Eric Olen has brought in 8 recruits since taking over the New Mexico including several who are highly rated. The MWC is going to be very challenging for the Ags in 2026.

Lobos Land Four Impact Transfers for 2025-26, Including JUCO All-American, USC Duo, and 7-Foot Big Man

The New Mexico men’s basketball team is reloading with serious firepower for the 2025-26 season.

One thing is clear about New Mexico’s new athletic director, Fern Lovo: He knows the kind of coaches he wants to hire and wastes no time hiring them.

Coaches like new Lobo basketball hire Eric Olen from UC San Diego and football coach Jason Eck from Idaho—leaders who come from smaller programs with a mindset focused on great opportunity, not limitations the might have had at past schools.

They’ve proven themselves at the mid-major level and arrive in Albuquerque with a hunger to compete, confident in their ability to succeed in the Mountain West.

Head coach Eric Olen announced the addition of four transfers who bring a mix of size, scoring, pedigree, and potential: junior college All-American Antonio Chol, brothers Kevin and Kallai Patton from USC, and JT Rock, a 7-foot-1 former Top 100 recruit from Iowa State.

Olen, entering his first full recruiting cycle at the helm of the Lobos, is already leaving a distinct mark on the roster by targeting players who bring not just talent, but versatility and long-term upside.

Whole article here: https://www.mwcconnection.com/2025/4/23/24414782/lobos-land-four-impact-transfers-including-juco-all-american-usc-duo7-foot-gaurd-gaurd-uriah-tenette

It seems like some Hornet fans are getting a little nervous about how many players Marion is bringing in that have had serious problems elsewhere. The following is a sequence of posts from a topic over on the Hornet football forum:

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After our latest announced recruits, I feel we have to have this discussion. We have several new players who have had felonies in the last few years and we are coming off a down season.

We just lost our best LB and our starting QB to the portal. It's not looking good.

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I don't think people really care about felonies these days... we just elected a convicted felon to lead our country.

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I believe the new players overall will be on good behavior if they’re taking football seriously at all. It’s not like you go to Sac St and don’t play well or get arrested then think you’ll have P4 schools or nfl owners interested.

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The whole "do things the right way" mantra went out the window when fans were calling for coaching heads during last season, regardless of the circumstances (starting senior QB quit, litany of injuries at various positions, redshirt freshman QB at the helm, etc). It should be evident more than ever after that campaign that fans only care about winning.

Couple that "win now above all else" fan sentiment with the current atmosphere in college athletics with the portal and revolving one year agreements with players and we are where we are. We've made our bed, now we get to lay in it.

I'll add that Coach Marion and Co have assembled a very talented roster. We should stack a good amount of wins next season regardless of who left in the portal. Enough wins to prevent Hornet fans from calling for Coach Marion's head? Well I guess that will remain to be seen.

https://bigskyfans.com/threads/which-will-we-see-more-of-from-hornet-football-in-2025.30068/

Gauchofreg took a look at the current rosters in the BW and he shows us as being guard heavy in a big way at the moment. We definitely need some front court players.

Davis: Unbalanced. Two open rides. Biggest need: frontcourt
PG: 1
Guard: 9
Wing: 1
Forward: 1
Center: 0

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/bigwest/current-status-of-bw-rosters-t29680.html

Full Riverside press release about Argenal:

https://gohighlanders.com/news/2025/5/1/mens-basketball-gus-argenal-named-uc-riverside-head-mens-basketball-coach.aspx

I'd like to see us get in a Top 25 Mid-Major Transfer list like this one. UCSB is #3, Hawaii is #13 while UNLV is #1 and 4 other current MWC teams are on this list.

I would assume that they can until they are actually in the FBS but I'm not positive about that...??

Great post! :up:

Well, given some of the current lawsuits against the NCAA for limiting the number years athletes can play, we'll probably be seeing players with who knows how many years of eligibility...seems like professional, college athletics will be here shortly...

