UTEP football: Miners take the field for first scrimmage of fall camp; QB competition continues

EL PASO, Texas - The UTEP Miners are inching close to the start of the 2025 season.

But there's a lot to figure out from now until the team's season opener August 30 at Utah State.

Friday morning, the team took the field for their first scrimmage of fall camp.

The scrimmage was closed to the media, but head coach Scotty Walden and select players were made available for interviews afterwards.

Walden said it was an even performance from both the offense and defense.

"The mark of a good football team to me is if it's back and forth," Walden said. "I did not walk out of that scrimmage saying one side dominated. It was a very back and forth type deal."

As for the quarterback competition, not much changed Friday.

It remains a 4-man race between last year's starter, Skyler Locklear, Cade McConnell, Shay Smith and Malachi Nelson.

Walden said he needed to review the tape of Friday's scrimmage to better evaluate each quarterback's performance, but that no one has risen above the rest.

"Off the cuff there was nobody that I felt at least on the naked eye that I feel absolutely took it today," Walden said. "We're not there yet. I'm excited to watch the film because the thing that I look for especially with all that we're throwing at them is did they put our team in a position to win."

Walden had said he hoped to name a starting quarterback by week three of fall camp, which will be next week.

He says he's confident he can keep to that timeframe.