The UTEP Miners are headed to a more fitting home in the mountains.
No, they aren’t relocating from El Paso, but after 21 seasons in Conference USA, the Miners are realigning to the Mountain West on July 1, 2026. UTEP hopes the more convenient geographic fit can bring stability to a program far removed from a winning tradition. In the past 20 seasons, the Miners only finished above .500 twice, and those were 7-6 finishes in 2014 and 2021.
UTEP enters the Mountain West after wrapping up its two-decade
CUSA tenure with a 2-10 record — with a road victory over Sam Houston as its only FBS victory. The Miners hope the conference shift results in a shift toward a winning trajectory. Benefits of the move can already be seen as UTEP owns the 4th-best 2026 recruiting class in the Mountain West, per 247Sports, but recruiting hasn’t been an issue in the Scotty Walden era. The Miners received the highest graded classes in the CUSA in both 2024 and 2025 and logged a league-high six All-CUSA Freshman selections a year ago. In this modern, more transient era of college football, retaining that talent and managing the portal are factors equally important in program-building. And that’s what Walden and Co. must do to rewrite the narrative of UTEP football in the Mountain West.
The good and the bad of 2025
2025 was a forgettable year of UTEP football. Only four of 136 FBS teams finished worse than the Miners’ 2-10 standing, and they shared the cellar of the CUSA with Sam Houston with a 1-7 conference record.
Offensively, the root of the Miners’ problems was the inability to establish a ground game. UTEP ranked 117th in rushing yards per contest and generated 3.7 yards per attempt — marking the third-straight year UTEP averaged under 4.0 yards per rush. Throughout the 2020s, the Miners have been renowned for a big-play pass-centric offense, often relying on deep shots to move forward. As a result, UTEP’s top weapons in 2025 were its wide receivers Kenny Odom and Wondame Davis Jr. However, both leveraged that success into transfer portal opportunities, and now Odom is at South Florida and Davis at Wake Forest. While the receivers thrived, UTEP’s big-play passing offense wasn’t always beneficial. The Miners tossed an FBS-high 20 interceptions last year, and limiting those turnover numbers will be essential to a 2026 turnaround.
Defensively, UTEP employed the No. 8 tackler in the country in Micah Davey. The inside linebacker terrorized offenses with 131 takedowns and nine tackles for loss, serving as an omnipresent force on defense. Davey losing eligibility certainly hurts, but the Miners have plenty of positives to build on defensively. They brought plenty of pressure, and that pressure showed on critical downs. UTEP owned the 4th-best third down defense in the FBS, only allowing conversions on 28.5% of tries. They also ranked 10th in tackles for loss per game with Davey and the linebacker corps leading the charge. But the defense wasn’t always potent. Only seven FBS teams allowed more 50+ yard pickups than UTEP a year ago, and giving up explosives was a massive issue. The Miners never surrendered 40 points until the finale, but their 111th-ranked scoring defense limped to the finish in a 61-31 season-ending defeat at Delaware.
Rebuilding offense through portal
UTEP appeared to strike gold in the 2025 transfer portal cycle when landing a former 5-star quarterback in Malachi Nelson. After sitting behind the likes of Caleb Williams and Maddux Madsen at USC and Boise State, Nelson finally received an opportunity to become a full-fledged starter. The experiment did not pan out, and Skyler Locklear wound up as UTEP’s primary starter in 2025. However, Locklear is off to Missouri State along with offensive coordinator Mark Cala. Taking over for Cala are co-offensive coordinators Joe Pappalardo and Lanear Sampson.
With a new quarterback and coordinators, UTEP’s offense carries almost zero continuity from 2025. All 11 starters must be replaced, and the Miners are relying heavily on transfer portal talent to reconstruct the group. They added a quarterback with one game of FBS starting experience, and that’s EJ Colson — a former UCF quarterback who started an October 2024 game vs. Cincinnati, although he only attempted four passes in that contest. However, Colson transferred to Incarnate Word at the FCS level to accrue valuable experience, and it was a successful mission. Colson eclipsed 2,100 passing yards on a 70.9 completion rate, delivering an efficient 16 touchdowns to four interceptions last season. Walden already named him the starter in early May, giving the Miners a clear leader to rally around heading into fall camp.
