UNM football: Moon enters transfer portal

Dec. 20—Volcano Vista graduate Cody Moon, the New Mexico Lobos' leading tackler in 2022 and a second-team All-Mountain West Conference linebacker, has entered the NCAA's transfer portal.

Moon entered the UNM program as a walk-on in 2020, redshirted that year and played the past two seasons but has three years of eligibility remaining due to COVID-19 provisions.

He was UNM's nominee for the Burlsworth Trophy, presented annually to a former walk-on judged most outstanding in a given season. Moon also was UNM's Burlsworth nominee in 2021.

Moon is the 11th member of the 2022 UNM team known to have entered the transfer portal and the fourth defensive starter to do so, preceded by freshman All-America safety A.J. Haulcy, defensive end Jake Saltonstall and safety Ronald Wilson. Clovis defensive end Jaden Phillips saw considerable action in 2022 as a top reserve.

Moon, a lanky 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, led the team with 105 tackles during the Lobos' 2-10 season, becoming the first UNM player to make 100-plus tackles in a season since linebacker Dakota Cox did so in 2016.

As first reported by online recruiting guru Mike Farrell, Moon entered the portal on Monday, two days after it was announced that UNM defensive coordinator Rocky Long was leaving to take the D-coordinator's post at Syracuse. Long also was UNM's linebackers coach during Moon's first two seasons in the program.

On Tuesday, Moon tweeted that he'd received his first scholarship offer as a portal entry — from San Diego State, UNM's Mountain West Conference rival.

RECRUITING: Three junior-college players have committed to UNM in the past several days in advance of Wednesday's signing day.

They are:

Offensive lineman Devon Smith, 6-5, 315 pounds, from Jones College in Ellisville, Mississippi; wide receiver Alex Murrell, 6-3, 205 pounds, from Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California; and wide receiver Duke Miller, 6-1, 170 pounds, from East Mississippi CC in Scooba, Mississippi.

Murrell caught 39 passes for 460 yards and six touchdowns this season. Miller had 57 catches for 622 yards and six TDs. All three will be juniors in 2023.

Smith, Murrell and Miller join at least seven other players who have committed to UNM: La Cueva quarterback Aidan Armenta; Cleveland athlete Evan Wysong; quarterback Devon Dampier of Saquaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona; Cleveland wide receiver Nic Trujillo; El Paso Austin linebacker Jayden Wilson; running back Dorian Lewis of Coffeyville (Kansas) CC, a former Cleveland High School star; and Skylar Cook, a defensive back from Central High School in El Centro, California.

The Lobos have offers out to several other junior-college players.

Because of the introduction of the transfer portal, there no longer is a 25-scholarship annual limit for signing day. Programs may not exceed the overall 85-scholarship limit.

DESTINATIONS: None of UNM's transfer-portal entries are known to have committed to another school, but several of them have options.

Haulcy has offers from Kansas State and Houston and is making an official recruiting visit to Ole Miss. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining plus a redshirt year.

Saltonstall, a graduate transfer, has offers from Samford, Tarleton and North Dakota. He has one season of eligibility remaining.

Phillips has an offer from Northwestern State in Natchitoches, Louisiana. He has two seasons plus a redshirt year available.

No offers have been noted for Wilson, who had 46 tackles and two interceptions this past season, or for wide receiver Geordon Porter, who led UNM with 312 receiving yards.

Wilson has two seasons of eligibility remaining plus a redshirt year. Porter, a 2022 senior, has a COVID-related "super" season available.