UTEP Miners College Football Pregame Quote, 08/21/2023

We’ve got some goals that we want to accomplish (in 2023). Last year we wanted to be only the second team in school history to go to back-to-back bowl games. And this year we want to be only the second team to do it in two out of three years. So again, there’s a lot for us to work toward, a lot for us to accomplish this year.

We want to have the opportunity to do that by taking it one game at a time. Right now, that’s the big thing for us. Let’s take it one game at a time. We know one thing that as we go and take the field, we’re going to be a very athletic football team. We know that the brand of UTEP football that we put out there, that we have a UTEP football brand. That brand is recognized across the country in football by people that know the game of football. It’s very well recognized. We’re proud of that. We play really good football, we play physical football, and (it’s recognized) that we have a really good team.

So, this year with our team we feel like it is the most athletic that we’ve had. The challenge comes in the fact that we open up across the country in a conference game and a team’s (Jax State) first game in their new conference. They’re going to be very excited to play that game. They’re going to be ready to play, obviously, and it’ll be a tough environment for us. Right.

So, for us, as I talked to Teich (Jon Teicher) about earlier today, that’s even a better challenge and that motivates us even more to have ourselves ready to play a great game and get ourselves prepared to go down there and handle all the elements. We’ve had a very warm summer, as we all know, in El Paso, and we’ve run and conditioned at a higher level than we ever have throughout the summer. Our guys are very well conditioned. Our guys are very prepared to handle the elements that the first game will bring.

The big thrust for us in the first game is not just approach to the specifics of the first game. For us, it’s a conference road game. I think what’s really important about a conference road game is that you minimize your unforced errors. We have to play Miner football because we were really playing well at the end of the season. As we went through the FIU game, it was pretty much a flawless game for our football team. Then the UTSA game to go there and play UTSA the way that we played them and have that big lead until, you know, our second-string quarterback pulled his hamstring. Then we couldn’t hold onto the lead. Until that point, we played some really, really good football in that game as well. So, I like where we left the season as a football team.

I think we’re a better football team right now than when we were at this time last year. We’re definitely a more deep and more talented defensive football team than we were last year. I feel like is the deepest defensive unit that we’ve had. So, I’m looking forward to watching those guys play.

There was a lot of positives (last year). We were one of the top-40 defenses in college football, but one of the things we want to improve on is we want to create more turnovers and create more sacks and tackles for loss negative yardage plays from the offensive unit. So that’s a big focus for us on the defensive side.

On the offensive side, you know, Gavin (Hardison), this is the first year that I’ve worked with Gavin in position meetings because obviously as a head coach, that’s sometimes hard to take that time and spend the time in positions with the quarterback. I’ve chosen to do that this year. The one thing I found out as I spend more and more time around Gavin Hardison is he’s super, super intelligent. His intelligence is one of his strongest attributes. I just was talking to the New York Giants scout today about him. We talked about his arm strength, and he said his arm strength is as strong as anybody in the league in his opinion, which I agree with. So, we know he’s got the talent. We know he’s got the intelligence. We’re looking for Gavin to have that big senior year because he’s got a lot of experience for us.

Obviously, we feel like having Tyrin Smith choose to come back and be with us was really huge for the for the offensive football team. Then we feel like all those young receivers that were young and inexperienced last year are now returning for another year of experience. Those guys have had a tremendous camp. A lot of the guys around Tyrin, Kelly Akharaiyi, Marcus Bellon, Jeremiah Ballard, those guys have all had great camps. So, we created some really good depth there at the receiver position.

Then of course we know our backfield is very talented. We’ve added Ezell Jolley to our backfield to give us even more depth there to go along with Torrance Burgess, Mike Franklin and of course Deion Hankins, who’s up to 235 pounds right now. Deion’s looking really good and physical at that running back spot. Our offensive line is the strength of our offensive unit, and we’ve got five guys coming back. Two of them started six years ago and have redshirted since then and the other three have started lots of games. We’ve got a lot of experience there, so we feel comfortable.

We’ve got to play our kind of football. That’s the key for us to have the kind of success that we need to have.

Special teams, the question I’m getting asked all the time about is the new kicker. Buzz Flabiano has got a really talented leg. I think he’s going to continue to get better and better. We know the talent’s there. So, you never know how your kicker is going to do until he gets in a game and kicks. So that’s when you find out how he’s going to do, but we know he’s got the talent. We’ve got Josh Sloan coming back as a punter.

On our special teams in general, we’re going to be better because we’re more talented, we’re more athletic. So, I’m looking forward to watching our special team units as a whole play in each and every ball game. Those are the thoughts going into the first game.

On an overview of Jax State:

They were 9-2 last year. So, any time a team goes 9-2, they know how to win, I mean, that’s a strong season for them. They did a great job. They’re very, very athletic. They have great team speed on defense.

On offense, they have their version of Frank Harris, a seventh-year quarterback coming back. So, I think he’s got a little bit of experience to what he does. He’s a very good player and very athletic. They got a bevy of runners in the backfield. They’ve got a lot of depth in their backfield. They got four of their five starters coming back on the offensive line, so they have a lot of depth there. Three of their top wide receivers are coming back from last year and then their tight end, who was all conference, (is back too). So, their offensive personnel is really good.

Defensively, they have their whole starting defensive line coming back and three of their four starting secondary is returning. They’re young at the linebacker position, but they got a transfer that’s a really good player as well. They also have their kicker coming back, who is very strong legged as well. So again, a 9-2 team that’s excited to get into Conference USA. So, they’ll definitely be a big test for us.

On managing expectations:

I think it’s important for a coach to manage your expectations. That’s why I try not to get into too encompassing viewpoints. My viewpoint is to make sure that we play really good football each and every weekend and stay within ourselves. Because, again, we had high expectations for last year, and that’s good. I think we’ve done a great job when we get to the point that our expectations are high. And that’s what I want them to be. That’s what you want them to be. But also, you’ve just got to stay within your small global focus of just each game, one by one, and stay (focused) on the things that we need to do to make ourselves get better each and every Saturday.

On how important time of possession will be against Jax State:

It’s critical. I think that, you know, for us, that’s who we are, right? I mean, we were tied for fourth in the country in time of possession last year. It’s going to be really critical for us to control the ball and for us to have drives and to finish drives. We’ve talked about finishing drives, that’s going to be really important for us. We got to be really good in the red zone, and we’ve got to make sure that we close out drives with touchdowns.

On opening the season on the road:

We’re going to go with a great focus to us and try to play really good road football. That’s going to be important for us to do. One of our goals this year is to be a really good road football team. So, this would be a good way to start the season. Hopefully we can go out and play really good football on the road in game one. It would be a great start to the season.