ESPN Independents and Others Blog

Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson

When DeWayne Walker accepted the job at New Mexico State, he knew he'd be fighting an uphill battle not only against the negativity that surrounds the Aggies' program, but also against the recruiting clock.

Walker had four commitments when he joined New Mexico State and just a month to fill an 18-player recruiting class. The Aggies return just 10 starters from last season and quarterback J.J. McDermott and receiver LaVorick Williams, who were starters heading into spring football, decided to transfer.

	AP Photo/Shari Vialpando
	It's going to take time for DeWayne Walker to make inroads in recruiting around the Southwest.

Walker admits that he and his staff have few connections in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, the areas that have been New Mexico State's most fertile recruiting grounds, and that many of his recruits during this signing period will probably come from California. Currently, Walker has no commitments from New Mexico.

"The thing that was difficult for us is that we got hired pretty late," Walker told ESPN.com. "Really trying to get into Texas without a lot of connections -- and we're looking at some kids in Texas and I think we're going to end up taking a couple kids -- but I just think my comfort zone right now is California, and I think we're going to have to finish this class out probably with more California kids just because that's where my connections are.

"But I think when we can get a fresh start for recruiting for next year's class, I think we can probably be a little more detailed in the New Mexico area, Arizona and Texas and just continue to recruit in California."

Walker also said to ensure that this year's class is able to help New Mexico State stay competitive, he's going to scour the junior college ranks for talent. The Aggies already have verbal commitments from Fullerton College quarterback Jeff Fleming and Fort Scott Community College quarterback Arvell Nelson, but Walker is hesitant to build his program on junior college stopgaps. While it's a quick fix for a program that hasn't won more than five games since 2002, it's not the long-term key to building a program.

"My strategy is to oversign," Walker said. "And what that means is that if you have 18 scholarships, you sign 23 guys and out of that, those five extra scholarships are high school kids. So, if I sign 23, those five high school kids will have to sit out one semester. That's a way to catch up and to balance out your team with high school kids and then the advantage, too, is that now those kids get to participate in spring ball. And even if you need to redshirt some of them, you can have a greyshirt year and a redshirt year. So it's almost like a guy going on his mission. They get more experience and you can build your team gradually with high school players."

Gradually is the key word. Walker said there are no allusions of making New Mexico State a player in the Western Athletic Conference overnight. The school reached seven wins just once in the past 40 years. It's won six games just three times during that span.

But several college football pundits believe that if anyone can bring in the players to turn New Mexico State around, it's Walker, who was one of the most dominant recruiters in the state of California the past few years.

"I think DeWayne Walker is in one of those scenarios where he took a no-win scenario-type job," said Tom Luginbill, the national recruiting director for ESPN's Scouts Inc. "I think he's a heck of a recruiter and a heck of an X's and O's guy, but I don't think you're going to see New Mexico State, at least right now, start making a huge push. In time, though, is he going to get into Texas and get his fair share of kids? I say yes."