Cleveland standout Evan Nañez lands first Division I football offer
Cleveland junior Evan Nañez picked up his first Division I football offer from UNM, adding to three basketball offers as his path splits between two sports.
Cleveland High junior Evan Nañez turned a breakout season into a milestone recruiting moment when New Mexico offered him a football scholarship, giving the 6-foot-1, 165-pound Sandoval County standout his first Division I football offer. For a player already being tracked in basketball, the offer pushed Nañez deeper into a decision that could shape both his college future and Cleveland’s latest case study in homegrown talent.
Nañez has become unusual even by New Mexico recruiting standards because his profile is built across two sports. He already holds basketball offers from New Mexico State, Southern Utah and Northern New Mexico, and he has been balancing whether to keep chasing football at the highest level or lean harder into basketball. Nañez said the UNM offer came after he had previously visited the Lobos at their spring game in April and attended a football prospect camp the weekend before the offer. He thanked head coach Jason Eck and wide receivers coach Carson Walch after the scholarship was extended.
The football numbers explain why the Lobos entered the picture. As a sophomore, Nañez caught 51 passes for 996 yards and 16 touchdowns, and he added 199 rushing yards and four more scores. Cleveland won a state title during that run and placed 10 athletes, including Nañez, on the Journal’s All-Metro team. That production placed him among the state’s most watched young players long before the UNM offer arrived.
His rise has been quick. Early in the 2025 season, Nañez was already drawing multiple Division I basketball offers and averaging nearly 200 yards of offense per game through the first two weeks. By Oct. 1, 2025, he had 27 catches for 478 yards and six touchdowns, plus 128 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns on 15 carries through four games. At that point, he was full-time at ABC Prep Academy for school and basketball, while commuting back to Cleveland for football practice, a setup that showed how hard he was working to keep both paths open.
The family tie only adds to the story. Nañez’s father, Michael Nañez, walked on to the New Mexico State basketball team in the 1998-99 season, giving Evan a direct link to the local college game. Cleveland’s recent success has also made the program a magnet, with the Storm finishing 12-1 and winning a second straight Class 6A state championship in 2025, while quarterback Jordan Hatch earned New Mexico Gatorade Football Player of the Year honors. For Cleveland, Nañez’s offer is another sign that the program is producing players ready for the next level, and for Sandoval County, it is a reminder that the path from local fields to Division I starts with production, versatility and timing.
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