Interest from Western New Mexico wins over Sabino OL Urbina
This is the 19th (and last) in a month-long series of profiles of Arizona high school seniors that signed with four-year colleges. Here's the full list (currently totaling 299) of players from within the state moving on to the next level.
SPOTLIGHT: 3/5/23
Located in Silver City, New Mexico, about 200 miles east of Tucson is the campus of Western New Mexico University. The Division II school is coming off its first winning season since 1993. The Mustang coaches made a big emphasis on recruiting the state next door and it showed with 10 signees from Arizona joining the WNMU team. One of those is William Urbina.
Urbina, a 6-3, 310-pound center at Sabino, chose Western New Mexico over offers from a couple other schools. He likes how close the school is and all of the changes that are coming to WNMU, especially in football.
"This past season was the first winning season in many years," Urbina said in an e-mail interview. "When I took my official visit, the school was making major changes to the facilities to improve them. The football program is in a new era and I wanted to be a part of something special in the making."
Western New Mexico had a head coach to replace after the season as Philip Vigil stepped down to take the same position at CSU-Pueblo. Offensive coordinator Billy Hickman (who has 15 years of coaching experience) was promoted to the open position. The Mustangs (6-5 last season) play in the Lone Star Conference.
Urbina committed to WNMU in late January and signed a few days later.
Urbina had the chance to visit Silver City for the Mustangs' Senior Day game against West Texas A&M last October. It was a game with plenty of offense as WNMU was victorious, 41-37. The Mustangs had 526 yards and scored five touchdowns. Queen Creek alum Devin Larsen accounted for four of them with a pair of TD passes and two more runs. The visit also gave Urbina the chance to take stock of the campus. He hasn't decided on a major yet, but it will likely either be Business Management or Finance.
"The campus is very pretty being in the hillside and being able to see the whole town from the top of campus," Urbina said. "Many renovations were being done to buildings and classrooms to make them much more modern."
They may not get the headlines, but playing offensive line is an important role. Many times, the team wins or loses because of the line's performance. It's also five guys working as a unit, so chemistry is important.
Urbina was named to the First Team All-3A South Region on the offensive line. He embraces that the group's performance dictates what the team does.
"Being named to the First Team is a true honor," Urbina said. "But at the end of the day, the goal is to win games. Playing the O-Line is great because when we are doing our jobs, the team has great success."
Sabino's offense was clicking from the start in 2022. The Sabercats scored more than 40 points in each of their first five games and won all of them. SHS (8-4) made the playoffs and reached the quarterfinals, but fell to eventual champion Eastmark.
"Getting off to such a hot start like that all starts in the summer in the weight room and building team chemistry on and off the field," Urbina said. "This season was the 20th consecutive season making the playoffs, which was a great achievement. The season didn't end the way we wanted to, but that group of guys we had was truly something special."
Urbina began wrestling during his freshman year as a way to stay in shape for his upcoming sophomore season. He continued to develop and made it to the state championships last month.
"My junior year was when I really came into my own, winning a tournament to start the season," Urbina said. "Wrestling kept me in really good shape and got me a lot more agile, which really translated to football."
This isn't the first year that WNMU has recruited Arizona. A check of last year's roster shows 19 players from State 48 on the Mustangs. Still, getting 10 in a single class is a big haul and it shows that people are buying the message that the school is selling.
"I think for a lot of guys (from Arizona) a big draw is it being close to home and the coaches are very close to the players to make you feel like family," Urbina said. "For many guys like myself, we want to be a part of the new era of Western New Mexico football."
Urbina is appreciative for the opportunities he's had in being a high school recruit.
"Going and fulfilling my childhood dream would not be possible without the support of my family and my coaches,"