LOBO FOOTBALL
Alamogordo RB Bryson Bloom commits to UNM
Incoming senior is first Tiger set to play for the Lobos since 2008
Bryson Bloom heard the saying once and never forgot it.
“Go where you’re wanted,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday, “not where you want to go.”
Bloom believes he’s about to do both.
The Alamogordo High School running back committed to New Mexico on Tuesday via social media, making his announcement only a week after he was initially offered by the Lobos.
One of the state’s most productive two-way players, the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Bloom rushed for 1,009 yards and made 64 total tackles last season with the Tigers. The incoming senior joins St. Pius’ Hershul Olloway Jr. as the second high-profile New Mexico back to join UNM’s class of 2027, currently listed at 19 commits.
I’m excited to announce that I am 100% committed to UNM! Go Bos!
— Bryson Bloom (@BrysonBloom)
Bloom held additional offers from Coastal Carolina, Western New Mexico, Eastern New Mexico and New Mexico Highlands, the first of which came last fall. But after the Lobos’ offered last week, he said it didn’t take long for him to realize UNM represented everything he was looking for.
“In this case, it’s the same thing — (UNM is) where I want to be at,” he added. “And I feel that (head coach Jason Eck) and his staff really like me as a player and want me there.”
Bloom’s commitment should also snap a bit of a drought for the Tigers: If he makes it to campus, he would be the first Alamogordo graduate to play football for UNM since wide receiver C.J. Oakley in 2008.
Bloom said snapping that streak while representing southern New Mexico at the FBS level is a “great opportunity.”
“Not a lot of guys get that opportunity from just New Mexico in general,” he added. “A lot of the time, they have to go the (junior college) route or (Division II) or whatever. Just being able to get that opportunity straight away means a lot.”
For now, Bloom is looking forward to helping the Tigers make some noise as a senior. Alamogordo hasn’t posted a winning season since 2020, but Bloom believes the program’s drop from 6A to 5A — “Where we’re supposed to be at,” he added — will make a difference.
“As a team, we never really talked about going to the (championship game), making it deep in the (6A) playoffs,” he admitted. “We just wanted to get into a playoff game. As we transfer into 5A, our goals are changing from getting to the playoffs to winning them, and I think that’s an aspiration.”
As an individual, Bloom is also striving to break Alamogordo’s rushing record while breaking in a new spot on the other side of the ball: middle linebacker. While it isn’t a “huge change” mentally – Bloom played as a roll-down safety last season – he did emphasize the inherent physicality of the position.
“So, I think 2,000 yards rushing and I still wanna be productive on defense for my team – so probably (in the) 40, 50 tackle range,” he said of his individual goals. “ … (At middle linebacker), you’re dealing with linemen every play. But, you know, I’m not opposed to being more physical.”
Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at .