National Signing Day: UTEP football adds to 2021 signing class

EL PASO, Texas - Head coach Dana Dimel and the UTEP Football program spent Wednesday morning adding to the 2021 signing class with the addition of 10 new Miners announced on National Signing Day.

The 10 new signees announced on Wednesday is a continuation from the early signing period on Dec. 16 when the Miners inked quarterback Kevin Hurley to a National Letter of Intent.

Overall, the Miners signed 11 to the 2021 class between the December and February signing periods.

Dimel and his staff brought in a total of five players on the defensive side of the ball and six on offense.

“Because of the landscape, we feel that we’ve been able to find some really quality players the group that we have brought into the program,” head coach Dana Dimel said.

“We said it would be really important for us to recruit Texas well and do well in the home state with all of our connections. We brought in some three-star recruits and even the ones who are not three-star recruits are some really talented players. We are really pleased to have these guys join our program. As we get deeper into our recruiting process over the years, we are able to be more selective about what players we are bringing in. Each year, we are becoming more selective in the type of students they are. The more of that we get, the better our culture will become and the more success we will have as a football program.”

UTEP began the day by announcing four mid-year transfers that are already enrolled and on campus.

In addition to Hurley, the Miners also added Walter Neil Jr. (CB, Kansas State) and Dallas Burke (DB, Long Beach City College), while Tyrin Smith (WR, Cisco College) was added on the offensive side of the ball.

In addition to the four mid-year transfers, UTEP signed seven additional players from the high school ranks on Wednesday. On offense, the Miners added Jeremiah Ballard (WR, Dobie HS, Houston, Texas), Mister Chavis (WR, Maricopa HS, Maricopa, Ariz.), Joseph Immediato (OL, Eastwood HS, El Paso, Texas), Jakolby Longino (QB, Hightower HS, Missouri City, Texas).

Defensively, UTEP signed John Burris (CB, Mesquite Horn HS, Mesquite, Texas), Gerard Joseph (DE, Dobie HS, Houston, Texas) and Tyler Williams (DB, St. Joseph HS, Santa Maria, Calif.).

In all, the Miners brought in seven high school products and four from two-year and four-year colleges with the 2021 class.

Six of the 11 products hail from the Lone Star state, while two are from California, and one each from Arizona, Mississippi and Oklahoma.

“This has been a very interesting year for recruiting because of the fact that so many of our seniors can retain a year of eligibility as well as all the other underclassmen on the team,” Dimel said.

“Our numbers were not as proficient as they might be because of the number of scholarships that are available to our program this year. But, it has also allowed us in the big picture to get a great opportunity to get ourselves out of the heavy blue shirt world we were brought into when I took the job three years ago. It has been very productive for us, but it has also been very challenging. This is a great year for us to catch up on our numbers and get to where we need to be in the program.”

UTEP also brought in five preferred walk-ons in addition to the 11 signees, including Juan Camacho (Bowie HS), Blas Compean (Eastlake HS), William Rodriguez (Austin HS), Roshuan Thomas (Montwood HS) and Brady Wolfe (Frenship HS).

With Wednesday’s class marking the conclusion of the 2021 signing periods, Dimel and the Miners will now turn their attention to the start of spring football, which is just under a month away from the March 2 start date.

The complete 2021 signing class are as follows:

Name                                    Pos.       Ht.          Wt.        Yr.          Hometown (Previous School)                   

Jeremiah Ballard               WR         6-4          205         Fr.           Houston, Texas (Dobie HS)

Dallas Burke                       DB          6-1          205         So.          Los Alamitos, Calif. (Long Beach City College)

John Burris                          CB           6-0          170         Fr.           Mesquite, Texas (Mesquite Horn HS)

Mister Chavis                     WR         5-10       180         Fr.           Maricopa, Ariz. (Maricopa HS)

Kevin Hurley                       QB          6-4          230         Jr.           Walnut, Miss. (NE Mississippi CC)

Joseph Immediato           OL           6-5          310         Fr.           El Paso, Texas (Eastwood HS)

Gerard Joseph                   DE           6-5          250         Fr.           Houston, Texas (Dobie HS)

Jakolby Longino                QB          6-3          195         Fr.           Missouri City, Texas (Hightower HS)

Walter Neil Jr.                    CB           5-10       180         Sr.           Lawton, Okla. (Kansas State)

Tyrin Smith                         WR         5-10       180         So.          Cibolo, Texas (Cisco College)

Tyler Williams                    DB          6-1          190         Fr.           Santa Maria, Calif. (St. Joseph HS)