Williams pleaded guilty to one of the 9 felony gun charges against him and then had that single felony reduced to a misdemeanor by a judge in a plea deal. So, technically on the record, he is not a convicted felon even though he pleaded guilty to a felony charge before the judge changed his guilty plea to a misdemeanor.

Williams pleaded guilty to one felony gun charge on Nov. 30 and one of his attorneys said the 19-year-old is not expected to face jail time.

Williams had faced nine felony counts and up to 30 years in prison after a shooting incident at his home on March 17 in which no one was injured. In a deal with prosecutors, Williams pleaded guilty to one felony count of making a criminal threat and to a special allegation of using a firearm during the threat.

In exchange, the other eight counts were dismissed and Williams was ordered to complete a gun safety course, attend anger management sessions and complete 80 hours of community service. Sentencing has been set for Aug. 12 in San Diego County Superior Court, when the charge would be reduced to a misdemeanor if Williams follows terms of the deal and avoids any criminal offenses, attorney Randy Grossman said.

https://fox5sandiego.com/sports/memphis-recruit-mikey-williams-enters-transfer-portal-5-weeks-after-plea-deal-in-gun-case/#:~:text=Prep%20basketball%20star%20Mikey%20Williams,offenses%2C%20attorney%20Randy%20Grossman%20said.&text=Williams%20was%20one%20of%20the,longer%20appears%20in%20the%20rankings.

$200K is very big amount of NIL for a player who averaged 5.1 ppg. I wonder where that kind of NIL money is coming from? Williams rated 5 stars out of high school and was headed to Memphis before he got arrested on 9 felony gun charges.

On the heels of Sacramento State hiring Shaquille O'Neal as general manager and Mike Bibby as head coach, ex-prep phenom Mikey Williams told ESPN on Tuesday that he has committed to play for the Hornets.

Williams transferred out of UCF to play under the tutelage of Bibby and Shaq at a basketball program adding big names. The freshman guard averaged 5.1 points in 14 minutes per game over 18 games for the Knights last season.

Williams left Memphis for UCF following an April 2023 arrest in which he faced nine felonies and a lengthy prison sentence after he was charged for allegedly firing a gun at a car full of people who had arrived at his home. The charges were reduced, and he pleaded guilty in November 2023 to a single felony count of making criminal threats with provisions that would allow him to avoid jail time.

He was sentenced to a year of summary probation in August and his felony charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, clearing the way for him to make his collegiate debut with the Knights last season.

Williams never played a game for Memphis, as he was away from the team while the legal process played out.

Williams, a 6-foot-3 guard with 3.3 million Instagram followers, was considered a five-star prospect early in his high school career, when he garnered national attention -- and praise from some of the NBA's top stars, including LeBron James -- for his dunking exploits and YouTube mixtapes.

Sacramento State is slated to open a new basketball facility on campus this fall. University president Luke Wood, an alum and the youngest president ever appointed in the California State University system, has been aggressive in his approach with the athletic programs, and the additions of Williams, O'Neal and Bibby showcase that.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/44923348/ex-hs-phenom-mikey-williams-leaves-ucf-sacramento-state

Carson Conklin, Sac's outstanding QB, has transferred to Fresno State. It's apparent that Marion could care less about working with any of the players from last season's roster. He's committed to getting the best FBS transfers he can find even if that means letting go of some really good players who were already on the roster. Players have been leaving in droves lately.

Here is a very thorough scouting report on Marcus Wilson:

https://www.cougcenter.com/2023/7/6/23786393/washington-state-mens-basketball-recruit-marcus-wilson-2024

Bibby signed Shaquille O'Neal's son, Shaquir O'Neal, recently and is now looking at former NBA player, Nate Robinson's son, Ny'ale Robinson:

:lol:

My wife and I stayed for most of the game.

Pinnick looked good and threw that beautiful bomb to Gbatu. Unfortunate that he got injured early. Harper and Rasor took all the snaps after Pinnick went down and looked pretty good. It looks like we have depth at QB.

