UNM football: LB Jaxton Eck on choosing UNM, spring practice and more

Mar. 19—When a player enters the transfer portal, there is something known as a "do not contact" tag. If selected, schools can't contact a player unless he or she initiates through the portal's channels. It is generally regarded as a near-certain sign a player already knows where they'll end up, poorly enforced tampering rules be damned.

Jaxton Eck had no such tag. And why would he?

He wasn't sure where he was going.

"I kept mine open to contact," the 6-foot-1, 228-pound Idaho transfer said last Thursday, "just to see what my options were."

There was, of course, an obvious one. After all, nobody was surprised when Eck — the oldest son of former Idaho and current New Mexico head coach Jason Eck — decided to join his dad this winter for a rebuild in Albuquerque. From the outside, it seemed like a foregone conclusion, the one situation where a do-not-contact tag made sense.

Or was it? After entering the portal on Dec. 16, Jaxton Eck — a first team All-Big Sky linebacker last season — posted offers from Power Four programs such as North Carolina State, Stanford and Michigan State. Group of Five schools such as Western Michigan, Coastal Carolina and UMass also expressed interest in one of the key cogs of the Vandals' defense, a tackling machine on a team that finished 10-4 and advanced to the FCS quarterfinals.

At his introductory press conference in December, Jason only said he could confirm Jaxton was being recruited by UNM — nothing more, nothing less. The pitch itself, father to son, might have been as simple.

"He said he'd support me no matter what I do," Jaxton remembered, "but (his father added), 'obviously, I'd love to have you come with.'"

In the end, a visit to Albuquerque ("I loved it," he said) helped make the decision.

Now Jaxton Eck is a Lobo, taking in the first days of spring practice from the sideline as he recovers from offseason surgery.

Few know where this could be going as well as him.

"We definitely have a lot of talent," Eck said after practice last Thursday. "It's just kinda getting everybody on the same page, just a lot of guys coming from different schools. I think (it's) more (of) the chemistry and the communication aspect we just gotta keep growing in.

"But I think guys are flying around, playing hard. So it's been good."

Eck represents one of seven Idaho transfers, a chunk of a roster largely remade through the FCS ranks. He shared the sideline with some, he played against plenty of others, bringing down a handful among a team-high 111 total tackles last season.

Eck can tell you about them, too. For example, Idaho transfer running back Deshaun Buchanan: "Has great change of direction. Can make really sharp cuts. He's elusive, so that's what separates him."

Or Weber State transfer running back Damon Bankston: "Really quick. He has good short-area burst. And then once he gets to the second level, he can run by guys. Playing against a guy like that that's dynamic, you have to take good angles."

And Montana State transfer running back Scottre Humphrey: "Physical, tough to bring down. You can't arm-tackle."

Even in his own position group, there's familiarity. Eck, a Brookings (South Dakota) High School graduate, remembers linebacker Randolph Kpai as a four-star prospect out of Washington (South Dakota) High School 45 minutes down the road — "the guy in South Dakota," he said.

"He probably didn't know me," Eck laughed.

When Eck was a freshman at Idaho, his father was in his second year of a steady climb back to relevancy after the program took a hit dropping from FBS to FCS. The culture Jaxton saw there was what helped sell him as a recruit, perhaps just as much — if not more — than any family ties.

The start then, he said, is similar to what he's seeing now.

"A lot of guys (will) have fun being a part of this program, (will) like the way we do things," Eck said. "Obviously, they push us and challenge us, but it's also a fun environment where you can be yourself, too. Like they don't care if you wear a hat to meetings — you can just express yourself and be yourself and I think that makes guys feel welcome, to just feel like they can be them.

"And I think that just makes the team closer."

The family ties didn't hurt, though.

"It's really cool," he said. "It's a blessing just to have my family be at every game ... Growing up, (Jason) wasn't always able to come to every game — just being on the road if he had an away game. So having him at every game is a really cool experience."

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UNM football: LB Jaxton Eck on choosing UNM, spring practice and more

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