The most appealing aspect of preparing for a new season is hope for the future.

Everyone is 0-0 in the Western Athletic Conference. No team has experienced devastating injuries, back-breaking losses or bruised egos at this stage of the year. It's springtime, football is in the air and optimism is present at the New Mexico State University football complex.

"We're really excited about the '08 campaign and I'm excited for today," NMSU coach Hal Mumme said prior to his team taking the field for its first spring practice of the season. "We have two days in shorts and helmets so it won't be as intense until Saturday, but we're really excited about how the players have worked this offseason."

Last year was a trying one for the program, as the team went 4-9 overall, 1-7 in the WAC. NMSU suffered some blowout losses, some nailbighting defeats and played with a roster that, for at least the second half of the season, was crippled by injuries.

The team brought in a new defensive coordinator in Joe Lee Dunn and, basically, a brand new staff on that side of the ball in an attempt to resurrect a unit that has been one of the conference's worst the last three years.

"He's a terrific coach," Mumme said. "I've known him a long time. Really down to earth and straight forward. It's been fun so far."

Mumme said that he was happy with the team's offseason conditioning program led by coach Matt Walter, and was encouraged that the work done by the team the last three months would carry over onto the field of play.

"It's been our best offseason yet," Mumme said. "We had three players squat over 700 pounds and we had three more that did over 600 pounds. We had a tremendous amount do over 500. Forty (yard dash) times were way down. We're really excited to work with them."

The team is looking to implement a handful of new players to the roster, including newcomers along the offensive line, wide receiver, running back and linebacker positions. All the incoming players could play major roles in the upcoming season.

Injuries were also a major problem last year for NMSU, as the program lost wide receiver Chris Williams at the midway-point of the season, running back Tonny Glynn in the final weeks of the year, as well as A.J. Harris and Chase Holbrook, who both battled injuries at separate junctures of 2007.

The linebacking corps was also decimated, as Jamar Cotton, La'Auli Fonoti and Chris Nwoko all spent times on the injured list.

"That was a gut-wrenching experience for all involved," Mumme said of the injuries. "It will be a lot of fun to have them all back there. We have 10 new faces of guys who can step in and play right now and we redshirted 13 last year. There's kind of a new movement of guys around here who will be looking to come in and compete for positions right there."

Running back looks to be a possible position of strength, with Glynn returning to full health, Seth Smith coming in from the College of the Sequoias along with freshmen Marquell Colston, Todd Lee, Ruben Martinez and Donavan Roberts all in the mix. Not all the freshmen will be at spring camp.

At the offensive tackle positions, David Norman, Joe Suder, Kyle Smith, Patrick Blount and Joel Buschmann are all expected to compete in an attempt replace last year's bookends James Farrelly and Mike Martinez.

Mumme said that the kicking game will come down to Kyle Snyder, who was academically ineligible last season, as well as Paul Young, who had an up-and-down 2007 booting the ball for NMSU.

Mumme said that most of the coaching staff will work on special teams throughout the spring, as last year's kicking coach Roy Gerela left the school in the offseason.

"It's kind of by committee," Mumme said. "We kind of spread it out along the hole staff."

Still, Week 1 is a long way off. The spring time is a chance to work out the kinks, iron out the wrinkles and get back into the flow of football.

"I want to improve on my blocking," Glynn said of spring goals he has set for himself. "It's something we look forward to as players. Everyone gets on the pads and supports each other."

For Williams, he will be looking to find a rhythm again after missing half of last season with a broken collarbone.

"I just want to get back into things, run around, catch some balls, run some routes," Williams said. "Make sure I still got it. Make sure I'm healthy and do whatever I can to make the team better."

Mumme is looking forward to taking the field and seeing what he's got heading into the new year.

"We want to get better as a team, that's our main goal," Mumme said. "We still have some recruits we want to get worked in, in August. Obviously, implementing the defense, how coach Dunn wants things done is a priority. Offensively, maybe a bit more subtle on the goals. But the bottom line is that we just want to get better as a team."

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