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Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson

After years of being branded as a team based on defensive innovation, New Mexico is starting to allow its offense to be innovative, too.

New head coach Mike Locksley has spent the past 12 spring practices installing a no-huddle spread offense that he said his players are responding to simply because the offense is fun and gets more players involved.

	Chuck Rydlewski/Icon SMI
	New coach Mike Locksley is opening up the Lobos' offense and spreading the ball around.

For years, New Mexico was known as a defensive team that always had a stable of strong running backs. Now, Locksley said, everyone's getting involved and the ball is finding its way to a lot more players.

"I think that for a lot of years here they played great defense, and I think the philosophy was for the offense not to put the defense in bad situations," Locksley said. "They were going to win with playing good, hard, solid defense and not turn the ball over. Obviously, no offense wants to turn the ball over, but I think we've opened it up a little bit to where it's fun to play offense a little bit here, and if you're a playmaker you know you're going to find a way to get the ball in your hands."

Locksley's goal was to put 80 percent of the offense in by the end of spring. With two practices and the spring game remaining, he has installed about 70 percent of the offense, which is more than he was able to install during his first season at Illinois.

Much of that is because Illinois was a true West Coast offense when he got there, New Mexico had changed schemes a couple of times during the past four years, which gave the players a foundation for some of the things Locksley and his staff are trying to teach.

"I've been really pleased with how they've picked things up and put in a lot of time on their own," Locksley said. "We've got a bunch of gym rats that like football and put the extra time in on learning what needs to be put in."

With that said, Locksley notes that he's not ready to put out a depth chart just yet. Although he said some players have separated themselves, he's promoting competition through the summer and said he probably won't release his first depth chart until August.

Right now, he's allowing several quarterbacks  to run with the first team and whichever has the best rapport and best success will ultimately be the starter.

"We're a long ways away from naming a starting quarterback," Locksley said. "We're just kind of mixing and matching pieces to see what group and what players together give us the best chance to move the ball."

After just four weeks of practices with his team, Locksley said their willingness to learn has exceeded his expectations. Players are eager to learn the system and get involved in the offense. Locksley has opened up competition to everyone, regardless of what might have happened in the past, and several players who might not have gotten much playing time a year ago are taking advantage of it.

"This style of offense is a fun style for players," Locksley said. "It's friendly in terms of you're afforded the luxury of doing a lot of things, and if you're a guy that's a playmaker you know you're going to find a way to get the ball in this style of offense."