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March 24, 2010
The UTEP football team will have the first of 15 spring practices on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. at Glory Field. The Miners will also practice at 9 a.m. on Saturday at Glory Field and at 7 p.m. on Sunday in the Sun Bowl. All practices are open to the public. UTEP's annual Spring Game is slated for Saturday, April 24 at 6 p.m. in the Sun Bowl. UTEP welcomes back 45 letterwinners and 11 starters from last year's team that finished 4-8, but lost five games by a touchdown or less. The Miners have seven starters returning on offense and four starters returning on defense. Overall UTEP has 25 players returning who have started games at the collegiate level (17 on offense and eight on defense). Senior QB Trevor Vittatoe has the most career starts of any UTEP offensive player (36), and senior DL Robert Soleyjacks tops the defense with 33 career starts. UTEP's spring roster features 25 seniors, including 16 on the offensive side of the ball. The Miners have 22 juniors, 21 sophomores and 23 freshmen on their spring roster. The following Miner players are out for spring ball due to injury -- senior DB Saul Adame, senior TE Geoff Amato, junior RB Vernon Frazier, freshman DL Quentin Jones, sophomore WR Marlon McClure, senior OL Will Osolinsky, freshman TE Kevin Perry, sophomore DL Austin Shaffer and senior QB/WR James Thomas II. Senior WR Pierce Hunter, senior OL Alex Solot and Vittatoe are suspended for the start of spring football for violating team rules. Hunter, Solot and Vittatoe will miss the first six practices of the spring and be eligible to return on Tuesday, April 6.
With Vittatoe suspended, Thomas sidelined and Andy McCloud having left the team, sophomore Tim Curry and redshirt freshman Carson Meger will man the quarterback position early this spring. "The backup position is really wide open," UTEP coach Mike Price said. "Trevor's suspension opens the door for [Tim] Curry and [Carson] Meger to get a lot of reps this spring. While we'll only have two quarterbacks for the first two weeks of spring ball, we won't be changing our practices. We'll still throw as much and be a passing team." UTEP will have a new defensive scheme -- with a 4-3 base -- and a largely new defensive staff for the 2010 season. The Miners employed a 3-3-5 scheme in 2008 and 2009. "It's going to have a lot more familiar look to it," Price said. "Our coverages are going to have more of a pro influence to them. You'll see less man and more zone." UTEP's new defensive coordinator is long-time NFL defensive line coach Andre Patterson. Adam Gonzaga takes over coaching the safeties, and former Miner Robert Rodriguez has been elevated from a graduate assistant to linebackers coach. The only holdover on the defensive staff is cornerbacks coach Allen Johnson. 
 
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