2016 New Mexico State Aggies football team

The 2016 New Mexico State Aggies football team represented New Mexico State University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Aggies played their home games at Aggie Memorial Stadium in Las Cruces, New Mexico and competed in the Sun Belt Conference. They were led by fourth–year head coach Doug Martin. Tyler Rogers was the team's quarterback.

2016 New Mexico State Aggies football
Conference	Sun Belt Conference
2016 record	3–9 (2–6 Sun Belt)
Head coach	Doug Martin (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Doug Martin (2nd as OC, 4th overall season)
Defensive coordinator	Frank Spaziani (1st season)
Home stadium	Aggie Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 30,343)

2016 Sun Belt Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Appalachian State +		7	–	1					10	–	3
Arkansas State +		7	–	1					8	–	5
Troy		6	–	2					10	–	3
Idaho		6	–	2					9	–	4
Louisiana–Lafayette		5	–	3					6	–	7
Georgia Southern		4	–	4					5	–	7
Louisiana–Monroe		3	–	5					4	–	8
South Alabama		2	–	6					6	–	7
Georgia State		2	–	6					3	–	9
New Mexico State		2	–	6					3	–	9
Texas State		0	–	8					2	–	10
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Preseason

In 2015, New Mexico State compiled a 3–9 record (3–5 in conference play) during the regular season, failing to qualify for a bowl game for the fifty-fifth consecutive season.

New Mexico State had a coaching shake up prior to the season, when Martin hired defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani, whom Martin served as offensive coordinator for at Boston College in 2012.[1] Spaziani replaced Zane Vance who served as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in 2015. Vance was retained and promoted to Assistant Head Coach, Defensive Ends coach and Special Teams Coordinator.

Recruiting

Position key

Back	B		Center	C		Cornerback	CB		Defensive back	DB
Defensive end	DE		Defensive lineman	DL		Defensive tackle	DT		End	E
Fullback	FB		Guard	G		Halfback	HB		Kicker	K
Kickoff returner	KR		Offensive tackle	OT		Offensive lineman	OL		Linebacker	LB
Long snapper	LS		Punter	P		Punt returner	PR		Quarterback	QB
Running back	RB		Safety	S		Tight end	TE		Wide receiver	WR

Recruits

New Mexico State's recruiting class consisted of 23 recruits. New Mexico State's recruiting class was ranked 114th by Scout, 129th by 247Sports.com, not rated by Rivals and not rated by ESPN.[2][3][4][5]

US college sports recruiting information for 2016 recruits
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	40^‡	Commit date
Josh Aganon WR	Scottsdale, Arizona	Mesa Community College	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	--	Dec 16, 2015
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN: N/A
Darius Anderson DT	Fresno, Texas	Hightower H.S.	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	301 lb (137 kg)	--	Feb 3, 2016
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN: N/A
Drew Dan WR	Muskogee, Oklahoma	Checotah H.S.	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	--	Feb 3, 2016
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN: N/A
Jefferson Hagen OL	Moorpark, California	Moorpark College	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	290 lb (130 kg)	--	Apr 6, 2016
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN: N/A
Bobby Hill DT	Long Beach, California	Orange Coast College	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	285 lb (129 kg)	--	Feb 3, 2016
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN: N/A
Jason Huntley RB	Arlington, Texas	Martin H.S.	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	--	Feb 3, 2016
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN: N/A
Cameron Matthews QB	Fort Worth, Texas	Trinity Valley School	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	--	Feb 3, 2016
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 114   Rivals: NR  247Sports: 129  ESPN: NR
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 2, 2016. "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 2, 2016.

Schedule

New Mexico State Aggies announced its 2016 football schedule on March 3, 2016. The 2016 schedule consists of 5 home and 7 away games in the regular season. The Aggies will host Sun Belt foes Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Louisiana–Lafayette, and Texas State, and will travel to Arkansas State, Idaho, South Alabama, and Troy. New Mexico State will skip out on two Sun Belt teams this season, Georgia State and Louisiana–Monroe.[6]

