New Mexico State came tantalizingly close to a great season in 2001. Even after an 0-4 start, New Mexico State rallied and had a chance of playing in the New Orleans Bowl as the Sun Belt champion.

The Aggies opened with a loss to Louisville, then fell to three nationally ranked teams -- Texas, Oregon State and Kansas State. New Mexico rallied to win its next three games and entered the Middle Tennessee State game with a 3-4 overall and 2-0 conference record.

It was looking like four straight against MTSU until starting quarterback K.C. Enzminger went down with an injury with his team winning, 35-14, heading into the fourth quarter. The Aggies managed only 47 yards in the fourth quarter and lost 39-35.

The next week, the Aggies still had a chance to tie for the conference title, but gave up a touchdown with 18 seconds remaining to fall to eventual conference champion North Texas, 22-20. New Mexico State rallied once again to beat Arkansas State and Louisiana-Lafayette before losing to New Mexico in the season finale. That saddled the Aggies with a 5-7 record, an effort that was at once encouraging and disappointing.

"We had both of the top teams in our league last year on the ropes," New Mexico State coach Tony Samuel said. "We have a lot of high energy, hard-working kids. This is a great work ethic team.

"That is what is going to carry us a long way. We have a lot to learn, but this team is willing to do the work."

Samuel is confident his team can compete for the conference title even though all three starters were lost in the backfield and at linebacker.

"I think we have a chance to be good on both lines," Samuel said. "The offensive and defensive fronts set the tempo for the whole team.

"We have enough bodies on both sides, now we need to find our best five on each side and get them on the field."

Samuel changed New Mexico State’s off-season and spring routine by moving workouts and practices to early in the morning. Improvements in the training facility have also been instrumental, Samuel said.

"We tested it the last couple of days and it has been exceptional," he said. "A lot of records fell. That’s a good sign. A big step is that we expanded our work stations in our weight room.

"We are one of the few teams in America that can bring our entire team in and in one session, get our lifting done. That affects team unity. We also have more leaders by example on this team than last year."

Offensively, the Aggies will once again run the basic I-formation that has given them so much success in recent seasons. New Mexico State has finished in the top 25 in the country in rushing offense each of Samuel’s first five seasons. Last year, the Aggies finished No. 19 with an average of 207.7 yards per game despite playing seven teams ranked in the top 50 in rush defense -- New Mexico, Texas, Kansas State, North Texas, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisville and MTSU.

By losing all three starters in the backfield, the Aggies lost 3,349 of the 4,324 yards of total offense from a year ago.

Gone at quarterback is Enzminger, who finished with 1,941 yards. The most experienced returnee is sophomore Buck Pierce (6-1, 204), who played in 11 of the Aggies’ 12 games last year. He rushed for 147 yards and passed for 215. He had a 75-yard run against Louisville and completed 54 percent of his passes.

"We put Buck in some tough situations," Samuel said. "We went a little bit away from our philosophy of playing more than one quarterback. If we had a player head and shoulders above another player, we were going to play just one.

"K.C. was clearly ahead of Buck last year. It backfired a little bit when K.C. got hurt late in the year. Buck was a little rusty because he didn’t get some early repetitions."

Consequently, Pierce will share playing time with either red-shirt freshman Paul Dombrowski (6-1, 208) or red-shirt freshman Carl Scaffidi (6-3, 200) this season.

"We’ve got three quarterbacks this spring," Samuel said. "The competition should be solid. Dombrowski is a hard working kid with a lot of talent."

Dombrowski was a standout at Sultana High in Hesperia, Calif. He was the first player in San Bernardino County history to rush and pass for at least 1,000 yards in the same season. Scaffidi ran the Aggie scout team last year after transferring from South Florida.

The Aggies lost tailback Kenton Keith (839 yards) and fullback Keeon Johnson (569 yards).

The most experienced returnee at tailback is senior Walter Taylor (5-9, 180), who rushed for 317 yards and one touchdown last year. He had 117 yards on eight carries against Arizona State as a sophomore and 113 yards on 13 carries last year against Texas.

Another senior, Curtis Snowton (5-11, 190), saw limited action last year but ran for 2,545 yards and 24 touchdowns in two seasons at Merced College in New Orleans. Junior Tony Bostic (5-9, 196) has been outstanding on special teams and red-shirt freshman Tony Irions (5-10, 197) rushed for 2,237 yards his final two seasons at Southeast High School in Lincoln, Neb.

Also in the picture is junior Eric Higgins (5-10, 200), who averaged 117 yards per game last year at Reedley (Calif.) Junior College.

"We pretty much lost our entire backfield, but we have a slew of impressive looking kids," Samuel said. "It will be the most competitive situation on the team."

