The Miners remain hot in the transfer portal as of late, and their latest addition is one that will bring loads of experience to the linebacker room.

Former Middle Tennessee linebacker Jalen Rayam, who spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons as a Blue Raider after four seasons at UAB, has announced his commitment to UTEP and will have one year of eligibility remaining when he joins the program.

The hope is that Rayam can stay healthy in his seventh year of college football, as his promising career has been derailed time and again by injury. He's logged 56 career tackles, 36 of which came in a 2022 season that saw him make several starts at linebacker for MTSU. At 6-foot-1 and 219 pounds, he'll team up with Cincinnati transfer Dorian Jones to help stabilize the Miners' linebacker corps.

The Miners hosted five official visitors last week, and it didn't take them long to lock down Jones' pledge. With the additions of Rayam and former Texas Tech safety Landon Hullaby, UTEP has added plenty of defensive reinforcement this week. The other official visitors last week were former Tarleton State WR Jaden Smith, who has since committed to Nevada, and former Auburn safety Marquise Gilbert.

Rayam originally hails from Alabaster, Ala., and was a three-star recruit in the class of 2018.

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