Recruiting West Texas: NMHU extends numerous offers in El Paso

<p>It's about a six-hour drive from El Paso to the mountainous northern New Mexico town of Las Vegas, N.M., home to New Mexico Highlands University.</p>   <p>Second-year NMHU head coach Ron Hudson, though, is undeterred.</p>   <p>Hudson, a former UTEP assistant (2001-2003), knows El Paso well, so he didn't hesitate jumping into the Far West Texas recruiting battles for some of the region's top prospects.</p>   <p>Last week, Hudson and NMHU recruiting coordinator Garrett Myers made the rounds throughout El Chuco visiting schools, talking with coaches and, most importantly, handing out offers to -deserving prospects.</p>   <p>Per social media, the Cowboys offered three 2024 prospects from Montwood (ATH <strong>Izayuh Claudio</strong>, WR <strong>Diego Oaxaca</strong>, QB <strong>Michael Southern</strong>), 2024 Americas ATH <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='618282' first='Mark' last='Moore III']</strong>, 2024 Eastwood OL/DL <strong>Noah Medina</strong>, 2024 Americas ATH <strong>Brian Promesse</strong>, 2024 Eastlake OL <strong>Roman Hernandez</strong> and three 2024 prospects from Pebble Hills (OL <strong>Tyrese White</strong>, DB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='276103' first='Amari' last='Welch']</strong> and WR/KR <strong>Marcus Torres</strong>).</p>   <p>NMHU also recently added a commitment from 2023 El Paso Parkland ATH <strong>Isaiah Beasley</strong>.</p>   <p>When it comes to recruiting El Paso, Hudson told Prep Redzone Texas that in a few instances he's preaching to the choir.</p>   <p>“There are a couple of coaches there who are Highlands grads,” Hudson said. “So they know something about the university. I coached at UTEP for three years and I have tremendous respect for the high school football in El Paso. It has really improved. And the city has exploded. It has gotten much bigger since I was there 20 years ago. It's a great area.”</p>   <p>Any El Paso high school student who maintains at least a 3.0 GPA can attend NMHU and pay in-state tuition plus receive academic scholarship money. Since most D2 signees don't receive a full scholarship, that can significantly reduce the cost of a college education for football players.</p>   <p>“That really makes us competitive,” Hudson said. “We've made a commitment. We're going down there and we're going to recruit El Paso. We're going to bring kids up here. The culture there is similar to here in New Mexico. Kids in El Paso are good fits for our school. So, it‘s not a hard sell. They know what they're looking for.”</p>   <p>Hudson often compares Las Vegas, NM to the popular mountainous resort town of Ruidoso in southeast NM, where many El Paso residents vacation in the summer to escape the brutal heat in Far West Texas.</p>   <p>“As soon as I say it's comparable to Ruidoso, they have an idea of what Las Vegas is like,” Hudson said. “They know we're at altitude, it's cooler and we get snow in the winter.”        </p>   <p>Hudson said the recent offers to El Paso prospects are the product of NMHU's considerable efforts over the last calendar to build their presence in Far West Texas.</p>   <p>“We're trying to bring Highlands down there and make it known,” Hudson said. “The more kids know about Highlands and where we've located, the more likely they are to visit. We probably had about a half dozen El Paso kids come up here for visits this winter. And we had a bunch come up for Junior Day.”           </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/915_hernandez/status/1654895077708144640 </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/AmariWelch5/status/1654892402073649157 </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/tyresewhite35/status/1654888006782681088 </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/NoahMedina2024/status/1654930827157860353 </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/Doaxaca_2/status/1654892609280565248 </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/Michae1Southern/status/1654890779695800325 </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/1mark_moore/status/1654935296495202304 </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/IzayuhC/status/1654899932396920834 </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/isaiahbeasley10/status/1654564372822491137 </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/Coach_E_Cano/status/1654292806515523591 </div></figure>

It's about a six-hour drive from El Paso to the mountainous northern New Mexico town of Las Vegas, N.M., home to New Mexico Highlands University.