Higgins ran for 89 yards on 14 carries in the spring game and Irions had 48 yards on 11 carries. Walk-on running back Roberto Muro (5-9, 191) of Las Cruces High School led all rushers with 93 yards on 15 carries.

Junior Marcus Dixon (5-8, 231) is the only experienced fullback. He ran for 76 yards on 22 carries and scored three touchdowns last year.

Two-year starter P.J. Winston (6-0, 188), a senior, has led the Aggies in pass receptions each of the last two years with 80 for 1,123 yards and eight touchdowns. He should be an all-conference candidate. Winston has caught a pass in 118 consecutive games.

Senior H.B. Briscoe (6-3, 188) caught 32 passes for 377 yards and two touchdowns last year. He has an 11-game streak with at least one catch.

Also returning are junior Ronshay Jenkins (5-7, 147) and red-shirt junior Leon Oloya (6-2, 190). Jenkins had 10 receptions for 136 yards last year, while Oloya missed the 2001 season with a leg injury. He caught nine passes two years ago.

Junior college transfer Chris Lumpkin (6-1, 185) participated in spring drills after catching 58 passes for 921 yards and six touchdowns last year at Grossmont College. The rest of the prospects at wide receiver are red-shirt freshman Keith Mouton (5-6, 182) and sophomore Chris Duncan (6-2, 191), who played on special tams last year.

At tight end, two-year starter Alex Davis (6-4, 230), a junior, returns. He caught seven passes for 104 yards last year. His backups will be senior Chris Gocke (6-4, 246) and red-shirt freshman Travis Samuel (6-5, 259).

The Aggies will miss three-year starter and first-team All-Sun Belt pick Tony Wragge at right guard and starter Jason Jewell at left tackle.

Three starters return: senior left guard Shalimar Jackson (6-3, 324), senior center B.J. VanBriesen (6-3, 325) and senior right tackle Steve Mascorro (6-5, 346).

Jackson has started 24 consecutive games while Mascorro started the last nine games last year and VanBriesen the last five.

The right guard should be sophomore Steve Subia (6-3, 370) while senior Terry Givens (6-4, 335) will start at left tackle. Subia played in the first four games last year before being injury and Givens started the first three games at right tackle.

The most experienced backup will be junior Andy Dale (6-1, 282), who started the first seven games last year. Junior college transfer Nick Mangosing (6-5, 304), who started his career at Purdue, could move into the lineup.

Junior Dario Aguiniga (5-11, 192) returns to handle the place-kicker duties. He was a second-team All-Sun Belt pick last year after making 8-of-11 field-goal attempts. He made a 29-yard field goal to beat Louisiana-Lafayette, 49-46.

Depth in the defensive line was a problem for New Mexico State last year, but should be better in 2002.

Returning in the middle are junior starters Tommy Laborin (6-3, 318) and Joe Olivo (6-2, 252). Olivo was a first-team all-conference pick last year, leading the Aggies in tackles for loss with 10 and tying for the team lead in sacks with four. He had 44 tackles. Laborin started all 12 games at defensive tackle and finished with 22 tackles.

The backups at the interior positions will be sophomore Lionel Apineru (6-1, 280), senior Jeremy Barth (6-2, 300) and red-shirt freshmen Chase Spicer (6-5, 248) and Sam Ford (6-4, 282).

Gone at the ends are Mike Boganowski and Jamar Cain, who combined for 66 tackles. The starters are expected to be sophomores Thomas Albrecht (6-1, 244) and Greg Scaffidi (6-4, 255). Albrecht joined the Aggies late last fall, but earned valuable playing time. Scaffidi started two games late last season when Boganowski was hurt. He finished with 21 tackles.

Three starters must be replaced at this important position with the loss of D’Wayne Taylor (107 tackles), Josh Watts (70 tackles) and Jamar Lawrence (50 tackles).

"We have to make sure we have healthy people in there," Samuel said. "We need to identify who is going to fill these positions. We could move some guys from other positions to the linebacker spot.

"If we need to move a guy, then we will move a guy. It is wide open. We have some injuries and we don’t have a lot of guys that are battle-tested there."

Sophomore Simon Ocampo (5-11, 205) returns in the middle. He sat out most of the spring contact drills. Returning to compete for a starting position will be red-shirt freshman Jimmy Cottrell (6-1, 224), who missed last season with a foot injury. Depth will come from sophomore Adam DeGroff (5-11, 207) and red-shirt freshman Fred Winston (5-8, 214).

The "will" linebacker features two experienced players and a key junior college transfer. Atop the depth chart is sophomore Travis Jones (5-11, 208). The backups will be junior Julmar Howard (5-10, 201) and junior college transfer Richard Glover, Jr. (5-11, 226), a sophomore who started last year at Bakersfield (Calif.) College. He played on a team that allowed only 193 yards per game.

