sweltering heat.  Helmets. Pads.  On the dot, 10 am to 12:30 pm starting on Friday, August 2 and finally ending that brutal opening run on Tuesday, August 6.  You can forgive any of UNM’s 100+ student-athletes that have been practicing if they were looking forward to a chance to sleep in.  Relax.  Enjoy a little air conditioning.
 
Same for the coaching staff.  If the players’ day starts at 7:30 am at the Tow Diehm building, the coaches by that point are probably two hours into their day.  Same for the graduate assistants and support staff.  Wednesday was going to be a great day.
 

But what it wasn’t, was a day off.  Nope.  A great day, but not an off day. On the only midweek day-off that the Lobos are scheduled to have over the next few weeks, it wasn’t spent in the air conditioning, and it wasn’t spent catching a few extra ZZZZs.  Instead, it was spent outside, saying thanks to the campus that all of us agree is the prettiest in America.
 
On Wednesday morning, headed up by Coach Davie, the Lobo football program hoped on three campus busses and said thank you to the UNM Facilities and Maintenance Grounds Crew by serving as manpower, about 125 strong, to help with campus cleanup in preparation for student arrival next week.
 
46070“We all appreciate the tremendous job our maintenance department does in keeping our campus looking great. We also realize what a difficult job that is,” said Davie.  “With our football team having today off from practice, student orientation beginning and school starting, it was the perfect time for us to help maintenance out.”
 
UNM Facilities and Maintenance, Grounds and Landscaping, better known as FM Grounds, needed a few extra hands.  Lobo Football brought them about 250.  In about 90 minutes time, the Lobo team split up into seven groups and hit the campus.  Working with a leader from FM Grounds, the team helped spruce things up, removing tree branches, hauling off old equipment, and everything in between.  The entire staff, including Coach Davie, got in on the act.  Some could be seen pulling a few weeds, and one player even was seen hauling off an old office chair.  All made sure that campus would look sharp for next week.
 
Smiles and comradery abounded, and as Lobo center Kyle Stapley noted, it was instant.  “I sure some of the guys were thinking about this being the first day off of camp, but the moment we saw the maintenance and grounds folks, we all knew this was what we wanted to do.  It was really fun just to help those guys out.”
 
Stapley noted that the people who work on campus were a little confused at first.  “I had one person ask me if we were in trouble,” he said with a laugh.  “I said ‘No ma’am’, this is our campus and we are here to help.  She thought that was the coolest thing.”Now, lest one thinks it was all heavy lifting, two Lobos went on a different adventure, handling a little different publicity for the program. 
 
UNM’s radio partner, Cumulus, announced at 9 am a “Sweet Deal” of two Lobo season football tickets for the price of one, letting Lobo fans get tickets for either $99 or $139 for two season tickets.  A sweet deal indeed!
 

To get in on the “Sweet Deal”, head to KKOB’s website and click the “Sweet Deal” logo, or go straight here.

Thomas Vieira, a receiver from La Cueva High School, and Micah Gray, a running back from Clovis High School, are two New Mexico natives who both started their Lobo careers as walk-ons before earning full scholarships.  Both Vieira and Gray headed to Cumulus headquarters downtown along with marketing and communications to make the rounds of five radio stations, promoting UNM football, answering questions, and talking about how much it means to have fans in the stands.  The stations ranged from sports talk to news talk, to the hits of today, to country.  All wanted to talk Lobo Football.
 
“We love hearing the crowd pump us up after a big play,” Micah Gray told the morning crew at 93.3 FM.  “We look up and see the fans.  When they are having a good time and cheering us on, yeah, it gets us going.”
 

Vieira was asked about if the Notre Dame game in South Bend on September 14 was the biggest one on the schedule.  “The first one is really big on August 31,” he said, quickly adding, “And after Notre Dame are the (New Mexico State) Aggies, so they are all pretty big.”
 
Both were asked about the team, and both talked of the close-knit nature of the team and wanting to do more not just on the field.  Both talked highly of their teammates being on campus working with the grounds crew.
 
By far, their longest interview was with Jeff Siembieda and J.J. Buck and The Opening Drive crew on 610 KNML.  They talked about being put on scholarship, about UNM’s new offensive coordinator, and even Micah Gray’s penchant for Rubik’s Cube solving.  “Can you really solve one in 60 seconds?” asked Siembieda.  Micah was also sheepish in his reply. “Yeah, I can just turn it and sort of see it.”
 
Gray admitted the fastest he has ever solved a Rubik’s Cube is about 40 seconds.Back on campus it wasn’t a Rubik’s Cube competition, but each group was trying to compile the largest amount of clean-up, whether it be boxes, chairs, an old printer, or whatever.  The quarterbacks came in with a late surge of clean-up material, although the other position groups claimed it came in after the clock expired.
 
It all was good for Albuquerque native Javohn Jones, who is a scholarship running back in his senior year.  “It was really fun,” said Javohn of the excursion.  “I’m from here and always wanted to be a Lobo, so helping out of campus is great.  There aren’t a lot of people on campus right now, but the smiles and thank yous we got from the people that were here was great.”
 

Now, whether the extra boxes counted for the competition is irrelevant.  Head coach Bob Davie had each of the facilities and maintenance leaders up on the big steps across from the bookstore, and he acknowledged all the hard work that they do, and he wanted to let them know while what they do isn’t going to be in the newspaper, all that hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.  One of the team leaders for FM Grounds was blown away by how much work got done.
 
“You guys came in here and really made a difference!” he said, which got many of the Lobos to nod and high five.  Coach Davie then thanked each of the FM Grounds crew leaders personally and presented them with some official Lobo Football gear.  He also reminded everyone there of the team’s mantra. “If we all do our part, there’s enough in it for everybody.”
 
You would think a day off is a day off, but the best part was for the guys that came out to make a difference on the campus, it wasn’t really work either.  It was a way to build not only a team bond, but with the athletic facilities a mile from main campus, it was a chance to bridge that gap and remind everyone we all wear “New Mexico” on our chest, and we all proudly wear the Cherry and Silver.
 
“We have 125 players and coaches that wanted to show the pride and respect we have for our UNM campus by getting it looking spotless as our students return

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