New Mexico football has named its four team captains for the upcoming season, and the selections are unprecedented in more ways than one.
The team elected senior linebacker Dakota Cox, safety Daniel Henry and the two starting quarterbacks from last season, Austin Apodaca and Lamar Jordan.
Head coach Bob Davie said he thinks it is the first time two quarterbacks have been elected as team captains.
Cox’s status as captain is also the first time in the program’s history that a player has been named team captain three times in his college career. However, Davie said Lamar Jordan could be in line to match that honor next season.
Cox has led the team in tackles in each of the last three seasons.
Jordan said he was humbled to be voted as one of the captains by his teammates and praised the other captains on the squad.
He said Cox has been a leader on the team since day one. Jordan said the others are following in his footsteps and are happy to be captains.
“If they could’ve voted him captain freshman year, he probably would’ve gotten it,” he said. “Dakota’s just got that ‘it-factor.’”
Fellow quarterback Apodaca joins Jordan as the other captain on offense. Both players said they couldn’t recall a situation where two QB’s were named captain on the same team.
Although the situation might seem unique, both quarterbacks being voted in by their teammates probably reinforces Davie’s implementation of the two-QB system.
It seems clear that the team views both Apodaca and Jordan as leaders, and the team has bought in to the two-QB concept.
“I think it shows a couple of things - the quality and character of those guys, but also the uniqueness of this situation,” Davie said. “It’s those guys, but it’s also the state of the program.”
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Apodaca said being named captain is a big responsibility that he won’t take for granted. He said the four players are a good group of guys to lead the team into the season.
“It’s just an honor for me to be named captain,” he said. “It’s a big leadership role and I’m excited about it.”
Cox said it was a little different this time around, being named as captain for the third time. He hopes to be a leader in more ways than one - one of his goals for the season is to once again lead the team in tackles.
“If I do my job, I’m going to end up around the ball,” he said. “This brotherhood we have is exciting and I don’t want to let anyone down, so I’m looking to do my job all the time.”
Linebackers are often considered to be the quarterback of the defense and Cox will again have the additional responsibility of making sure the rest of the unit is where they are supposed to be.
Cox said his defensive teammate and fellow captain Daniel Henry is a big, physical defender that has amazing range.
He said he saw that Henry loved to come down and hit someone when he first came to the team, but now takes it upon himself to go for the ball.
Cox said the group of captains collectively brings the energy all the time and exhibits the leadership skills guys look for. Their first task will be to have the team looking crisp as it prepares for the season.
