Position Breakdown: Cornerbacks

This is the second in a series in which each position will get broken down prior to the start of the 2021 season.

Tuesday, August 17: Offensive Line
Wednesday, August 18: Quarterbacks
Thursday, August 19: Cornerbacks
Friday, August 20: Running Backs
Saturday, August 21: Linebackers
Monday, August 23: Receivers
Tuesday, August 24: Defensive Line
Wednesday, August 25: Running Backs
Thursday, August 26: Safeties
Friday, August 27: Tight Ends
Saturday, August 28: Specialists

Starters Returning (2): Donte Martin (5 starts), Tony Collier (4 starts)
Starters Lost (0): None
Returning Letterwinners (3): Corey Hightower (1 start), Marquae Kirkendoll
Letterwinners Lost (1): Michael Lovett III (1 start)
Redshirts (1): Duece Jones
Incoming Transfers (1): None
Incoming Freshmen (3): Andrell Barney, Jr., Coryon Francis, A.J. Odums

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Lobos might not have the deepest of corner rotations in FBS college football, but it’s hard to beat the starting percentage back from a year ago.  UNM recorded 14 starts at corner last year, and the Lobos return 13 of those, and those are covered by five players.

Now, the job of Troy Reffett is to figure out who the starters are.  He’s got enough to choose from.

UNM’s corners, and their improved play a big reason why UNM went from allowing over 400 yards a game through the air over the first half of the season to under 180 yards in the second half.  That second half total would have actually been the in the top 20 nationally in terms of yards allowed.

Donte Martin started the final five games of the 2020 season, and he had nine tackles and three passes broken up. Those five starts were the most of any Lobo corner last year, one more than Tony Collier.  Collier started four on the other side of the field, and had 24 tackles and a pass breakup.  However, it wasn’t Collier but Corey Hightower who had the run of play the final two games.

Hightower, who is slated to become the first-ever five-year letterwinner in the history of Lobo Football, had never started any game since arriving on campus in 2016.  He redshirted that year, and although he has played quite a bit, it was mostly on special teams or at safety.  However for the Wyoming game, he entered as the starter at corner, his first career start.  UNM won that one and the next one, which was his second start.  Hightower statistically didn’t have much in the way of numbers, but his impact in the two wins was bigger than that.  He showed solid coverage skills that helped UNM sack Fresno State’s Jake Hoener eight times.

Collier missed most of spring practice, and if it was just those three players, UNM would have a pretty good battle on hand for the two slots, but UNM isn’t deep on numbers, but its very deep on talent.  While Antonio Hunt and Nic Wilson both earned starts last year they have moved officially to safety, opening the door for Marquae Kirkendoll.  The lanky sophomore lettered last year and has had a solid camp and has great size to handle the bigger Mountain West receivers

Duece Jones redshirted last year and has played well in the spring, one of four very good freshmen.  A.J. Odums had the benefit of a spring camp and he has had several big plays in scrimmages. ANdrell Barney is a solid defender with great speed who also has shown a quick knack for picking up the college game.

Coryon Francis has missed fall camp with an injury, but he should be ready soon to join in the cornerback fun.

It’s easy to sum up the corner situation in terms of numbers.  There’s not a lot (8) but they are all talented and can step in and play.  Now, who is in the rotation is the bigger question. All could see the field on a variety of coverage special teams as well, making the battle even more intriguing.

Tickets: Season-game tickets are still available via golobos.com/tickets, and fans can now get in on mini-plans as well.  UNM is currently ahead of the 2019 season ticket totals.

There are two mini-plans for fans to get in on, the Cherry Plan and the Silver Plan. The Cherry Plan gets you a three-game set of the opener against Houston Baptist, New Mexico State and UNLV.  The Silver Plan gets fans tickets for New Mexico State, Air Force and Utah State.

Single game tickets are available by clicking the game below:

9/2 Houston Baptist
9/11 New Mexico State
10/2 Air Force
10/16 Colorado State
11/6 UNLV
11/26 Utah State

Tomorrow: A breakdown of UNM’s running backs situation.