LAS CRUCES — There have been plenty of opinions in recent days about whether former Las Cruces High School quarterback Dante Caro can play football on the Division I level.

Just a few days ago, Caro announced that he was going to play football at the University of New Mexico. He chose the Lobos over New Mexico State and I wrote on my blog that he made the right choice because UNM has better facilities, a better track record of late and it has a good recent history of recruiting Las Cruces players to their school.

New Mexico State head coach DeWayne Walker has come into Las Cruces and shown interest in the town and in looking at players throughout the state as well as Las Cruces.

Caro, who played quarterback and some defensive back at LCHS, chose UNM and that's his choice and I believe it was the right one.

New Mexico is much more proven than NMSU and until the Aggies make consistent progress on the football field, state-wide players will take their talents to UNM.

Some fans believe that Las Cruces players won't consistently contribute to the UNM program. Maybe, maybe not. Former Bulldawg Tyson Ditmore wasn't an all-league player with the Lobos, but he helped the team fare well. Former Trojan Chris Hernandez contributed to UNM's bowl team as a redshirt freshman on special teams and this past year was one of the team's best receivers.

Former Mayfield standouts Nathan Enriquez and Freddy Young redshirted as freshman, like many freshman do, and we'll see how they do in the future.

Caro is a playmaker on the football field and simply a talented overall athlete. His skills were on display Tuesday night on the basketball court, as the point guard helped lead the Bulldawgs to a big win at Mayfield.

Nobody knows for sure what will happen with Caro, but he deserves the chance to play football on the next level. He was one of the state's best prep players and he consistently made plays when the team needed him to deliver.

If you are going to criticize Caro for choosing UNM, that's your right. But as far as criticizing him as an athlete, that is unfair. He was a proven commodity on the high school level and until he proves he can get it done or not get it done on the college level, then you have to wait to pass judgment.

To say UNM recruited him just to keep him away from NMSU is ridiculous. In this day and age of limited scholarships, teams sign players that they believe can contribute. Just like any other player, Caro's abilities will be tested when he gets to UNM and he'll either play or not, but he certainly deserves the opportunity.

For the record, I understand the NMSU staff really liked Caro, so I guess had he decided to sign with the Aggies, then the Caro bashers would have said he was the greatest thing to happen to NMSU.