UCLA Football Preview: Former Idaho Head Coach Jason Eck Now Leads New Mexico
Eck led the Vandals to the FCS Playoffs each of the last three seasons.
When UCLA opened the 2025 season at home against Utah, the Bruins were facing the Utes’ new offensive coordinator Jason Beck. Beck joined Utah after being the OC at New Mexico last season under former BYU and Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall. Well, a day after Beck was hired by Utah, Mendenhall was hired as the next head coach at Utah State. Mendenhall took his defensive coordinator Nick Howell with him to Utah State.
That left the top three spots at New Mexico open.
Twelve days later, New Mexico hired Idaho head coach Jason Eck to be the Lobos’ new head coach. At Idaho, Eck led the Vandals to the FCS Playoffs each of the three seasons he was there. The Vandals finished 7-5 in 2022, improved to 9-4 in 2023 and went 10-4 last season. In each of Eck’s final two seasons, Idaho made it to the FCS Quarterfinals. He finished his tenure at Idaho with a record of 26-13.
Prior to Idaho, Eck spent six seasons as an assistant at perennial FCS power South Dakota State.
Eck brought offensive coordinator Luke Schleusner with him from Idaho. Schleusner served as Eck’s OC all three seasons they were with the Vandals. Prior to going to Idaho, Schleusner worked with Eck at South Dakota State where Schleusner was the tight ends coach.
New Mexico’s defensive coordinator is Spence Nowinsky. While Nowinsky and Eck have coached at some of the same schools, they were at those schools at different times. So, they have never coached together before prior to joining New Mexico. Last year, Nowinsky was the co-defensive coordinator at Memphis under head coach Ryan Silverfield. Expect Nowinsky to run a 4-2-5 Nickel base defense.
Special Teams
Senior Luke Drzewiecki is the Lobos’ field goal kicker. He’s a perfect 2-for-2 on field goals this season with a long of 41 yards. He is also 5-for-5 on PATs.
Meanwhile, kickoffs will be handled by either Charles Steinkamp or Grant Glasgow. Both kickers are redshirt juniors. Steinkamp kicked off four times against Michigan and averaged 64 yards per kickoff with a touchback while Glasgow kicked off six times against Idaho State. He averaged 65 yards per kickoff with five touchbacks.
New Mexico’s starting punter will be Australian sophomore Daniel Hughes. So far, Hughes has punted seven times for an average of 44.57 yards per punt. His longest went for 57 yards and he’s landed two inside the 20. Three of his punts travelled more than 50 yards.
While senior cornerback Abraham Williams returned four kickoffs for an average of 14.3 yards per return with a long of 18 yards against Michigan, senior running back Damon Bankston was the man against Idaho State. Bankston returned three kickoffs with a long of 49, making him the proverbial “dangerous return man.” The Bruins will need to watch out for him.
The Lobos have returned just two punts this season. Senior safety Austin Brawley returned one against Michigan for no yards while redshirt junior wide receiver Michael Buckley had a 3-yard return against Idaho State.
Go Bruins!
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