New Mexico Lobos training ahead of Saturday’s game against Hawaii

New Mexico head coach Danny Gonzales was in a festive mood for one of the few times during this pandemic-riddled football season.

On a Monday night at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas — where the Lobos are training ahead of Saturday’s game in Hawaii — Gonzales was overseeing the first full-squad practice of the year.

“We let them warm up,” Gonzales said. “Just like when you see cheetahs get their prey in the jungle, they warm up first. We had that conversation. We warmed up for a few minutes.”

Gonzales spoke of a practice in which players would not be tackled to the ground, but his wink suggested otherwise. “I didn’t have a problem if they fell onto each other,” Gonzales said. “We were getting after them to ‘run into’ each other. After they got the idea, ‘this crazy dude wants us to do it, we might as well do it,’ it was fun and it was good.”

It was a physical education for a team that had been cooped up and under-manned because of its home state’s coronavirus count and accompanying safety and health restrictions.

“Running into each other, like we did (Monday) night, will help our offensive line,” Gonzales said. “Now, there are some guys that believe in the philosophy, ‘if you beat ’em up (in practices) during the week too much, they’re not going to be good on Saturday.’ Well, guess what? That ain’t my philosophy. So they’d better figure out how to fight through that stuff so we can be a more physical, tougher football team. And, so, I’m like a kid in Christmas, man, watching what we did (on Monday) night, it was fun. We’re still not very good at it, but we’ll get better at it.”

The Lobos have overcome several challenges to make it to this point. Spring workouts and the initial training camp in August were canceled because of the pandemic. When the Mountain West announced in late September the season would start on Oct. 24, the Lobos had to wait a week before an agreement was reached with state leaders to allow practices. Practices were paused in early October when eight players and an assistant coach tested positive for the virus. The scheduled Oct. 24 opener against Colorado State was canceled because of a spike in cases in New Mexico’s Bernalillo County.

It then was decided that the Lobos would set up camp in Las Vegas between last weekend’s game against San Jose State and this Saturday’s game against Hawaii. Following the 38-21 loss to the Spartans, the Lobos returned to Albuquerque, N.M., for a day. UNM’s equipment staff loaded a semi full of gear and made the 527-mile drive from San Jose to Las Vegas.

The Lobos traveled to Las Vegas on Monday. Once there, several coaches and staff helped unload the equipment from the semi. The equipment staff was short-handed because three of their equipment managers were added as walk-on players to the football roster.

Except for team meetings, in which chairs are 6 feet apart in the hotel ballroom, and practices, the players are separated from each other. Boxed meals are delivered to each player’s room. Gonzales said every member of the traveling party is tested three times a week. The Lobos were tested on Tuesday. Until those resulted are received, the Lobos will not start today’s meetings or practice.

“We’ve got a bunch of people doing what’s out of the norm for them for us to have the opportunity (to play) that we’re having,” Gonzales said.