UTEP beats out a bevy of G5 suitors for talented juco WR Dariyonne Bryant

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Highland (Kan.) Community College wideout just became UTEP's 24th overall commit in the 2025 class. But he's the first pledge of the class who hails from outside the state of Texas. A product of Ohio by way of the Sunflower State, his next stop will be the 915.

While on his official visit to El Paso this past weekend, Bryant saw all that he needed to see, and shut his recruitment down on the spot. Despite holding well over a dozen FBS offers from programs like UAB, Toledo, North Texas and New Mexico State, Bryant came to the decisive conclusion that he wanted to be a Miner.

“I love Coach Walden," he told MinerInsider.com in an exclusive interview shortly before his announcement. "I love the whole staff. [Walden's] energy is just different. He didn’t really tell me what I wanted to hear; he just told me anything I want to accomplish is in front of me. I just gotta put the work in for it. It’s not gonna be handed to me. And I’m locked in with that.”

The defining moment of his UTEP experience came when Walden echoed a message that had been hard-wired into Bryant's brain throughout his junior-college experience.

“He sold me," Bryant explained, "when we were sitting in the meeting room. It was all parents and the players. And Coach Walden was talking about the culture, and he was like, ‘Champions behave like champions before they’re champions.’ I heard that every single day while I was in juco. And that just sold me. The change he’s trying to get there, that’s everything. He just needs the pieces. Out of all 20 offers, I felt like that’s the place for me."

And it wasn't just the catchphrases that convinced Bryant to pick UTEP. From a football standpoint, he sees his skill set as a hand-in-glove fit for Walden's offense.

“When I sat down and watched the cut-ups of film, that’s the perfect offense for me," Bryant remarked. "I get to pick three different routes to run on the outside. You can’t stop that.”

One additional bonus for Bryant was the opportunity to play in the Sun Bowl, which blew him away as soon as he stepped on the turf.

“I’ve never seen a G5 stadium like that," he laughed. "I like downtown, too. That’s some movie stuff to me, because I’m from Ohio. I ain’t never seen scenery like that.”

Now, Bryant will get to enjoy that scenery on a more permanent basis. He'll have two years of eligibility remaining when he enrolls at UTEP, and he joins high school commits Nik Henry, Lorenzo Hill and Ryland Bradford in the Miners' incoming class of pass-catchers.

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