By J.J. Buck – The transfer portal has changed college athletics. With over 1,900 football players in the portal December is more than just about Bowl games. It is about the future of your favorite football team. Beginning on December 4th the portal is officially open until January 3rd. Players participating in bowl games have five days to enter the portal after the contest is played. The second transfer availability extends from May 1st-to-15th in the spring.
A new head coach at the University of New Mexico and a promotion of an assistant at New Mexico State means the portal is working overtime in Albuquerque and Las Cruces.
New Mexico Lobos
Biggest Needs: Offensive Line, Defensive Line, Secondary
The Lobos lost five starters on their offensive line to the transfer portal. It was a line that helped running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt earn an Honorable Mention All-America selection from College Football News after rushing for 1,190 yards and 17 touchdowns (18 total TD’s). The good, Croskey-Merritt is coming back. First year Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall has to find guys that are ready to play right away to spring his All-Conference running back and protect whoever he names as the starting quarterback.
On ‘X’ formally known as Twitter, the Lobos reportedly got a big addition up front. From his own account, Wallace Unamba, a 6-foot-6, 332-pound OL is headed to New Mexico.
It was a frustrating year defensively for UNM who gave up 35.1 points and 408.2 yards per-game. The Lobos struggled to generate pressure up front as their 15 sacks ranked in the bottom five of FBS football teams. Okiki Olorunfunmi, a 6-foot-5, 255-pound defensive end from Weber State has committed and is the first building block this offseason. Olorunfunmi was limited to three games in 2022 for the Wildcats due to injury. As a sophomore in 2021 the DE from Clovis, California appeared in 11 games finishing with 11 total tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack.
Generating more pressure up front would help a secondary that lost two cornerbacks, one to graduation and one to the portal (Zach Morris to San Diego State), along with two starting safeties Jermarius Lewis and Christian Ellis.
While many assume sophomore to be Devon Dampier will be the Lobos starting quarterback next season who would be QB2 felt like an open competition. A name that won’t be in the running is Adian Armenta. After redshirting last year, the former La Cueva QB will be looking for a new team.
New Mexico State
Biggest Needs: Quarterback, Linebacker, Safety
The Aggies are coming off a 10-win season in which they played in the Conference USA title game and won at Auburn. With success comes transfers. Head Coach Jerry Kill stepping down after two years caught many people off guard and added another challenge for the program to overcome. NMSU promoted wide receivers coach Tony Sanchez to head coach. An Aggie alum, Sanchez becomes the 36th coach in the program’s history. The first goal for Sanchez is to retain the reigning CUSA Offensive Player of the Year, Diego Pavia.
Pavia has yet to commit but has posted on ‘X’ he has received offers from Washington State, North Texas, UTSA, Western Kentucky, and Western Michigan. Backup quarterbacks, Blaze Berlowitz (Vanderbilt) and Gavin Frakes (portal) where listed as QB3 and QB4 on the Aggies final depth chart for the Isleta New Mexico Bowl. Eli Stowers, who transferred from Texas A&M, as a quarterback was listed as the Aggies backup QB and is not in the transfer portal. Stowers was used as a Taysom Hill Swiss-army knife this season.
The Aggies were very good defensively holding opponents to 22.8 points per-game. They were strong up the middle led by LB Keyshaun Elliot and his 111 total tackles who they will have to replace.
Safeties Myles Rowser (70 total tackles) and Mehki Miller (59 total tackles, two interceptions) are in the portal.
2024 College Football Transfer Portal (on3.com)
