The UTEP football team had a lot of things go wrong in 2025, and as so often happens, that all started with health.
The Miners lost receiver Cash Cheeks in camp and soon enough he had plenty of company in the training room as the likes of Kam Thomas, Garrett Hawkins, Judah Ezinwa and Jaden Smith were all lost to a rash of knee injuries.
What all of those players have in common is they are back this year, healthy and ready to transform what UTEP is putting on the field. The hope is that healthy and whole, UTEP can build off the 2-10 last season, where expanded rankings, such as ESPN’s power poll, had them 127 out of 136 teams.
”We’re a totally different team,” coach Scotty Walden
said. “We lost guys throughout the year last year. It came in all sorts of different areas.
“(Getting them back) means everything. It changes the leadership. We’re going Miner drill at the end of practice, one of our toughest drills. there are Kam Thomas, Garrett Hawkins, Jaden Wilson, all those guys going up and explaining the drill. There is such command. It makes our football team better, it makes our schemes go, it makes me a better coach.”
Garrett Hawkins: ‘A lot of people on that field eager to be back’
The linebacker Garrett Hawkins was lost in the Texas game, Week 3, to an ACL injury. At that point he had 10 tackles as a backup linebacker but his season was done. Also in that game, the player starting in front of him, Jalen Rudolph, was lost to injury that ended his UTEP career.
Hawkins is a starter now, and a hungry one at that.
”It was a lot of hard work, a lot of progress to get back to where I’m at today,” he said. “There were a couple of other guys who went down with ACLs last year, it was great getting to bond in the training room together. Guys like Judah Ezinwa, Kam Thomas, Jaden Smith, we all worked hard to be where we’re at.
“There are a lot of people on that field eager to be back.”
Cash Cheeks: ‘It’s a blessing’
Tight end Cash Cheeks was the first UTEP player to get hurt last season. This year also is special to him because he gets to play with his brother Carver, who transferred in from Northern Colorado.
Cash Cheeks had also gone to Northern Colorado, where he was a star in 2024, before the transfer to UTEP and then a redshirt season. He’s now working in the starting lineup, along with Carver.
”Being back, being on a field — Saturday makes a year since the injury — getting back on the field feels great, going out there playing football,” Cash Cheeks said.
Playing with his brother is even better.
”We played almost our whole life together,” Cheeks said. “To get to play at this level, it’s a blessing. We’ve dreamed about this since we were kids. To go out there every day, line up on the same side of the field, being able to turn and see my brother next to me, it’s a blessing.”
Kam Thomas: ‘God’s timing’
The biggest, most proven name UTEP is getting back is Kam Thomas. He didn’t know the severity at the time, but he started last year injured with what proved to be an ACL injury. In the opener at Utah State, he was a workhorse tailback, carrying the ball 16 times. That was it, as his knee injury was diagnosed after the game and he ended up having surgery that ended his year.
He was actually listed as a Miner back in that game and he will be in that position this year, but more as a receiver than a running back. In 2024, for example, he had 13 carries and 47 receptions in nine games. Thomas thinks he’s a better player now than he was then and the injury is the reason.
”I definitely see myself as a better person and better player mentally,” he said. “The mental aspect of me has grown tremendously. I definitely got stronger.
“When you go through an ACL you have to start from Ground Zero and build back up. The muscles you were ignoring when completely healthy, you have to get on them now. CJ (Potter, head trainer), coach (Dalton) Elliott (strength and conditioning), coach Walden, everybody has done a tremendous job of getting me back to where I need to be.
”I definitely missed it but everything works in God’s timing, everything happens for a reason.”
Jaden Smith finally all the way back
The player who has been gone the longest is receiver Jaden Smith, who last played in Week 4 of the 2024 season. He missed the rest of that year to an ACL injury, then tore it again shortly after returning and missed all of 2025.
In 2024 he had 21 receptions for 177 yards in four games when he was one of UTEP’s best receivers (along with Thomas) and even had a touchdown pass on a gimmick play.
Judah Ezinwa is healthy again
The tight end Judah Ezinwa played seven games last year before blowing out his knee in the loss to Liberty. In those seven games he had four catches for 76 yards and was starting to break out before his injury. He figures to begin this year as a backup to Cash Cheeks.
There are five names UTEP is happy to see back.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Will injury returnees give UTEP chance to climb from poor 2-10 finish?
