UTEP Football Walk-On Tryouts
- Thread starter OsoFromELP
- Start date
They held one last year....oh! look what I found as well!
https://scarletknights.com/news/2020/1/2/football-to-hold-walk-on-tryouts.aspx
https://seminoles.com/football-walk-on-tryouts-scheduled/
https://fiusports.com/news/2020/1/16/football-walk-on-tryouts.aspx
I can't remember if I read on here or heard from someone that Kugler's were tough as hell and you had to meet high basic minimums. However, a walk on from Mexico who played some organized football in Mexico and dreamed of playing FBS football, specifically. He worked hard and his senior year Kugler have him a scholi. It made the EP Times two or three years ago.
Wasn't Tomas Howard (LB) a walk-on? Sometimes you pick up a hidden gem that was missed. Not desperation actually pretty smart. NFL does this as well.
He was. Those years with Palmer, Higgins, and Howard were awesome!
Preferred W.O. from Lubbock (I think) when Nord was still coach. He was undersized but blew up size and talent wise.
A preferred walkon is a HUGE difference from unrecruited.
Tryouts will mostly bring you camp bodies that will never see the field
Tryouts will mostly bring you camp bodies that will never see the field
The best story of finding a hidden gem. Considered too slow to be a good Safety, too small to be a good Linebacker, but he had a motor, a nose for the ball, and was dedicated.
He worked his butt off, luckily grew just enough to be big enough and turned himself into a star.
Nord and Kugler could find diamonds in the rough. Both were good talent evaluators. Howard had one thing most coaches inexplicably overlooked, world class speed.
This is a regular thing bro. It doesn't say scholarships for all those who can pass a physical lol
For the most part they will all be cut. Maybe one or two get past the tryout and shag balls and play scout team for a year or two before leaving
Price and Nord used to keep all the El Paso kids who could walk and chew gum at the same time on the practice squad to be used as tackling dummies. This was done to keep the local coaches happy. Kugler also had a robust local walk on program. Toward the end of his tenure Kugler gave scholarships to too many local kids who should have been walk ons. Price ddd the same thing late in his tenure but not to the extent Kugler did.
This incestuous demand that UTEP sports has to take local kids if they have talent has gone way too far.
Price stated why back when when he got to UTEP that a city the size of El Paso typically produces a small handful of FBS talent and maybe one or two top tier major program talent.
Fast forward 15 years and now El Paso has grown substantially and BRAC is one major reason why and you have a larger pool of talent move into the metro area and surrounding suburbs. Kugler liked it and he confidently stated that local EP football can produce talent to play FBS football and UTEP did have some good players under him with AJ being the cream of the crop, obviously.
Now UTEP can't buy a decent head coach. It's "I need four to five years".
Sometimes I wonder if all of the "local talent" is what got our team in this rut in the first place.
for some reason there are people who think UTEP should cater to local high schools
for some reason there are people who think UTEP should cater to local high schools
Now UTEP can't buy a decent head coach. It's "I need four to five years".[/QUOTE]
If we had a AD who did even a half ass job we could get a decent coach.
If we had a AD who did even a half ass job we could get a decent coach.
Kuglar got lucky on with Will Hernandez. The only reason he got Aaron Jones was because UTEP was the only school that was willing to Alvin a scholarship.
And that turned out to be a great move. Alvin was a beast for us.
CSK was also lucky that the staff of his predecessor CMP were the one’s that did the recruiting, home/game visits, phone calls, and built rapport with Aaron and Alvin and their family. All CSK had to do was nod “yes” to schollys. Ask parents Mr & Mrs Jones.
Ok...so what? Price was gone, and Kugler coming in didn’t have to offer but he did...to both Aaron and Alvin.
Eh. I never see football transfers as significant losses since the team can hardly be any worse without them