The team will play four non–conference games, one home game against New Mexico from the Mountain West Conference, and will travel to three road games against UTEP from Conference USA (C–USA), and Kentucky and Texas A&M both from the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	6:00 PM	at UTEP*	Sun Bowl El Paso, TX (Battle of I-10)	beIN	L 22–38	30,119
September 10	6:00 PM	New Mexico*	Aggie Memorial Stadium Las Cruces, NM (Rio Grande Rivalry)	Aggie Vision/ESPN3	W 32–31	17,852
September 17	2:00 PM	at Kentucky*	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY	SECN	L 42–62	49,669
September 24	4:00 PM	at Troy	Veterans Memorial Stadium Troy, AL	ESPN3	L 6–52	21,146
October 1	6:00 PM	Louisiana–Lafayette	Aggie Memorial Stadium Las Cruces, NM	ESPN3	W 37–31 ^2OT	8,142
October 15	3:00 PM	at Idaho	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	ALT2/ESPN3	L 23–55	10,278
October 22	6:00 PM	Georgia Southern	Aggie Memorial Stadium Las Cruces, NM	Aggie Vision/ESPN3	L 19–22	10,085
October 29	5:30 PM	at No. 9 Texas A&M*	Kyle Field College Station, TX	ESPNU	L 10–52	99,960
November 12	1:00 PM	at Arkansas State	Centennial Bank Stadium Jonesboro, AR	ESPN3	L 22–41	20,178
November 19	2:00 PM	Texas State	Aggie Memorial Stadium Las Cruces, NM	Aggie Vision/ESPN3	W 50–10	6,280
November 26	2:00 PM	Appalachian State	Aggie Memorial Stadium Las Cruces, NM	Aggie Vision/ESPN3	L 7–37	5,366
December 3	11:00 AM	at South Alabama	Ladd–Peebles Stadium Mobile, AL	ESPN3	L 28–35	14,812
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game All times are in Mountain time

Schedule Source:[7]

Game summaries

at UTEP

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	3	0	13	6	22
Miners	7	17	7	7	38

See also: 2016 UTEP Miners football team and Battle of I-10

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
35–56–2	2015	UTEP, 50–47

New Mexico

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lobos	14	3	7	7	31
Aggies	3	12	7	10	32

See also: 2016 New Mexico Lobos football team and Rio Grande Rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
31–70–5	2015	UNM, 38–29

at Kentucky

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	21	14	7	0	42
Wildcats	14	21	14	13	62

See also: 2016 Kentucky Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Troy

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	0	0	6	0	6
Trojans	7	24	14	7	52

See also: 2016 Troy Trojans football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–2	2015	TROY, 52–7

Louisiana–Lafayette

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
Ragin' Cajuns	7	6	8	3	7	0	31
Aggies	7	14	0	3	7	6	37

See also: 2016 Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–6	2015	NMSU, 37–34

at Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	13	3	0	7	23
Vandals	7	20	21	7	55

See also: 2016 Idaho Vandals football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–15	2015	NMSU, 55–48

Georgia Southern

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	3	3	3	13	22
Aggies	0	9	3	7	19

See also: 2016 Georgia Southern Eagles football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–2	2015	GASO, 56–26

at Texas A&M

	1	2	3	4	Total
NMSU Aggies	0	3	0	7	10
#9 TXAM Aggies	14	10	21	7	52

See also: 2016 Texas A&M Aggies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Arkansas State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	3	3	9	7	22
Red Wolves	13	14	14	0	41

See also: 2016 Arkansas State Red Wolves football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–4	2015	ASU, 52–28

Texas State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	0	0	3	7	10
Aggies	28	10	3	9	50

See also: 2016 Texas State Bobcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–2	2015	NMSU, 31–21

Appalachian State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mountaineers	17	3	10	7	37
Aggies	0	7	0	0	7

See also: 2016 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at South Alabama

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	0	7	7	14	28
Jaguars	7	0	7	21	35

See also: 2016 South Alabama Jaguars football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Roster

