After a quiet couple of months on the recruiting trail, Scotty Walden and UTEP are on a November heater.
When the month began, UTEP's most recent commit was two-star OL Diego De La Cruz, all the way back on Aug. 19. But the Miners have racked up eight pledges in the last 16 days, which has catapulted their class to No. 1 in C-USA. The Miners have established a near-insurmountable lead on Middle Tennessee for the eventual distinction of the conference's top signing class. The surge kicked off with a Nov. 4 commitment from two-star OL Tyler Roberts, and hit its zenith last week when a couple of P4-caliber secondary studs chose UTEP. Three-star defensive backs Allen Gant (a former Arizona commit) and TJ Tillman (an erstwhile Texas Tech pledge) both locked in with the Miners. Most recently, UTEP added a pair of talented junior-college wideouts in Toric Goins and Dariyonne Bryant, who both publicly committed shortly after their respective official visits last weekend.
But UTEP isn't done.
After missing out on two-star safety target Kason Brown, who committed to Texas State earlier this week, the Miners are making a hard push to lock down Dodge City (Kan.) Community College safety Sam Brooks, who had rave reviews for his recent official visit to El Paso.
“As of right now, I like UTEP the most," Brooks told Rivals. "Mostly just the coaches and the atmosphere. Coach Walden, that’s a very energetic guy. And I think he’s a great coach; somebody that you’ll run through a wall for.”
Brooks is set to take subsequent officials to Jacksonville State (Nov. 23) and Louisiana-Monroe (Nov. 30) before a decision that's tentatively scheduled for mid-December.
Meanwhile, the Rivals FutureCast favors the Miners for 2025 OL Warren Nolen, who is down to UTEP and Arkansas State and is expected to make a decision within 7-10 days. Another trench talent with whom the Miners remain in the peloton is Snow (Utah) Junior College OL Tyler Brumfield, who is angling for an early December decision but had a phenomenal experience in the 915 on his Nov. 2 official visit. It's also expected that three-star Tuttle (Okla.) WR CJ Simon, a former Nebraska commit, will wind up in the orange and blue after picking up an offer last week. Simon is set to take his UTEP official visit on Nov. 30.
Simon isn't the only target from the Sooner State that has come into focus for the Miner staff. They're after Prague (Okla.) DE Jaxon Smith, an Illinois commit who took an official to UTEP last weekend. That's a flip that the Miners should be able to pull off. Another couple of Oklahomans that could wind up with a UTEP offer in the days ahead are Jenks (Okla.) WR Kayleb Barnett and Blanchard (Okla.) ATH Brayson Carter, both of whom are highly productive seniors with FBS ability.
The Miners did lose a heads-up battle with UTSA today for three-star Killeen (Texas) Shoemaker TE Isaiah Butler-Tanner, as he preferred the tight end-friendly scheme in San Antonio over the opportunity to join Walden's offense out west. However, UTEP is in strong shape to flip three-star Rice TE commit Jordan Andrus, who was in the Sun City last weekend for an official visit and has been receptive to the Miners' continued pursuit of him.
In total, the Miners currently hold 24 verbal commits, 23 of which hail from the state of Texas (the only exception is Bryant). Perhaps more remarkably, with just two weeks until early signing day, UTEP has yet to suffer a decommitment in the 2025 cycle.
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