High School

RECRUITING: What UTEP needs in the 2018 class

Jan 29, 2018, 3:04 PM

RECRUITING: What UTEP needs in the 2018 class

National signing day is coming fast, and we’ll be looking at each FBS team’s needs as the end of the 2018 recruiting season arrives. Next up: Texas-El PasoBiggest need: Linebackers  New coach Dana Dimel's task in El Paso will be a full rebuild after inheriting the only winless team in FBS from 2017. He'll have to start somewhere, and reeling in the nation's No. 4 dual-threat juco quarterback--ex-Texas Longhorn Kai Locksley--is a good start. But a closer look at the roster shows how many bodies he'll have to replace on the defense. It all starts at linebacker. Five of the six linebackers on the depth chart are gone, headlined by starters Julian Jackson, Alvin Jones and Dante Lovilotte. For a defense that ranked 106th nationally in defensive yards per play and 118th in defensive yards per carry last season, it's hard to get much worse, even with next year's linebacking corps bound to be inexperienced. How it's being addressed: Dimel wasn't hired until Dec. 6, two weeks before the early signing period. Piecing together a shorthanded class at a program where it's been historically difficult to recruit is anything but easy. The Miners don't have any linebackers currently committed, but have offers out to four, including a pair of juco prospects. And for what it's worth, the team's three top commits in the 2018 class are Locksley and a pair of receivers, juco three-star Justin Garrett and Wylie's Andrew Nwachukwu, who also held a North Texas offer and committed last Monday after a weekend visit. if you can't stop 'em, try and outscore 'em. More recruiting needs: 

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