UTEP Prospector: 3 Miners expected to go between 2nd and 7th round NFL Draft

[utep2step]

Laufasa was the Polynesian football POY, congrats to him. Good timing for him to because the blocking back is making a strong come back. Green Bay blocking back Aaron Ripkowski gave Dallas some fits this past weekend. Luafasa is expected to get drafted in the later rounds. Plinke is expected to go before Jones. According to the article, he has the NFL size and skills that's needed for today's NFL type offense and blocking skills. A thread on here posted last month or so stated he did really well on the Wonderlic test but obviously that is unconfirmed.

http://www.theprospectordaily.com/2017/01/17/nfl-calls-for-several-miner-football-stars/

 

[AZminer]

The Cowboys need a TE to replace Witten(when he retires). I don't know how fast Plinke is but it seems like TE's are getting faster.

 

[LaserCoog]

Two questions for UTEP insiders and Kugler supporters: 1) How do you square having four ostensibly NFL-ready offensive starters on a bad 2016 offensive football team that won four games against truly diluted competition? 2) Losing three of those four players in 2017, do you realistically think UTEP will be an improved offense next season?

 

[Vegasminer]

LaserCoog, do us all a favor and change your handle to DebbieDowner. That way we don't waste our time reading your "Everything UTEP Sucks" posts. You're a one trick pony, dude.

 

[UTEPDefense]

Maybe not the best answers to your questions, but:

1.) UTEP's offense(and team) underachieved this season. I think that pretty much every fan agrees on this and shares a mutual disapointment and frustration regarding this.

2.) Looking through the obvious disapointment and trying to find reasons to be optimistic, is that we have had no Coaching Turnover this offseason. Even though a lot of fans appear to have wanted some, my hope is that with all units now being in the same systems for 2 consecutive years, that this might help and be better(at least initially), instead of the alternative, which would have been to change Coaches and systems on the players yet again(this would have meant 3 different systems in 3 straight years for both the offense and defense).

3.) We now finally have an experienced QB heading into next season, which is something that we have been lacking since our last bowl trip. This should hopefully translate into "some" improvement.

4.) Really stretching it on this one, but after the 1999 season we lost 3 players who were drafted by the NFL that year. One would have expected us to be worse in the next year, after losing 3 NFL Draft picks, but instead we won a Conference Championship. So this same scenario with a positive ending has somewhat happened before.

 

[jdubb66]

Maybe not the best answers to your questions, but:

1.) UTEP's offense(and team) underachieved this season. I think that pretty much every fan agrees on this and shares a mutual disapointment and frustration regarding this.

2.) Looking through the obvious disapointment and trying to find reasons to be optimistic, is that we have had no Coaching Turnover this offseason. Even though a lot of fans appear to have wanted some, my hope is that with all units now being in the same systems for 2 consecutive years might help(and be better, at least initially), instead of had we changed Staff's and systems on the players yet again(which would have been 3 different systems in 3 years for both the offense and defense).

3.) We now finally have an experienced QB heading into next season, which is something that we have been lacking since our last bowl trip. This should hopefully translate into "some" improvement.

4.) Really stretching it on this one, but after the 1999 season we lost 3 players who were drafted by the NFL that year. One would have expected us to be worse in the next year, after losing 3 NFL Draft picks, but instead we won a Conference Championship. So this same scenario with a positive ending has somewhat happened before.

Lets take a look at what the NFL looks like at Quarterback these days. Matt Ryan...not bad, Ben Roethlisberger...dumb but superbowl winner and QB extraordinaire, Aaron Rodgers...Superbowl winner multiple league mvp, Tom Brady...multiple superbowl winner, quite possibly, GOAT. I've said it before, if Mike Price had gotten Kaepernick, Andy Dalton, Trevone Boykin or John Skelton for that matter, he might still be around.

 

[LaserCoog]

Maybe not the best answers to your questions, but:

1.) UTEP's offense(and team) underachieved this season. I think that pretty much every fan agrees on this and shares a mutual disapointment and frustration regarding this.

2.) Looking through the obvious disapointment and trying to find reasons to be optimistic, is that we have had no Coaching Turnover this offseason. Even though a lot of fans appear to have wanted some, my hope is that with all units now being in the same systems for 2 consecutive years might help(and be better, at least initially), instead of had we changed Staff's and systems on the players yet again(which would have been 3 different systems in 3 years for both the offense and defense).

3.) We now finally have an experienced QB heading into next season, which is something that we have been lacking since our last bowl trip. This should hopefully translate into "some" improvement.

4.) Really stretching it on this one, but after the 1999 season we lost 3 players who were drafted by the NFL that year. One would have expected us to be worse in the next year, after losing 3 NFL Draft picks, but instead we won a Conference Championship. So this same scenario with a positive ending has somewhat happened before.