Our WR's, Gbatu, Dobbins and Jones are not big but they sure are fast and athletic. Jordan Fisher looked great and Matteo Perez looked good too. Fisher has that quick burst of speed and is very elusive and Perez looked like he had more speed than I remember from last season.

The offense moved the ball pretty well and the defense made some nice stops also. It's hard to tell who really stood out because the coaches are changing players so often.

The only negatives were the number of injuries and our FG kicker missing 2 out of 3. Pinnick looked pretty discouraged when he got injured after he got pulled down awkwardly from behind. There must have been about 5 more players that got nicked up but most looked like fairly minor injuries.

We moved our season tickets into section 123 near DrMike and AgAlum so we're looking forward to meeting them and sitting around some avid Aggie fans in the fall. Go Ags!

Buchanan excelled as a ball-pursuing linebacker last season with a career-high 114 tackles and was also a strong blitzer with five sacks. He led Cal-Davis in tackles for two straight seasons before transferring to Cal for his fifth college season. He was mostly a quarterback growing up and in high school.

"I worked extremely hard, four years at Davis, and I feel all that work came to point where I was able to show what I was able to do on a national stage," Buchanan said. "I'm just super grateful to get the opportunity.

"I'm going to give everything I've got to this organization. I think about Raven linebackers, obviously Ray Lewis kind of epitomizes what a middle linebacker was for me growing up. I'm super-excited to learn from guys like Roquan (Smith) and just pick their brain."

The Ravens lost inside linebackers Malik Harrison and Chris Board during free agency and entered the draft looking for depth at the position. Third-year linebacker Trenton Simpson is returning, but his playing time decreased late in the 2024 season after beginning Week 1 as the starter opposite Roquan Smith. Buchanan can compete for snaps while also contributing on special teams.

"For me, special teams is going to be a priority," Buchanan said. "I'm super-excited to play special teams. I played special teams in college."

https://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/teddye-buchanan-ravens-fourth-round-nfl-draft

The following is from a post on the Hornet forum:

Okay everyone… here’s the 2025 All FBS Potential On Paper Team, all info from 24/7 Sports.
Man I hope the team building from the inside is matching the excitement from the outside.

Jaden Rashada - signed ASU, 44 national, 4 star/97 rating
Jordan Anderson - signed OSU, 253 national, 4 star/91 rating
Mikey Henderson - Signed OU, 307 National, 4 star/90 rating
Sam Adams II - signed UDub, 298 national, 4 star/90 rating
Brennon Scott - signed UNLV, 478 national, 3 star/88 rating
Damian Henderson - signed CSU, 475 national, 3 star/88 rating

Agiye Hall? Signed Bama/Texas/UCF, 45 National, 4 Star/97 rating… not signed
Itayvion Brown? - Minnesota/Sparty, 299 national, 4 star/90 rating… not signed

Jordan Herman - Florida/Charlotte
Savion Red - Texas/UNR
Diesel Gordon - UDub/Butler JC
Brodie Tagaloa - Nebraska
Warren Smith - Wazzu
Bear Tenney - Utah (not signed yet)
Rodney Hammond - Pitt
Deven Wright - Boise State/Texas State
Ricky Lee - UAB
Cardell Williams - Tulsa
Jace Wilson - UTSA
Nick Booker Brown - UTSA (not signed yet)
Jordan Williams - CSU
Oscar Moore - UTEP (not signed yet)
Malik Tullis - Eastern Michigan
Melvin Swindle - Eastern Michigan
Dylan Hampsten - SJSU
Dean Abdullah - SDSU
Logan Tanner - SDSU
Tim Conerly - UNLV
Keith Conley - UNLV
Damian McDaniel - UNLV
Davis Ambuehl - UNLV
Sammy Norris - UNLV

https://bigskyfans.com/threads/2025-offseason-portal-tracker.29969/page-18