College football’s preseason bottom 10 of 2010: #8 New Mexico

Last season was truly a train wreck for the Nex Mexico football team.  Not only did the Lobos barely avoid going winless (the lone victory was a 29-27 verdict over Colorado State), but first year head coach Mike Locksley made headlines by punching his receivers coach in the lip.

How Locksley emerged from that kind of wreckage is truly a head scratcher.  Not only did he not do his job well, but he got into a physical altercation with an underling.  How many of us would be retained by our current employers under similar circumstances?  I’m thinking that athletic director Paul Krebs just couldn’t bring himself to make a bad thing worse that soon into his new coach’s tenure.

Earlier in his career, Locksley developed a reputation as one of the top recruiting assistant coaches in the country, first at Maryland and then with Florida.  After Ron Zook got pink slipped at Florida, Locksley followed him to Illinois in 2005 and was promoted to offensive coordinator.

The fact that Locksley worked for Zook is an interesting coincidence, because Zook is the coach with whom Locksley probably has the most in common.  Both men are fantastic recruiters who have a pretty good grasp of x’s and o’s.  But the similarity between the two that jumps out at me the most is that neither one seems to have that certain set of intangibles a guy needs to be a consistent winner as a  head coach.

Don’t get me wrong, I think any football program would benefit greatly from having Zook or Locksley on staff.  There just appears to be something in the make up of both these guys that prevents each one from being able to effectively LEAD a staff.  To sum it up, New Mexico has a CEO who’s much better equipped to be a middle manager.

Year two of the Locksley regime is nearly upon us and I don’t see the results being much better than they were in year one.  This is still a very young team that could feature as many as nine sophomores in starting roles.  Three of those sophs (Emmanuel McPhearson, Freddy Young and A.J. Butler) will be first time starters in a defensive secondary that was already shaky in 2009 (105th nationally in pass defense).

But the defensive front seven for the Lobos might just be a salty bunch.  Junior middle linebacker Carmen Messina led the nation in tackles last season with a jaw dropping 162 in 12 games played.  Defensive end Johnathan Rainey is a pretty good ball player who’ll get some much needed help with the addition of two Illinois transfers, defensive tackles Ugo Uzodinma and Reggie Ellis.

I’m seeing a lot more question marks on the offensive side of the ball, which isn’t a good thing when you consider the fact that New Mexico only scored 16.3 ppg last season.  The entire right side of the line has to be replaced and there doesn’t appear to be a difference maker at running back.

Why New Mexico is in the bottom 10:  The early season schedule will probably sink this team’s confidence.  The opener is a road date with Oregon followed by home tilts with Texas Tech and Utah.  If New Mexico were starting off with Nicholls State, Eastern Michigan and Western Kentucky, I’d feel like this young team might actually have a chance to gain some traction.  Instead, Locksley’s pretty much guaranteed to have a 1-14 start to his head coaching career.

How New Mexico can avoid the bottom 10:  Locksley’s strong suit is recruiting, so maybe some of the youngsters he’s brought in can contribute immediately.  If so, then I’m being way too pessimistic in my assessment of this team.  Locksley showed his recruiting muscle earlier this year by going over to his old stomping grounds in Florida and signing Rivals 4-star defensive tackle Calvin Smith and 3-star quarterback Tarean Austin.

Preseason bottom 10 of 2010: #9 Washington State

Preseason bottom 10 of 2010: #10 UL Monroe