@Defense, fair enough, reasonable assessment and good blend of realism and optimism...

As a distant observer, my view is that perhaps Mile Price's biggest downfall was his inability to put a good QB on the field after Vittatoe's sophomore season. Similarly, going into his 5th season, my view is that Kugler's biggest shortcoming has been the failure to put a playmaker QB on the field, even while running a vanilla, RB-centric offense. Your view is that Metz' play will be improved next year with a year of experience on his resume. We'll see. The Texans feel the same way about Brock Osweilder. Hopefully you'll both be right.

Abe Lemons, former Texas BB coach, once said the good news was all five of his starters were returning the following year. He also said that was the bad news.

 

[LaserCoog]

LaserCoog, do us all a favor and change your handle to DebbieDowner. That way we don't waste our time reading your "Everything UTEP Sucks" posts. You're a one trick pony, dude.

@Vegas, you're probably right. Going forward, I'll avoid any comment/question that might negatively impact the collective current morale of UTEP fans toward your athletic department, administrators, or coaches. My bad.

 

[UTEPDefense]

My reason for optimism regarding Ryan Metz, is that over the final 6 games last season he threw 13 Touchdowns, but only threw 3 Interceptions!

A 13 to 3 Touchdown-to-Interception ratio over the final half of the season is very encouraging from a Sophomore. And those numbers could be even better, when you realize that 1 of those 3 interceptions really shouldn't be judged too harshly against him, because it was the last play of the FAU game when he had to force the ball down field from his own 25 yard line.

 

[LaserCoog]

Again, @Defense, sound reason and football logic. Playing advocate, though, Kugler is still putting all of his eggs in the Metz basket. Of course, after four seasons, Kugler's incredibly lucky to still have a basket, IMO. With limited views, I question Metz' ability stay healthy and to make plays with both with his legs and arm. QB at North Carolina this year went from previous non-starter to projected high draft pick his senior season, some kids are late bloomers. Again, we'll see...

 

[utep2step]

4.) Really stretching it on this one, but after the 1999 season we lost 3 players who were drafted by the NFL that year. One would have expected us to be worse in the next year, after losing 3 NFL Draft picks, but instead we won a Conference Championship. So this same scenario with a positive ending has somewhat happened before.

Natkin (All-American), Porter, Merkens, Perez, Mays, Holloway. UTEP came in that year loaded with talent. Bailey was coach in '99 but in 2000, after player insistence that Stull hire Nord or "they walk", it turned out really fun to watch (despite Nord blunders like letting the team stomp on the TCU horned frog logo after a morning day light Friday practice which TCU found out about and drubbed the living daylight out of the Miners).

The Honolulu Star Bulletin summed up UTEP's 2000 sole conference winning year best when UTEP drubbed the Warriors one Saturday evening:"This night belonged to UTEP and 36,637 fans who have seen a lot of bad football throughout the past few years.". [source:http://archives.starbulletin.com/2000/09/25/sports/index.html]

 

[JCorona]

Is Mack Leftwich done at UTEP? Haven't heard much about him anymore.

 

[MinerInWisconsin]

Is Mack Leftwich done at UTEP? Haven't heard much about him anymore.

Good question. He is still listed on the roster but with the concussions he has had, he ought to ask to be on the coaching staff as a student assistant.

 

[FiliUTEP]

I've seen some mock drafts and I haven't seen any Utep players on them. In one draft website Aaron Jones is not even listed as on RBs rankings. Has anyone seen any mock drafts where Utep players are taken?

 

[Cube Jack]

https://www.draftutopia.com/runningbackrankings.html

This one ranks him #19. It mentions non-specific off-field and durability issues possibly preventing him from being drafted. They predict him 7th round.

 

[Cube Jack]

http://www.draftcountdown.com/nfl-draft-ranking/2017-running-back-rankings/

Ouch. Ranks to 41 with no mention at all.

 

[UTEPDefense]

Natkin (All-American), Porter, Merkens, Perez, Mays, Holloway. UTEP came in that year loaded with talent. Bailey was coach in '99 but in 2000, after player insistence that Stull hire Nord or "they walk", it turned out really fun to watch (despite Nord blunders like letting the team stomp on the TCU horned frog logo after a morning day light Friday practice which TCU found out about and drubbed the living daylight out of the Miners).

The Honolulu Star Bulletin summed up UTEP's 2000 sole conference winning year best when UTEP drubbed the Warriors one Saturday evening:"This night belonged to UTEP and 36,637 fans who have seen a lot of bad football throughout the past few years.". [source:http://archives.starbulletin.com/2000/09/25/sports/index.html]

That 2000 UTEP football team was good. They were beating Texas A&M at half-time in College Station that season and they also scored a Touchdown and competed early at Oklahoma, who won the National Championship that year.

