Recruiting New Mexico: NM State transforms in-state recruiting

Hired in early December, Jerry Kill has been New Mexico State’s head football coach for less than six months but he has already radically transformed how the Aggies recruit their own state. Instead of ignoring large swaths of New Mexico as previous NMSU coaches have done – particularly the northern half – Kill has sent his assistant coaches into virtually every high school in the state in the Aggies’ quest to find homegrown talent. They have left few stones unturned. A prominent and longtime high school football coach in Santa Fe told Prep Redzone New Mexico that it was the first time a NMSU coach had visited his school in 20+ years. “The high school football in New Mexico is a lot like Kansas or other places I’ve been,” Kill told Prep Redzone New Mexico at a NMSU function Thursday in Santa Fe. “It’s spread out like Kansas is. You have to work at it to get to different places. But high school football is important in a lot of these communities. There are good football players everywhere.” Kill said he has divided the state into regions and each NMSAU assistant has a specific area he is responsible for. “There’s a lot of travel but you don’t want to miss out on a player,” Kill said. “We have to make sure we visit all of our schools and coaches every year. So when they do have a guy, we’re first in. You have to take care of your state first. You can’t lose somebody out of your state unless a Power 5 (school) comes in and gets him.” Kill has been coaching college football since the mid-1980’s and understands that recruiting is all about relationships. “You have to do your homework and recruits to what fits your program,” Kill said. “Maybe the coaches here before me didn’t think some players from this state weren’t good fits. But for us it might be a good fit. Bottom line, we have to do our job and take care of our home state.” Shortly after arriving in Las Cruces, Kill signed former Volcano Vista QB Diego Pavia, who led NMMI to the JUCO national championship a few weeks earlier. Pavia enrolled for classes at NMSU in January and participated in spring practice. Wasting no time showcasing his dynamic dual threat skills, Pavia exited spring practice atop the Aggies’ quarterback depth chart. “He’s done a good job. We’ll have a quarterback competition in the fall but coming out of spring practice Diego has an edge on everybody else,” Kill said. “I always tell him that he’s too short or too this or too that, but all he does is move the ball, make plays and win. When the pocket breaks down, he’s at his best. “He has a chip on his shoulder because a lot of people wouldn’t take a chance on him because of his height (5-10). All he does is run around and make plays. He’s unconventional but a tremendous competitor. He told me that I could bring anybody in here and he would beat him out. That’s why I like him.” NM State also signed La Cueva defensive end/outside linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="265002" first="Deven" last="Dyer"] in February. He’ll join the program this summer ahead of preseason camp. “He’s a hard hat, lunch pail type of player,” Kill said. “He’s hard-nosed and loves football. We’ll need to develop him in our program. But he has the work ethic. That’s the way I was, so I’m partial to those types of people.” 2022 Hope Christian placekicker [player_tooltip player_id="210966" first="Logan" last="Fuller"] signed Wednesday with NM State and will join the program in the fall as a preferred walk-on. New Mexico State’s 2022 spring roster features 10 players from the Land of Enchantment, including Pavia, former Artesia WR Braxton McDonald, former Ruidoso TE Grant Oberheu and former Cleveland QB Jeff Davison. <strong>NEW MEXICO PLAYERS ON NMSU SPRING ROSTER</strong> James Blowers, LB (Las Cruces) Dalton Bowles, LB (Roswell) Trevor Brohard, LB (Los Lunas) Jeff Davison, QB (Rio Rancho) Braxton McDonald, WR (Artesia) Brett Money, PK (Alamogordo) Grant Oberheu, TE (Ruidoso) Diego Pavia, QB (Albuquerque) Sol Rascon, WR (Farmington) O’ Maury Samuels, RB (Los Lunas) https://twitter.com/NMStateFootball/status/1525173953957871619 https://twitter.com/diegopavia02/status/1481441091455000581 https://twitter.com/5ive5iveDE/status/1488887484096253960