Recruiting New Mexico: Local talent fuels ENMU’s success

The Eastern New Mexico football team has enjoyed unparalleled success under fourth year head coach Kelley Lee, who goes into the scheduled spring season as ENMU’s all-time leader in career win percentage (.636, 21-12) after guiding the Greyhounds to the program’s first ever Division II bowl win over Southern Arkansas in the 2019 Heritage Bowl. Based strictly on wins and losses, ENMU is the most successful college football program in the state. And Lee has accomplished that feat by relying in large part on players from the Land of Enchantment. The 2020 ENMU roster features 24 former New Mexico high school players. The 2020 signing class was highlighted by 12 NM prospects, three from the city of Rio Rancho. “First and foremost, we are always going to start local,” Lee told Prep Redzone New Mexico. “We’re a state institution and we feel like that’s what we should do. It’s been the backbone of our football program. About half of our roster, half our starters and half our All-Conference players are from New Mexico. We’ve embraced that and we’ve championed that. I believe that’s a big part of our success.” Lee maintained it’s not a coincidence ENMU’s winning percentage has improved as the number of New Mexico players on the Greyhounds roster has increased. If you’re a New Mexico high school football player talented enough to play at the Division II level, Lee will welcome you with open arms. “We want to sign all the good players from New Mexico that don’t end up with a Division I offer,” Lee said. “When it comes to recruiting New Mexico players, we don’t really look at our needs or position. If we feel they can play college football at this level, we’re going to recruit him and make them some sort of scholarship offer. We’re going to give them a shot.” Only when Lee and his staff have exhausted their recruiting efforts in New Mexico do they expand into West Texas and other places, even though the Lone Star State has literally hundreds of high schools from which to recruit from. “There are more schools just in Dallas than the entire state of New Mexico,” Lee said. “So, it’s a different kind of recruiting when we go after New Mexico kids. We do more prospecting here. We’re trying to find the hidden gems at the small schools that nobody knows about. There are some really good high school programs in New Mexico and we always start with those such as Las Cruces, Mayfield, Clovis, Rio Rancho, Cleveland. There are always good players at those schools.” But the smaller New Mexico high schools are also represented on ENMU’s current roster and the latest signing class. Players from Belen, Eunice, Portales, Valley and Elida (6-man) dot ENMU’s roster, while 2020 signee RB Devon Freeman came from Tularosa. “We pride ourselves on not only recruiting the metro Albuquerque area but getting out to all four corners of New Mexico and really beating the bushes and going after everybody and anybody we think can help us,” Lee said. Lee, who has been a member of the ENMU coaching staff for more than a decade, had spearheaded the efforts to diversify the Greyhounds roster as far as New Mexico prospects are concerned. "Over the last 10 to 15 years, the high school football in Albuquerque has really improved,” Lee said. “There used to be only one or two teams in Albuquerque that were really good. Now there are good players in every single school in Albuquerque. The level of football in the metro area has gotten much better, which has made the bigger divisions far more competitive. That helps kids get recruited.” ENMU’s 2021 signing class received a significant boost several weeks ago when Clovis High’s [player_tooltip player_id="26162" first="Jeston" last="Webskowski"], arguably the state’s top senior running back, verbally committed to the Greyhounds over several FCS offers, handing ENMU a major recruiting victory. “When any local player has opportunities at schools that are perceived as bigger or at a higher level and still chooses to come to your program, that make you proud,” Lee said. “Those are the kids that know our programs. They’ve been to games, visited our campus, know our coaching staff and been to our camps. Those are the kids we can usually build a great relationship with. It says a lot for our program and how we’re perceived in this neck of the woods.” Webskowski, though, isn’t the only New Mexico prospect committed to ENMU for the 2021 signing class. He’s just the best known. “We have some commitments from New Mexico kids that we’re fired up about,” Lee said. “We think they can be great players for us.” ENMU hopes to play a six or seven game schedule in the spring, including four games against fellow Lone Star Conference teams as well as New Mexico Highlands and one or two other games. “It gives our players a chance to compete,” Lee said. “It will be good to get the pads back on and run around and start practicing. We’re looking to start football practice at the end of January.” https://twitter.com/CoachKelleyLee/status/1331364471495815168 https://twitter.com/ENMUAthletics/status/1325948937946099715 https://twitter.com/ENMUFootball/status/1324149462701400064 https://twitter.com/LoneStarConf/status/1319342557994897410