UTEP shows balance in spring game
The UTEP football team concluded spring drills on Friday at 6 p.m. with the annual Spring Game in the Sun Bowl.
Quarterbacks Ryan Metz, Zack Greenlee and Mark Torrez all engineered touchdown drives, and the defense registered four sacks in the annual UTEP Football Spring Game under the lights on Friday in the Sun Bowl.
“Kind of like our spring has been all along, both sides of the ball have shown tremendous flashes,” UTEP coach Sean Kugler said. “They are competing against each other. We got through the entire spring really with only one injury, and that’s Quardraiz Wadley. He has a shoulder injury, which we’re going to have to evaluate and see how that works going into the fall camp. Everybody else is completely healthy heading into fall camp, so we accomplished a lot this spring.”
Metz completed 12-of-17 passes for 94 yards, and was at the controls of the offense when Walter Dawn scored the team’s third and final touchdown of the night on a two-yard run. Greenlee finished 4-of-7 for 43 yards, including a nine-yard scoring run. Torrez was 3-for-9 for 20 yards, including a four-yard TD pass to tight end Josh Weeks.
“I thought Ryan was solid moving the ball,” Kugler said. “We got it stalled down there in the red zone, he threw a nice fade ball there at the end for a touchdown. Ryan has had an outstanding spring. He is a leader and he works hard. Zack Greenlee moved the ball well tonight. Probably the guy that really had a great spring, and it’s not a surprise to me, is Mark Torrez from here in town. He’s got a lot of juice, he can run, throw, he’s got that moxie that you’re looking for in a quarterback. He’s going to be one to watch coming into the fall.”
Dawn led the Miners with 29 yards rushing on 11 carries. Ronald Awatt added nine rushes for 22 yards, and Kevin Dove had six carries for 21 yards. Even if Wadley can’t go, Kugler likes his depth at running back.
UTEP returns 44 lettermen (21 offensive, 21 defensive and two special teams) from the 2016 team. The Miners have 14 starters (five offensive, seven defensive and two special teams) coming back. The offensive line will once again be counted on to provide stability with three starters returning from last season, including All-American Will Hernandez. On defense, the linebacker core returns three starters (Alvin Jones, Dante Lovilotte and Jayson VanHook). Jones and Lovilotte rated first and second on the team in tackles last season. They combined for 182 tackles and 12.5 tackles for loss. UTEP will also have 22 newcomers in the mix, with 17 coming out of high school, three junior-college transfers and two division I transfers.
UTEP will face eight opponents in 2017 who made a bowl game in 2016. The Miners will open with Oklahoma (Sugar Bowl) on Sept. 2 in Norman,Okla. After UTEP’s contest at NM State on Sept. 23, the next seven opponents are Army (Heart of Dallas Bowl), WKU (Boca Raton Bowl), Southern Miss (New Orleans Bowl), UTSA (New Mexico Bowl), Middle Tennessee (Hawai’i Bowl), North Texas (Heart of Dallas Bowl) and LA Tech (Armed Forces Bowl). Syracuse and Duke lead the list with 11 bowl opponents each, while South Florida will see 10. Florida and Tulsa will face nine bowl opponents, and East Carolina will take on eight in 2017.
