Next Level: Former Cleveland star leads Lobos in receptions

Former Cleveland Storm standout <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26158" first="Luke" last="Wysong"]</strong>, the 2021 Gatorade Player of the Year in both football and track, has already made his presence felt as a true freshman for the New Mexico Lobos. After two games, both victories, Wysong leads the Lobos in receiving with 10 receptions for 70 yards. In last Saturday night’s 34-25 victory over New Mexico State, Wysong had three catches for 24 yards, including a leaping, acrobatic catch along the sidelines in front  of the NM State bench. Wysong has more than 20 percent of UNM’s receptions (10 of 49) after two games. “The corner route that [player_tooltip player_id="26158" first="Luke" last="Wysong"] caught, he had two guys barreling in on him, but he didn’t care,” UNM head coach Danny Gonzales said Tuesday during his weekly press conference. “(Quarterback) Terry (Wilson) put the ball in a great spot and he went up and made a competitive catch. We haven’t had that around here for a long time, so that’s exciting.” Besides Wysong’s impressive skill set catching the football, UNM also likes to utilize his blazing speed in the run game, notably on jet sweeps and end-arounds. He had four rushing attempts for 19 yards on Saturday. Gonzales cited former Manzano standout <strong>Andrew Erickson</strong>, who was placed on scholarship prior to the season, as a Lobos receiver who’s making “competitive catches” and playing “without fear.” Saturday, Erickson was targeted seven times and finished with five receptions for 75 yards, including 30 YAC yards. In two games, he has eight receptions for 80 yards and 1 touchdown. This Saturday, Erickson and the Lobos travel to College Station, TX to square off with Texas A&amp;M at Kyle Field. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. CT/10 a.m. MT on  the SEC Network. "I like the challenge of playing against people who are really talented," Erickson told reporters Tuesday. "We’re going to come out fast, come out swinging. That’s our plan every week." Volcano Vista product <strong>Cody Moon</strong>, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound redshirt freshman walk-on linebacker, saw extensive playing time Saturday helping to fill in for injured starter Reco Hannah, who will undergo surgery Thursday and is sidelined for the season. “He has a lot of the characteristics that (former UNM and NFL LB) Nick Speegle had when we were here before,” Gonzales said. “He’s long and tall. He’s skinny right now and he’s only a little over 200 pounds. He probably needs to be at 225 pounds to be really good and not have the chance of getting beat up. “But he’s very productive and he plays the right way. He plays hard. It’s that kind of mentality that will give us a chance Saturday (at Texas A&amp;M). We have a next man up mentality. We had guys (like Moon) step up on Saturday and play really well.” Redshirt freshman LB <strong>Dion Hunter</strong>, also a Cleveland product, is fifth on the Lobos in tackles with eight in two games. He also has one sack. For New Mexico State, former Los Lunas RB <strong>O’Maury Samuels</strong> has 94 yards on 20 carries through three games. This season marks his first action in three years since transferring to NM State from Michigan following the 2018 season. First-year Eastern New Mexico head coach Tye Hiatt picked up his first win with the Greyhounds Saturday as ENMU raced past Adams State, 42-14. Sophomore DE <strong>Kendrick Milford</strong>, a graduate of La Cueva High School in Albuquerque, collected four tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks and 1 QB hurry for ENMU. DB <strong>Cameron Santa Cruz</strong> from Eunice High School  had two tackles for the Greyhounds. <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-201644" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/09/Screenshot-2021-09-14-at-20-11-12-c44f0a3b-2021-new-mexico-football-season-statistics-pdf-300x248.png" alt="" width="300" height="248" /> https://twitter.com/UNMLoboFB/status/1437900687199801344 https://twitter.com/NMStateFootball/status/1437448604600446977 https://twitter.com/UNMLoboFB/status/1436890999746269189 https://twitter.com/UNMLoboFB/status/1436851974503235584