Sebastian Perez-Navarro, the play-by-play broadcaster for UTEP athletics, as well as the Multimedia Editor for the UTEP student newspaper, The Prospector, has been kind enough to collaborate with me on a set of 5 questions about Utah State’s first opponent of the 2025 season. The Aggies face the UTEP Miners at home to kick off the Bronco Mendenhall era and the 2025 football season. Huge shout-out to Sebastian for joining me this week!!
#1 In head coach Scotty Walden’s first season at UTEP last year, the Miners finished 3-9, BUT Walden seems to have reinvigorated the UTEP fanbase and the El Paso community. Describe Walden’s personality and what he has meant to the University since being hired as head coach?
There’s one word that best describes Scotty Walden: genuine. For many football fans, seeing coaches with exuberant personalities, booming voices, and championship-like celebrations can raise the thought that the coach is selling a facade. But that’s not Scotty Walden. Every personality trait that Coach Walden transmits to the media or on the sidelines is an attribute of the real-life guy. Being a student at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has allowed me to be up close with Coach Walden. I’ve seen him at his highs, whether that was getting his first win and being picked up on the shoulders of his offensive lineman to celebrate, or being present while he was making tours through campus in a golf cart and starting chants with students on the sidewalks. I’ve also seen him at his lows, such as when UTEP lost their season opener— Coach Walden’s Sun Bowl debut– in front of a sold-out 50,000-person crowd. Both of those moments share a common denominator: that is, Coach Walden’s respect. He has always respected the media, he has always respected school faculty and staff, and he has always respected his players and coaching personnel. I say that confidently with two anecdotes that back it up.
First, Coach Walden is the type of person to greet every single member of the media who shows up to press conferences with a handshake. No, really, every single one, even the students. Second, Coach Walden takes his coaching staff out to events such as Wrestling shows so they can create a tighter connection. I can share that story because by the luck of the draw, I sat in the row right in front of him at a wrestling event happening at El Paso, Texas, in May. His personality is so likable that my step-dad, not knowing who he was, bought the man a beer because, as he told Coach Walden, “you’re bringing the energy.”
Coach Walden is investing in the El Paso Community. For the spring football game, he invites UTEP football alumni to be honored and participate in halftime minigames such as tug-of-war in front of the Miner faithful. He invites the President of UTEP, Heather Wilson, to walk out with the Miners on gameday. Coach Walden has also paid attention to UTEP tradition by bringing back the Miners’ “Minershaft” entrance for the first time since 2012. This special attention is a demonstration of how much Coach Walden cares about his community, and why fans are willing to believe in him.
#2 The highly anticipated quarterback battle came down to last year’s starter, junior Skyler Locklear, and former boise state and USC transfer sophomore Malachi Nelson, who was also the #1 recruit in the nation coming out of high school two seasons ago. Malachi Nelson HAS been named the starter. What did Nelson do in fall camp that separated him from Locklear to ultimately win the starting gig?
If we were conducting this interview in the spring, Malachi Nelson would be far off from the starting role, and Coach Walden can, and has, openly admitted that when he announced Nelson as UTEP’s starter. Nelson in the Spring struggled, throwing one interception in the spring game and having only one touchdown pass, which was a screen pass.
What seems to have separated Nelson away from Skyler Locklear, who transferred from Coach Walden’s previous school, Austin Peay, and was picked over UTEP veteran Quarterback Cade McConell for last year’s starting gig, was the amount of growth that Nelson showed the coaching staff from the spring to the fall. When announcing the decision, Walden cited that Nelson was active in speaking with the coaches, consistently asking, “What do you need to see from me?” As well as demonstrating active leadership and passing consistency when practicing with the first string offense.
However, the main factor for Coach Walden’s decision seems to be attitude. Coach Walden opened up about how UTEP was the only school that didn’t offer a secure starting gig for Nelson, and he likes how the former one-star high school recruit took the challenge. Both parties told the media about having “real” conversations on Nelson’s future and poor spring performance. It seems as though Coach Walden believes that Nelson’s growth from spring to fall is impressive enough to put him over what is very well one of his original quarterbacks, Locklear. In the press conference of the announcement, Coach Walden was excited for this growth to continue into the season.
A key factor that contributed to Nelson’s growth is UTEP and NFL alumnus Jordan Palmer, brother of Carson Palmer. Both quarterbacks got together in May to work on Nelson’s skills, and Coach Walden stated he’d communicated with Palmer regarding Nelson’s training and development.
#3 The offensive line has four seniors (Azizi Henry, Ivan Escobar, Joseph Immediato, and Jaquan Toney) and sophomore transfer Mark Robinson listed as potential starters this weekend. How important is having four battle-tested seniors in the lineup to protect a first-time starter at quarterback?
