UTEP Football: Miners should win at least once in 2018

Defense

With UTEP’s offense a disaster last season, the Miners defense did little to bail them out over the course of the 0-12 campaign. UTEP was decent at preventing big plays by opponents. But that left the door open for teams to happily chip away and build up insurmountable leads against a team unable to match the output on the scoreboard.

The Miners ranked 119th nationally in rushing defense, giving up nearly 235 yards per game. UTEP managed to finish inside the top 50 in passing yards allowed, but ranked 111th in opponent passing efficiency. A team in disarray was unable to end drives, finishing 127th out of 129 schools in third-down defense and 112th in fourth-down defense.

And when opponents got into the red zone, they scored on more than 92 percent of their trips inside the 20. UTEP finished the year giving up almost 37 points per game, more than 25 points more than the offense could muster.

Focusing on the UTEP linebackers

The biggest losses from last year’s defense fall at the second level. Dimel and defensive coordinator Mike Cox need to replace their top three linebackers from the 2017 squad. It will be a challenge to replicate even the mediocre numbers of last year as a result.

The biggest loss of the bunch is Alvin Jones. The four-year starter for the Miners is now with the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL. His departure is exacerbated by the concurrent departure of Dante Lovilotte and Julian Jackson.

Undersized but with tremendous energy, former junior-college standout Jamar Smith looks like the best prospect to step up at middle linebacker for Jones. We will also see the return of Jayson VanHook, who starred as a freshman starter on the outside but missed his entire sophomore season with a shoulder injury. How quickly the unit comes together will determine how far UTEP will really get in its first year under Dimel.