Bryce Santana ready to shine in SEC spotlight once again

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The lights will arguably be the biggest of the season for the UNM football team this week when the Lobos travel to Auburn to get the SEC experience. While the team has historically folded in similar situations, there is one Lobo player who had his career-best game on the road in the SEC, and he’s looking to do it again.

During the Lobos 2022 matchup against LSU, New Mexico native Bryce Santana recorded four total tackles, a tackle for loss, a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass break up. His sack was on future Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Now, with another opportunity to shine against an SEC school on the road, Santana is ready to step up once again.

“Playing against LSU that year was one of my best career games, so, it definitely gives me a little bit more confidence knowing that I can compete at that level,” Santana said. “But really, we just got to execute our jobs.”

Auburn is expected to feature a strong running game against New Mexico. As a defensive lineman, Santana is looking forward to the challenge and believes his unit will play a huge role in how competitive UNM will be.

“The big thing is stop giving up big plays,” he said. “That’s kind of been our downfall the past couple of weeks. So, if we stop giving up these big plays we’ll be alright. We’ll be able to compete with any team in the country. If we’re doing our jobs, they can’t run the ball inside. So we got to make sure we’re dominating that game.”

UNM and Auburn kickoff at 5:30 p.m. MT on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

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