The offensive line is going to be the deciding factor of whether the Miners can win on the road. I say that because I’m of the mentality that it doesn’t matter if you have Superman as your quarterback; if you don’t have a good offensive line, your team won’t win.
For Malachi Nelson, who’s going to make his first collegiate start ever, he needs time to go through his options. Last year, the Miners gave up 29 sacks, ranking them 92nd in the NCAA for sacks allowed. The lack of time led to both Lockelear and McConell struggling throughout the season. If Nelson wishes to avoid that fate, he needs a stronger O-line.
The skill lf the Miner’s offensive line is with their veterans, specifically senior Joseph Immediato, who’s been with UTEP since 2021. Ivan Escobar, a senior who last year had his breakout season.
These guys have two common characteristics. First, they’re over 6’2 and 300lbs. Second, they played high school football at El Paso, meaning that they had the extra motivation of playing for their hometown college. That attitude is a secret weapon for any team, because said care becomes contagious for teammates who may not be from the 915, yet can feel the gravity of representing the city of El Paso.
For reference, there are 24 public high schools in El Paso, and because the 915 is so far from cities like Dallas, Austin, and Houston, when high school football playoffs start, the mantra “EP vs everybody” takes front and center stage. That mantra unties every football player behind its city, and is typically transferred when a player from the 915 starts playing for UTEP, meaning that protecting Nelson against the Aggies’ defensive line, and any defense this season, is a more personal matter for these seniors.
Immediato and Escobar’s leadership is especially important when we consider two new additions, both true freshmen, to the offensive line, Maddox Huber and Tyler Roberts. Even though they’re just freshman, they’re the tallest players on the team, with Huber coming in at 6’7 and Robert at 6’8. If they can see their senior leaders battle it out in the trenches, that sets a positive precedent for their future development as Miners.
#4 Five of the seven players (Neil Campbell, Micah Davey, Nate Dyman, Tyler Jones, and Donte Thompson) in the back seven of the defense are listed as starters and are either graduate seniors or seniors. How difficult will players with that much experience make moving the football for the Aggie offense?
When looking at the back seven, it could be a little bit of a double-edged sword. Of course, both the linebackers and secondary have players filled with experience that could lead to a strong performance but there’s a new defensive coordinator in town, Bobby Daly, whose changes can lead to some growing pains early in the season.
Putting the spotlight on the players, for the linebackers, I’d point to Nate Dyman, senior, and Stratton Shufelt, sophomore, as the unit’s leaders. I say this because Dyman last season was second on the team in tackles, with 84, and seventh in Conference-USA, the conference UTEP plays in, in tackles for losses with 9.5. Meanwhile, Shufelt played in 11 games as a mere true freshman.
As for the secondary, the Aggies’ biggest concerns will be dealing with junior Xavier Smith and senior Lantz Russell. Smith is the most experienced out of the two, playing in all 12 games last season and having the most tackles among UTEP’s defensive backs. Russell also played in all 12 games and was active in breaking up passes and even came up with a pair of interceptions.
Yet, what the Aggies will benefit from is that this is the first game that the veterans will play under Bobby Daly’s new defense. Daly on Saturday, will be making his FBS debut. Previously, Daly served at FCS institution, and national championship runner-up, Montana State as their defensive coordinator. Daly filled the void this offseason after former defensive coordinator JJ Clark was snagged by the Dallas Cowboys.
The defense’s experience can surely be a problem; however, it can also be used against them if Daly has made major changes to a unit that last year gave up 363 yards on average in the final six games of the season. The only public look that we have of this defense is how they played in Spring, and that was a performance that gave up 73 combined points.
#5 The defensive two-deep is currently filled with multiple pickups from the transfer portal. How have the new players meshed with returning players from last year’s team?
There’s no question as to whether UTEP made an informed decision in signing portal transfers for the backfield. After all, the Miners signed the number one-ranked recruiting class of CUSA for the second consecutive season. Out of the recruiting bunch, four safeties were recruited to El Paso.
Those new additions are Solo Barns, Tyler Jones, Dekode Lowe, and Darnell Williams. Barns easily stands out from the group thanks to his 6’3 stature. But based on the performance last year from guys like Smith and Russell, the new recruits are taking more of a supporting role, coming into relief for the starters.
That relationship has meshed well. Specifically, after this season, Russell’s graduation is going to leave a void that one of the new guys can fill, meaning that the unit has a competitive spirit to grow its skill set.
I wouldn’t expect much alteration among safeties, however. At least early in the season, I expect Daly to stick with his veterans to set the tone defensively. Maybe as the season progresses, we will see some more variety among the safety group.