Recruiting New Mexico: ENMU keeps tradition going

Eastern New Mexico has a proud prolonged tradition of taking pride in recruiting talented football players from the state. Not surprisingly, the Greyhounds have won a lot of games over the years. In terms of won-loss record, they are the undoubtedly the state’s most successful program. Coincidence? Probably not. Second year ENMU head coach Tye Hiatt has maintained the Greyhounds preference for in-state players. This year, ENMU signed eight New Mexico prospects: QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26242" first="Daniel" last="Ayala"]</strong> (West Mesa), DT <strong>Christian Carreathers</strong> (Albuquerque High via NMMI), OL <strong>Isaac Gonzales</strong> (Miyamura), DT <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26245" first="Julian" last="Holland"]</strong> (Centennial), DE <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="207618" first="Brody" last="Jaquez"]</strong> (Belen), DB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26265" first="Martell" last="Mora"]</strong> (Santa Fe), LB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26234" first="Dylan" last="Quartieri"]</strong> (Raton) and LB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135313" first="Matthew" last="Quartieri"] </strong>(Raton). “We signed some very good players from New Mexico,” Hiatt told Prep Redzone New Mexico. Ayala was recruited to play quarterback but could easily switch positions because of his elite athleticism. He threw for 1,230 yards and rushed for 411 more, accounting for 15 TDs as a senior at West Mesa. “It depends on how he does during camp,” Hiatt said. “He’s pretty athletic. He can move and do certain things. We’re bringing him in as a quarterback but if we feel he can make a bigger impact somewhere else, he’s athletic enough to do that. He throws a very nice ball. But what really impressed me was his football IQ and ability to process information. That was confirmed to me at the all-star game. That’s what really intrigued us about him.” The 6-foot-2, 345-pound Carreathers graduated from Albuquerque High School and was a member of NMMI’s national championship JUCO team this past season as a defensive tackles. Yeah, he’s a big guy but he wouldn’t be playing college football at the Div. II level if he wasn’t mobile. “God hasn’t created many people that big who can move as well as Christian,” Hiatt said. “It’s one of those deals where it worked out. We’re happy to have him.” Gonzales, listed at 6-foot-1 and 285 pounds, flew under the radar for most of the season compared to other offensive lineman around the state. But he didn’t escape the attention of Hiatt and his staff, even though he suffered a serious knee injury in Week 1 and missed the rest of the season. “Isaac is going to be a sleeper for us,” Hiatt said. “He’s a three-time all-district O-Lineman. A lot of coaches talked with us about him last summer. They all said to keep an eye on him. I think he projects well. A lot of people didn’t get on him (because of the injury), but when you turn on his tape, you see a kid that can develop into a really good player for us.” Holland was a two-way standout for Centennial in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Hiatt plans to utilize him as a nose tackle. With a 6-foot-3, 285-pound frame, he definitely possesses the size to excel there. “The plan right now is to play him at nose,” Hiatt said. “We’ve been very open with Julian as far as where we were going to use him. We’re going to give him time to develop at nose tackle. But he’s a guy that could flip over and play guard. Julian is a weight room warrior. Whatever he lacks, he makes up for it with his love of the game, tenacity, overall strength. We think he’s going to be a pretty hard guy to move on the inside. He’ll be able to anchor down inside.” Former Centennial standout Karsten Rueckner played a significant role at safety on the ENMU defense in 2021, finishing with 23 tackles, 2 TFL and 1 sack in 7 games for the Greyhounds. Jaquez enjoyed a monster senior season at Belen, registering 27 tackles for loss out of 56 total tackles. Doing the math, that means nearly half of his tackles lost yardage. Impressive. For ENMU, it helped their cause that Belen coach Andrew McCraw is a former Greyhounds assistant. Jaquez is listed at 6-foot-3, 230 pounds but plays bigger. “Brody has a very high ceiling,” Hiatt said. “His wingspan is about 81 inches. His best football is in front of him. When Brody gets on campus, he’s going to make a huge jump during his first winter and spring in the weight room. He loves football. He’s a workhorse and a grinder. If they have that work ethic, they’ll fit in very well.” Mora helped lead Santa Fe High to its first winning season in more than two decades by excelling at both running back and safety. ENMU recruited him to play defensive back. More first got on ENMU’s radar when he ran a 4.49 40 at the Greyhounds prospect camp at Cleveland HS last summer. The more Hiatt and his staff did their due diligence on Mora, the more they liked. “From our prospect camp to 7-on-7 to the entire fall, I think Martell is going to be a stud for us,” Hiatt said. “We’re projecting him to play safety. He played the last couple of seasons with a torn labrum. He played through it and never complained. Like most of our signees, he has to get bigger to play in the Lone Star Conference. But we know he can run.” The group of eight New Mexico signees wraps up with brothers Dylan and [player_tooltip player_id="135313" first="Matthew" last="Quartieri"] from Raton. They led the Tigers to an undefeated regular season and the No. 1 seed in the Class 3A playoffs. Both were recruited by ENMU as linebackers. Hiatt maintains that even though the brothers Quartieri played at a small high school, they are more than capable of becoming major contributors on defense for the Greyhounds. Matthew, an inch taller and about 15 pounds heavier than Dylan, was the District 3A-2 Defensive Player of the Year after finishing with 74 tackles, 5 TFL and 5 sacks for the Tigers defense. “There are some really good players at the small high schools in New Mexico,” Hiatt said. “Dylan will play outside linebacker. He’s going to be a great addition. Matthew runs very well. It came down to us and CSU-Pueblo. We were praying like crazy. After they left here following their visit, I felt really good about our chances.” Could we someday see the Quartieri brothers playing side-by-side at linebacker for ENMU? Yes. “I definitely think so,” Hiatt said. “Dylan will definitely stick at linebacker. Matt was also a talented tight end. Eventually, Matt could play tight end or linebacker for us. Right now, we project both of them playing on defense at linebacker.” A key recruiting storyline for the 2023 class in New Mexico is whether Raton’s stud running back [player_tooltip player_id="138053" first="Cayden" last="Walton"] will follow his former teammates to Portales or go to a different school. Walton is one of the top rising seniors in the state and arguably the Land of Enchantment’s No. 1 RB. https://twitter.com/ENMUAthletics/status/1488915335990317056 https://twitter.com/ENMUAthletics/status/1488911797604159491 https://twitter.com/ENMUAthletics/status/1488905262886842372 https://twitter.com/ENMUAthletics/status/1488903845358882818 https://twitter.com/ENMUAthletics/status/1488890694416560132 https://twitter.com/ENMUAthletics/status/1488885408674902016 https://twitter.com/ENMUAthletics/status/1488883811496562689 https://twitter.com/ENMUAthletics/status/1488875473811632133