Ten Lobos Named to Athlon Sports 2025 Preseason MW Team
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— After getting seven on Phil Steele’s 2025 Preseason Mountain West Team, it seems Athlon Sports is even more on the side of the Lobos, as the magazine picked 10 Lobos for the preseason All-Mountain West team.
The 10 players on the team represent the seventh-most in the league, and UNM’s three first team selections was the fourth-most in the league behind only Boise State, Hawai’i and San Diego State.
New Mexico had a pair of first teamers on offense in running back Scottre Humphrey and offensive lineman Richard Pearce along with kick returner Abraham Williams. Receiver Keagan Johnson is on the second team with linebackers Dimitri Johnson and Jaxton Eck. Defensive lineman Keyshawn James-Newby is UNM’s lone third team selection, and the fourth team was held down by offensive lineman Tevin Shaw, linebacker Randolph Kpai, and defensive lineman Gabriel Lopez.
Humphrey highlights a talented running back group and is coming off of a season in which he ran for 1,386 yards, gaining at least 100 yards in eight of the 12 regular season games, and his 6.96 yards per carry led the Big Sky and was third in the FCS. He doubled his touchdown production from his freshman to sophomore season with 16 touchdowns in 2024. The running back earned All-America honors and First Team All-Big Sky in his sophomore season.
Pearce is the lone returning player on offense, and he was one of UNM’s best run and pass blockers a season ago as UNM set records for total offense.
From Salt Lake City, Utah, Williams earned a spot on the preseason list as a kick returner, showcasing his elusiveness throughout his collegiate career. Prior to being sidelined for most of the 2024 season due to injury, Williams returned four kickoffs for 89 yards at Idaho, which came on the heels of his redshirt junior season in which he finished fifth in the nation in kickoff returns with an average of 29.7 yards per return, compiling 535 yards on 18 returns for Weber State. During his time at Weber State, Williams tallied five 100-yard kickoff returns for a touchdown, four in 2022 and one in 2023. He earned multiple All-America honors, including by six different All-America outlets in 2022.
A wide receiver who spent two seasons at Kansas State and two seasons at Iowa before joining the Lobos, Keagan Johnson played in 22 games in his stint with the Wildcats, recording 53 receptions for 586 yards and three touchdowns. In the 2024 season, the Omaha, Nebraska native finished with four games of 50 yards or more with a season-high 76 yards on six receptions. During his freshman season at Iowa, Johnson hauled in 18 receptions for 352 yards and two touchdowns with a career-high 92 yards on two catches against Colorado State.
Eck enters his junior season after earning FCS All-America honors and First Team All-Big Sky honors in 2024 at Idaho. The linebacker recorded 134 tackles, 55 solo, 3.5 tackles for loss and an interception last season. Of note, Eck recorded double-digit tackles in eight games, including in each of the final six games of the season, and 14 tackles and a half-tackle for loss against No. 1 Oregon. Through his two seasons as a Vandal, Eck was credited with 171 tackles, 70 of which were solo, and 6.5 tackles for loss in 26 games.
Dmitri Johnson is one of three returners on defense, and he consistently came up big for UNM in big games, with no bigger play than the game-clinching interception against Utah State in the final minute with UNM up five. Overall, Johnson had 77 tackles, 5.0 TFLs and two sacks.
James-Newby played in 13 games last season at Idaho, finishing with 65 tackles of which 36 were solo, and recorded 14.5 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, 13 quarterback hurries and a pass breakup. The Helena, Montana native earned First Team All-Big Sky and was an AFCA FCS All-American following the 2024 season. During his two seasons with the Vandals, he recorded 103 tackles, 48 being solo, as well as 21.5 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks, doubling both his number of tackles for loss and sacks between his freshman and sophomore seasons.
In his first season as a Lobo, Shaw played in two games at left tackle in the 2024 season before suffering a season-ending injury, and previously played in 10 games through his first two seasons of collegiate football at Houston. UNM’s other two defensive returning starters, Gabe Lopez and Randolph Kpai round out the fourth team selections for UNM. Lopez had 31 tackles in nine games and was UNM’s top defensive line a year ago. Kpai, in his first season after two at Nebraska was one of UNM’s leaders in tackles with 80 including three PBUs and 4.5 TFLs.
The Lobos open the 2025 season and the Eck era on Saturday, Aug. 30 at 5:30 p.m. MT against Michigan on NBC with the home opener set for Saturday, Sept. 6 against Idaho State. Season tickets can be purchased at golobos.com/tickets.