Preps: Cibola's Baum even more excited now to join Lobo football

Dec. 2—Since Jason Eck took over as the head football coach at the University of New Mexico, one of the things he emphasized was his desire to forge solid relationships with the state's high school coaches.

Which has not gone unnoticed, and Eck has made clear his interest in recruiting the state's athletes.

With the arrival Wednesday of the three-day, early Division I signing window, two metro-area athletes are planning to officially commit.

One of the two is Cleveland High offensive tackle Moses Sparks, who is signing with Utah.

The other, Cibola linebacker Hayes Baum, is going to be a Lobo.

And the timing clearly could not be better, what with UNM's massive success this season.

"Before the season, I was super excited to get there," said Baum, 18. "Watching their success has made me want to be there more and more."

The 6-foot, 215-pound Baum has been a multi-year star linebacker for the Cougars. He also played quite a bit of quarterback last season.

When he wasn't playing, he was attending nearly all the Lobo home games, and the program not being chosen for the Mountain West championship game was already on his mind.

"That's something we can strive for now for the next four years," Baum said.

Baum is signing with UNM inside the Cibola concourse on Wednesday afternoon.

He was privy to some of the inside mechanisms of the Lobo program during the fall.

"I was very curious about all the small, intricate details they did," he said, adding that he was able to spend some time with, and pick the brain of UNM's featured linebacker Jaxton Eck.

"I can't wait to get in there and just learn as much as I can from him," Baum said. "He's the smartest player on the field."

And Baum will be getting an early start; he is graduating from Cibola in a couple of weeks and will be a freshman at UNM come next month.

The majority of New Mexico prep football players who intend to sign with a college are likely to do so at the next signing period in February.

ALL-STARS: Bulldog Bowl in Artesia has not yet finished with its prep football obligations this season.

On Saturday, the state's most venerable prep venue plays host to the Small School and Large School Red vs. Green All-Star Games. The small schools are kicking off at noon. The larger school athletes are scheduled to kick off at 3 p.m.

Among the stars on the larger school "Red" roster are Baum and Sparks, and star quarterbacks Jordan Hatch from Cleveland and Derrick Warren from host Artesia.

Among the standouts on the "Green" roster are Bloomfield quarterback Manual Chavarria, plus Las Cruces QB Gunnar Guardiola and Bulldawgs tailback Danny Amaro.

One of the fun new recent elements is that players from a certain team may be split between the two rosters.

ASHLEY GOING D1: One of the top volleyball players in the metro area has committed to a Division I program.

Albuquerque High's senior outside hitter, Kaelynn Ashley, has committed to Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tennessee.

She registered 388 kills last season for the Bulldogs.