Our only 4 losses that year were:

- at Oklahoma(who won the National Championship).
- at Texas A&M.
- at TCU(with Ladanian Tomlinson)
- at Boise State.

UTEP also sacked David Carr 5 times when we beat Fresno State that season. Carr went on to be the #1 pick in the NFL Draft.

That was arguably the best 8-4 team that UTEP has ever had.

 

[Cube Jack]

I was at that TCU debacle. It still bothers me to this day that the team we "share" the conference title with obliterated us by 33 points head-to-head.

 

[JCorona]

I was at that TCU debacle. It still bothers me to this day that the team we "share" the conference title with obliterated us by 33 points head-to-head.

I'm seeing on Wikipedia that game was TCU's highest attended game of the season by a landslide. From personal experience UTEP usually draws large crowds to the DFW area. My question is do you remember a good UTEP turnout that day?

 

[UTEPDefense]

I'm seeing on Wikipedia that game was TCU's highest attended game of the season by a landslide. From personal experience UTEP usually draws large crowds to the DFW area. My question is do you remember a good UTEP turnout that day?

Yes, nearly half of the stadium was filled with UTEP fans. In fact, on Monday morning during the week of that game, Southwest Airlines announced on the local news that they had sold-out of every single Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Morning flight going from El Paso to Fort Worth.

Here is an excerpt and link to a TCU article about the game, which mentions how large the UTEP fans were:

"For all of our top 25 rankings throughout the year, UTEP had the momentum and the fan support- full stands tore down their goalposts when they clinched a share of the WAC against Rice the week before they came to Fort Worth and Miner head coach Gary Nord guaranteed that the Miners would bring enough fans from El Paso to tear down ourgoalposts when they won the WAC outright with a win over us.

Gameday came and the first part of Gary Nord's prediction came true, as the biggest collection of opposing fans since A&M in 1995 (and biggest until Tech's visit in 2006) swelled in the stands on the visitor's side, not like the generally sedate TCU fans of the time- they were energized and started their U-TEP chants well before kickoff and the WAC commissioner was on the UTEP sideline with the conference championship trophy to award to UTEP on our field if they won (TCU would still need to beat SMU the next week to clinch a share of the title)."

http://www.frogsowar.com/2013/6/13/4414600/my-favorite-tcu-football-game

 

[Cube Jack]

I remember everyone being so excited and the caravans of fans traveling to the game. The night before there were nothing but UTEP fans in the bars in downtown Ft. Worth. I also had many high school and college friends who had relocated to the DFW area who were at the game. Even the TCU cheerleaders had two Hanks grads on the team that year.

I think everyone was so excited that they forgot the beatdown TCU had handed UTEP the season before in the infamous LaDainian Tomlinson (the man UTEP made famous) record breaking game. The 2000 game wasn't any better and quickly turned ugly.

Interesting side note on the goalpost teardown the week before -- it would be the last time UTEP allowed it. Two different fans sued the university for injuries suffered when the goalpost was torn down. I knew one very well. He was on the crossbar when the goalpost fell and caught his arm underneath which dislocated his elbow badly. He was actually seen on the El Paso Times picture that was taken moments before. For awhile the next season there would be police under the goalposts after every home game.

 

[utep2step]

Yes, nearly half of the stadium was filled with UTEP fans. In fact, on Monday morning during the week of that game, Southwest Airlines announced on the local news that they had sold-out of every single Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Morning flight going from El Paso to Fort Worth.

Here is an excerpt and link to a TCU article about the game, which mentions how large the UTEP fans were:

"For all of our top 25 rankings throughout the year, UTEP had the momentum and the fan support- full stands tore down their goalposts when they clinched a share of the WAC against Rice the week before they came to Fort Worth and Miner head coach Gary Nord guaranteed that the Miners would bring enough fans from El Paso to tear down ourgoalposts when they won the WAC outright with a win over us.

Gameday came and the first part of Gary Nord's prediction came true, as the biggest collection of opposing fans since A&M in 1995 (and biggest until Tech's visit in 2006) swelled in the stands on the visitor's side, not like the generally sedate TCU fans of the time- they were energized and started their U-TEP chants well before kickoff and the WAC commissioner was on the UTEP sideline with the conference championship trophy to award to UTEP on our field if they won (TCU would still need to beat SMU the next week to clinch a share of the title)."

http://www.frogsowar.com/2013/6/13/4414600/my-favorite-tcu-football-game

I remember calling the Jim Rome Show who was on in El Paso at that time. I got his assistant who screens calls and told him I wanted to talk about the UTEP vs TCU game. There was a pause for a few a seconds and then all I heard was "to regional, goodbye. [click]".