Signing Date for football, always circled on my calendar, is Feb. 5. For Miners fans, it could not come soon enough, as the coaching staff continues to scrub a roster that has won once in the last 24 games.
Defensive end Trace Moscorro, an undersized but competitive starter, has transferred to Sam Houston State where he will be closer to his Refugio home. Trace was a likable kid and played a lot of football for UTEP, but he is 6-1, weighs less than 270. Reserve tight end Josh Weeks pulled the ripcord, too, and there have been others who escaped my radar. But no crying towel needed here.
With move-ins, move-outs and midnight disappearances, roughly half of the two-deep chart from 2019 will have turned over. In UTEP’s case, change should be welcomed by Miners fans.
The quarterback position being what it is in modern college football, you already know a kid named Alex Delton recently transferred from Kansas State to UTEP. The same backup at K-State has left for TCU after less than three weeks at Oxford on the Interstate. Save your tears.
After being named MVP in a bowl game in 2016, Delton departed Manhattan to the sounds of a collective yawn from Wildcat Nation. UTEP staff has not knelt at the wailing wall either.
Going into spring ball, Delton was likely no higher than No. 3 on the UTEP depth chart, behind Kai Locksley and Brandon Jones, two returnees with starting experience, dubious as it may have been. UTEP, in that light, seemed at odd destination for Delton, and never quite a fit.
The Delton bail-out has deep roots in El Paso. The 2018 preseason roster listed seven QBs. Seven. The overcrowding included: Locksley, Mark Torrez, Jones, Calvin Brownholtz, Alex Fernandez and Brayden Hawkins. Holdover Ryan Metz, a four-year letterman, UTEP graduate and all-around good dude from El Paso Andres, was the lone senior. Saludos, Ryan.
Position and zip code changes may have relieved the logjam, but from what I gather, the number is still down to onlysix. One football. Six QBs. Somebody help me with the math.
Of interest is high school signee TJ Goodwin, a run-pass dual threat-type from the Houston area, rated a 3-star prospect. It says here that transfer from K-State will have trouble beating out Sean Robinson in Fort Worth.
The short-timer will not be missed by UTEP. What was his name again? — By Mark McDonald, executive editor
Miners Are Forever 