Recruiting New Mexico: WNMU rebuilding O-Line with NM flavor

After Western New Mexico posted a 1-10 record in his first season as head coach, Philip Vigil knew the Mustangs had to get bigger and better along the offensive line when National Signing Day in early February rolled around. Vigil accomplished that, and more, and he did it with a New Mexico flair. WNMU signed SIX offensive line prospects from the Land of Enchantment, four on National Signing Day (Feb. 2): <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="264791" first="Braden" last="Castillo"]</strong> (Los Lunas), <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135643" first="Ryan" last="Garcia"]</strong> (Cibola), <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134996" first="Justin" last="Gonzales"]</strong> (Cibola) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26230" first="Royce" last="Paulk"]</strong> (Las Cruces). A few days later, WNMU announced the signing of Santa Fe OL <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26271" first="Ben" last="White"]</strong>. On Feb. 10 they announced the signing of Kirtland Central OL <strong>Daniel Trevizo</strong>. Four of those six OL signees stand 6-foot-4 or taller and four weigh 300 pounds or more. The Mustangs offensive line is going to be awfully large in future years, and perhaps meaner, nastier, physical and more athletic. “We went and found the biggest guys we possibly could, particularly in this state,” Vigil told Prep Redzone New Mexico. “We expect the New Mexico guys we signed to come in and hopefully compete at the offensive line position. That’s what we told all those guys. We can’t promise anything because they have to earn it, but the opportunity for playing time is there.” Paulk is the tallest at 6-foot-6 and 330 pounds, but Trevizo outweighs him by 10 pounds. Still, both fall into the category of very large people. “Royce is a very, very big human being,” Vigil said. “And he’s a great guy too. He has great heart, great work ethic. His coach and others had nothing but great things to say about him. He’s just scratching the surface of his potential. For his weight, he still moves well. We believe if we can change his body a little bit and get him into the 325-pound range yet remain massive and big and strong, he’s just going to bully people.” Garcia and Gonzales both did an outstanding job last season protecting Cibola QB [player_tooltip player_id="137861" first="Aden" last="Chavez"]. Castillo anchored the offensive line for undefeated Los Lunas, which captured the Class 5A championship before moving to 6A next fall. “Both of them were very good high school football players,” Vigil said. “[player_tooltip player_id="264791" first="Braden" last="Castillo"] is a sleeper. He’s barrel-chested. He’ll probably play in the interior. We’re looking for tough kids who know how to work and know how to win. For all of these guys, it’s a great fit.” Besides the six offensive linemen, WNMU also signed arguably the top defensive back in the state - <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26231" first="Lucas" last="Lucero"]</strong> (Rio Rancho) – and talented WR <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135081" first="Jonathan" last="Fuentes"]</strong> (Carlsbad). “[player_tooltip player_id="26231" first="Lucas" last="Lucero"] was a huge pickup for us,” Vigil said. “He’s long and physical, he can run and he has great ball skills. As a DB, he has the ability to go up and attack the ball and high point it. He has the frame to possibly move down and play outside linebacker too. He’s a phenomenal athlete. He saw what we’re trying to do here and he jumped on board. He’s a special player.” The 6-foot-0, 180-pound Fuentes developed into one of the top 2023 wide receivers in the state. “He has great body control and great hands,” Vigil said. “He does a very good job going and getting the football. And he’s versatile enough that he can play inside or outside receiver for us. He comes from a great family. He’s going to catch a lot of touchdowns for us.” By signing eight New Mexico prospects, has WNMU ushered in a new era in their recruiting after years of neglecting the state in favor of prospects from Arizona and California? Absolutely. Just as important, WMNU is building relationships with coaches and players at schools that they have rarely visited in the past. A prominent coach in Santa Fe told Prep Redzone New Mexico that it had been decades since a WNMU coach visited his school. Finally, the long dry spell ended this year. “We want to take the best players in New Mexico,” Vigil said. “We’re not afraid to go toe-to-toe with anybody in recruiting. I don’t know what they were doing in the past. But for us, we want to go all over the state. With the lottery and what that provides for student-athletes in New Mexico, it would be foolish for us not to turn over every stone here.  We think we got some pretty good players in this class from this state.” Interestingly, five of the six offensive line signees reside in the Albuquerque metro area or Northern New Mexico. Places that WMNU hasn’t recruited vigorously in the past. But they are now. “There’s some good football players in Albuquerque,” Vigil said. “Before we go into Tucson (or other places in Arizona), we want to win the state of New Mexico. Period.” Translation: When it comes to recruiting New Mexico players, it’s Game On. Vigil acknowledged his staff experienced some growing pains recruiting New Mexico for the 2022 class simply because very few of them had recruited the state previously. “For many of our coaches this was the first time recruiting the state of New Mexico,” Vigil said. “We know we have to do a better job getting to some of the schools, developing relationships with the high school coaches and recruiting their kids. The high school coaches across the state were unbelievable in accepting and welcoming our staff. “We will have a presence in recruiting in this state. We want to recruit and we want to win with New Mexico players." https://twitter.com/WNMUFootball/status/1488979012709928960 https://twitter.com/WNMUFootball/status/1488965328243621895 https://twitter.com/WNMUFootball/status/1488959227250970626 https://twitter.com/WNMUFootball/status/1488956372498583552 https://twitter.com/WNMUFootball/status/1488944061184495622 https://twitter.com/WNMUFootball/status/1488929318986158081 https://twitter.com/WNMUFootball/status/1490447900077219844 https://twitter.com/WNMUFootball/status/1491843388739665928