2016 New Mexico State Aggies football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 1 Royce Caldwell So WR 2 O. J. Clark  Fr RB 3 Larry Rose III Jr WR 4 Cassius Corley  So WR 5 Tyrain Taylor Sr WR 6 Josh Aganon Jr WR 7 Gregory Hogan  Jr RB 8 King Burke  Jr QB 11 Conner Cramer Jr QB 12 Nick Jeanty  So WR 13 Johnathan Boone  So RB 14 Jason Huntley Fr WR 15 Drew Dan Fr WR 16 Jaleel Scott Jr QB 17 Tyler Rogers Sr RB 18 Robert Wiggins Fr WR 19 Isaiah McIntyre Fr RB 20 Brandyn Leonard  Fr RB 22 Xavier Hall Sr QB 23 Dominic Johnson Fr RB 26 Gamar Girdy Fr RB 28 C. J. Boston  Fr OL 50 Abram Holland  Sr OL 51 Thomas McGwire  Jr OL 54 Spence Ueli-Faatoalia  Jr OL 55 Sebastian Anderson  Fr OL 58 Dezmand Candielarie Jr OL 61 Jefferson Hagan Jr OL 62 Anthony McMeans Sr OL 65 Tony Bello  Fr OL 67 Kolton Bob  Fr OL 69 Tyler DuBry Fr OL 72 Brayton Medina  Jr OL 74 Jamin Smith Jr OL 75 Noah Lopez Fr OL 76 Sage Doxtater  Fr OL 78 Brian Trujillo  Fr WR 80 Anthony Muse  Fr WR 81 Rhyan Araiza  Fr TE 82 Ty Atencio  Sr WR 84 Cameron Loos Fr WR 86 Troy Posey  Jr TE 88 Clayton Granch Sr TE 89 Jackson Solbeck So	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 1 Jacob Nwangwa Jr DB 2 Terrill Hanks So LB 3 Derek Ibekwe Jr DB 4 DeMarcus Owens So DB 6 Christian Gibson So LB 7 Javahn Fergurson So DE 8 Jassavia Reese So DL 9 Stody Bradley Jr DL 10 Cedric Wilcots II  Fr DB 11 Tre Wilcoxen  Jr DB 12 Tymon Locklin Fr DB 13 Austin Shaw Fr DB 14 Dion Henrique So DE 15 Brett Kowalski  Fr LB 17 Travis Parnell  Fr DE 18 Derek Watson Fr DB 19 Austin Perkins  Fr LB 20 Jonathan Hood So DB 21 Jaden Wright Jr DB 23 Jerrion Burton  Jr DB 24 Sy Slater  Fr DB 25 Samuel Oyenguga  Sr LB 28 Shane Jackson  Fr DB 29 Jared Phipps Fr DB 30 Brandon Bell Fr LB 31 Dalton Herrington Jr LB 32 Dalton Rocha  Jr DE 34 Noah Brown  Sr DB 35 Malik Demby  So DB 36 Dallas Hart Jr LB 38 Chris Acosta  Jr LB 40 Robert Wagner  Sr LB 43 Billy Nipp  So LB 44 Will Clement  So DE 48 Kalei Auelua  Jr DL 51 Roy Lopez Fr LB 53 Rodney Butler Sr DL 59 Brandon Agomuo  So DL 63 DeShawnte Lloyd Jr DL 73 Keanu Higgins  Jr DL 90 Kourtland Busby Jr DL 92 Humberto Renteria  So DL 93 Drew James  Sr DL 97 Bobby Hill Jr DL 98 Darius Anderson Fr DL 99 Myles Vigne Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 24 Parker Davidson So P 19 Payton Theisler Fr LS 46 Kennon Nunez  Fr LS 47 Andrew Kenney Sr P 49 Max Wren Jr	Head coach Doug Martin (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks) Coordinators/assistant coaches Zane Vance (Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Ends/Special Teams Coordinator) Frank Spaziani (Defensive Coordinator) Kevin McKeethan (Inside Wide Receivers/Pass Game Coordinator/Recruiting Coordinator) Andy Richman (Offensive Line Coach/Run Game Coordinator) Brian Bell (Secondary) Matt Christian (Running Backs) Kerry Locklin (Defensive Tackles) Cory Martin (Outside Wide Receivers) Oliver Soukup (Linebackers) Garrett Anderson (Graduate Assistant) Kai Brown (Graduate Assistant) Spiffy Evans (Graduate Assistant) Robert Patel (Video Coordinator) Ryan Robinson (Player Development Coordinator) Don Decker (Director of Sport Performance) Akeem Robinson (Sports Performance Coaching Assistant) Zach Witherspoon (Sports Performance Coaching Assistant) Martha Valdez (Administrative Assistant) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: October 19, 2016

References

1. Jason Groves (January 8, 2016). "NMSU FOOTBALL: Martin hires former Boston College head coach Frank Spaziani to lead defense". www.lcsun-news.com. Las Cruses Sun-News. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
2. "2016 Team Rankings". Scout.com. Scout. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
3. "2016 Team Rankings". Rivals.com. Yahoo!. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
4. "2016 Team Rankings". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
5. "2016 Team Rankings". www.247sports.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
6. "NM State Announces 2016 Football Schedule" (Press release). New Mexico State University Department of Athletics. March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
7. "2016 New Mexico State Aggies Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved March 18, 2016.