The position group that brings in the most intrigue in the portal is running back. UTEP landed a former 4-star recruit in Tavorus Jones, who spent the 2022-25 seasons at Missouri. Jones earned occasional playing time to the tune of 27 carries for 111 yards, but he sat behind a laundry list of star running backs from Cody Schrader to Nate Noel to Ahmad Hardy. An El Paso native, Jones finally gets a realistic opportunity as RB1 in his hometown, and he’ll land a much-needed hand to a struggling run game. As will Lamar Sperling, who averaged 6.0 yards per carry as a secondary tailback at Buffalo last year. Sperling brings 401 rushing yards of collegiate experience into his new home, giving the Miners a foundational one-two punch from the portal. While UTEP has been pass-heavy in recent years, this new personnel could shift the team’s MO for 2026.
Other names to watch on offense include Kam Thomas. Thomas operates in the ‘miner back’ position, which is a running back/wide receiver hybrid. He missed all but the opener in 2025 due to a season-ending ACL injury, and his presence will greatly benefit UTEP’s offense if recovered to his 2024 form (27 rushing yards, 532 receiving yards that season). He isn’t the only receiver back from injury. Jaden Smith returns to the offense after missing the entirety of 2025. Smith had two seasons in the FCS with 750+ receiving yards before tallying 177 at UTEP in 2024, and he’ll be one of the top targets on offense with Odom and Davis no longer in El Paso.
Defense enjoys some continuity
Losing Micah Davey, who was the do-everything man for UTEP’s 2025 defense, certainly hurts, but the Miners have good foundational pieces in each area of the unit. They also have a new coordinator in Kyle Beyer, who was promoted after serving as a defensive analyst in 2024 and the special teams coordinator and linebackers coach in 2025. Beyer will continue to coach the linebackers, and the unit is off to a strong start simply by retaining Jayden Wilson.
Wilson excelled in the SAM linebacker role in 2025 with 92 tackles, 8.0 tackles for loss, and a team-high three forced fumbles. Now, Wilson, who played at New Mexico from 2023-24, aims to make that leap into an all-conference talent as he returns to the league where he started his college career.
Wilson is one of four returning starters on a defense that retains three of its top six tacklers (and four of its top nine) from 2025. The other three are defensive tackle Ashton Coker, cornerback Justin Content, and free safety Xavier Smith. Coker registered 25 tackles and 4.0 tackles for loss from the interior of the line. Content logged 58 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, six pass breakups, and one interception with 11 starts at corner. And Smith tied for fourth on the team with 60 tackles, recording four deflections and an interception as a prominent force on the back-end.
With Content and Smith back in the mix, the secondary is UTEP’s most experienced position group. That unit also includes Kode Lowe, who added 38 tackles as a four-game starter at safety. Utah transfer LaTristan Thompson is one of the new faces to watch as the Miner defense looks to fend off a new batch of offenses in the Mountain West.
The schedule
* denotes non-conference game
Facing Oklahoma and Michigan in the first three weeks is a brutal start to non-conference play (also, interesting side note: Oklahoma, Michigan, and UTEP all play a non-conference round-robin in the first three weeks). For a program coming off a 2-10 season with only two winning seasons in a 20-year span, those are not games Miner fans realistically expect to win, or threaten to win. But playing a step up in competition does have its values. A great example is Kent State withstanding a gauntlet of Texas Tech, Florida State, and Oklahoma last fall (losing by an aggregate score of 172-24), yet finishing 4-4 in MAC play.
The Texas Southern game is a must-win for UTEP, which dominated its FCS opponent a year ago. But Week 4 provides an intriguing test for this Miner team — a home game against Oregon State, which did have some concerning non-conference losses a year ago. While UTEP likely won’t be favored in that game, an upset chance is realistic and that’s a potential game that could swing the prospects of the season.
In Mountain West play, UTEP avoids UNLV which has appeared in each of the last three Mountain West title games, and that should play to the benefit of the Miners. Visitors to the Sun Bowl include Nevada, San Jose State, Hawaii, and Wyoming, while UTEP’s road trips include New Mexico, North Dakota State, Air Force, and Northern Illinois.
There is a lack of returning production, but head coach Scotty Walden remains on campus, along with several key defensive contributors. UTEP’s offense is a mystery box for now, but there is intrigue in the pieces they landed in the portal. If the moving pieces come together, the Miners could enjoy another season like 2021 where bowl eligibility is in play. But transitioning to the Mountain West will be quite a challenge given UTEP’s recent history, and the Miners hope this move ultimately produces long-term stability and a new prosperous era.
