Recruiting New Mexico: Led by former Lobo, OUAZ making strides

<p>It took seven years for Ottawa University Arizona to become an overnight sensation in New Mexico recruiting circles.</p>   <p>Last Sunday, when all the coaches at the various colleges had finished speaking to the dozens of prospects on hand at the College Football prospect ID Showcase, the prospects were invited to talk with the coaches on a 1-on-1 basis.</p>   <p>A super majority of the prospects swarmed OUAZ assistant coach Josh Vizcaya, who promptly held court for more than 30 minutes talking to each player individually.</p>   <p>For one day, at least, OUAZ seemed to be the ‘it' school in the Land of Enchantment.</p>   <p>As a native of the Albuquerque metro region, OUAZ head coach Mike Nesbitt can only smile, and hope the positive vibes surrounding his NAIA program continue for a while.</p>   <p>Nesbitt, who grew up in Belen and was the punter for the New Mexico Lobos from 1991-93, started the OUAZ program from scratch in 2017 after head coaching stints at Belen HS, Manzano HS and West Texas A&M (2013-16) and numerous assistant coaching stops in between.</p>   <p>The 2023 season will mark OUAZ's seventh year as a football-playing institution. The school, which numbers about 1,000 students, is located in Surprise, AZ, a sun-splashed northwestern suburb of Phoenix.</p>   <p>OUAZ competes in the Sooner Athletic Conference.</p>   <p>Early on, Nesbitt targeted New Mexico prospects for his program. The 2022 OUAZ roster featured six New Mexico players: Preston Dennard (Cibola), Beto Cabral (Volcano Vista), Shelly Benally (Kirtland Central), Kavin Colebrook (Farmington), Aaron Hewey (Farmington) and Nathan Sanchez (Volcano Vista).</p>   <p>“We've recruited the State of New Mexico since we started,” Nesbit said. “Part of it is I grew up there. I still have relatives who live in the Albuquerque area. We go there every Christmas and summer. And I still have a lot of friends who are still coaching or teaching somewhere in the state. I still follow the local high school sports scene there. It keeps us in the mix.”</p>   <p>So far for the 2023 class, OUAZ has signed two New Mexico players – <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='137932' first='Payton' last='Deans']</strong> (Artesia) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='542877' first='Marcus' last='Leyba']</strong> (St. Michael's). Both fit the profile Nesbitt seeks when the Spirit recruit in NM.</p>   <p>“We try to find guys that have been in a good team program, been successful and won some games,” Nesbitt said. “Both Payton and Marcus have been on teams that played for state championships. Those guys know how to win and they've been well coached. They understand what we're saying when we talk about playing into December.”</p>   <p>OUAZ offered several 2024 prospects following Sunday's weather-shortened camp at Albuquerque.   </p>   <p>Nesbitt is confident OUAZ can compete with the three Division II schools in New Mexico for the prospects who don't sign with New Mexico or New Mexico State.</p>   <p>“If a local guy is not going to New Mexico or New Mexico State, we feel we can compete,” he said. “We're an hour flight from Albuquerque. And it's an easy drive on I-40. We're in a great location. Across the street is the spring training stadium for the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers.</p>   <p>“For me, when we started the program seven years ago, it was a no-brainer to try to get some New Mexico kids that wanted to come over here and play. We've always been there trying to create interest. We're just starting. I think we can do even better there. As time goes, I think we'll get more and more players from New Mexico.”   </p>   <p>State Farm Stadium, home of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, is about 10 minutes away from the OUAZ campus.       </p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/ArtesiaBulldogs/status/1631095019225645056 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/OUAZFootball/status/1620879086884364289 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/paytonDeans12/status/1630954203924545536 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/MarcusLeyba2023/status/1626960164988538881 </div></figure>

It took seven years for Ottawa University Arizona to become an overnight sensation in New Mexico recruiting circles.