At "sam" linebacker, the starter is expected to be junior college transfer Tim Patrick (6-1, 224), who missed all of the 2001 season with an injury after starting on a national junior college championship team at Glendale (Ariz.) Community College in 2000.

Samuel is optimistic about the secondary, where two experienced starters return.

Senior strong safety Siddeeq Shabazz (5-11, 202) was voted first-team all-conference last year. He tied for the league lead in tackles with 107 and intercepted two passes. Shabazz also forced three fumbles.

Senior free safety Tyrone Gifford (6-0, 201) finished third on the team in tackles last year with 84. He led the team with four interceptions.

The backups at safety will be senior Nick Crawford (6-1, 171), junior James Ewing (5-11, 200) and senior Lawrence McIntosh (5-11, 200).

"I think they can both do better," Samuel said of Shabazz and Gifford. "Siddeeq really stands out. Tyrone has a lot to do to live up to his athletic ability. He is very talented."

The Aggies lost both starters at cornerback in Corey Paul and Paul Holland. Returning is senior Robert Candidate (5-8, 177), who missed the 2001 season with an injury. He had 26 tackles in 2000 and led the Aggies in kickoff return average.

Candidate’s backups will be red-shirt freshmen Matt Griebel (5-10, 175) and Cameron Wright (6-1, 177).

The starter at the other corner should be senior Darrell Bernard (5-11, 177), who made 21 tackles last year after transferring from West Hills (Calif.) College.

Punter Brian Copple (6-1, 200) returns for his senior season. He averaged 37.2 yards per kick last year with eight landing inside the 20-yard line.

"The punting was better last year, but there is a lot of room for improvement," Samuel said. "I think we will get more out of Copple this year."

New Mexico State improved in this area last year, limiting its opponents to 18.2 yards per kickoff return. Opponent punt return average was also down from 13.3 in 2000 to 9.3

Lukins and Pauls were standouts on the special teams. Lukins returned two kickoffs for touchdowns and was third in the conference in kickoff return average at 23.7 yards per return. Paul was second in the league in punt returns at 8.5 yards.

Winston and Jenkins both returned kickoffs last year and Gifford also saw time returning punts. He had an 88-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Included in the recruiting class are four junior college players who participated in spring drills -- Higgins at running back, Mangosing on the offensive line, Imperial at cornerback and Lumpkin at receiver.

The Aggies also signed two high school quarterbacks in Tyrell Spain (6-2, 190) from Hoover High School in San Diego and Joey Vincent (6-1, 190) from Hamilton High in Chandleer, Ariz.

Spain was a three-year starter at Hoover, two at quarterback when he led his team to a 15-7-1 record. During his senior season, Spain threw for 1,200 yards and 17 touchdowns while running for nine scores. He was also a speedster on the track team.

"He is an outstanding young man and an outstanding athlete," Hoover coach Willie Matson said. "USC was looking at him as a defensive back. Arizona was looking at him as a wide receiver, but he wants to play quarterback. He has excellent speed and can throw the ball 70 yards. He is a kid that grows on you. He is just a good person."

Vincent was a first-team Class 5A all-state pick, leading Hamilton to a 12-2 record and runner-up spot in the state playoffs. He accounted for 43 touchdowns as a senior, rushing for 1,048 yards and throwing for 2,184.

"I’ve been doing this for 19 years and he’s as good as I’ve seen," Hamilton coach John Wrenn said. "He can play anywhere in the country. He will surprise a lot of people."

Another standout in the class was running back/defensive back Nathan Nuttall from Clovis (N.M.) High School. He was a first-team all-state pick in leading Clovis to the Class 5A state title with a 13-0 record. He rushed for 1,643 yards and scored 27 touchdowns.

The rest of the high school class included four defensive linemen, two defensive backs, two offensive lineman and one receiver in Tim Tolbert (6-3, 180) from Mayfield High in Las Cruces.

Tolbert started at both wide receiver and safety and returned punts for Mayfield. He caught 30 passes for 680 yards and eight touchdowns last year.

The Aggies run an exciting option-oriented offense that has always been successful. The switch to more of a zone defense last year and a nickel package shored up the defense.

Once again, the Aggies will play a 12-game regular-season schedule. And the opposition will be very good early with games against Southeastern Conference teams South Carolina and Georgia, one against California from the Pac-10 and New Mexico from the Mountain West.

The Aggies will then camp out at home for four of their next five games against Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, MTSU and rival UTEP. The season will end with road games at Utah State, North Texas and Idaho.

"I really like our home schedule and I like the set-up for conference play," Samuel said. "We could break a lot of home attendance records."

This is a team that could walk away with the conference championship and earn a berth in the New Orleans Bowl. It almost happened last year when the Aggies were just seconds from an undefeated conference record.