National Signing Day: UTEP Signs a Whopping 32 Prospects

UTEP football head coach Dana Dimel announced today the signing of 32 prospects in part of the Miners' 2019 signing class as part of National Signing Day.

Dimel would not go into details on specific scholarship players versus walk-ons, but he did go into specifics on the recruiting process.

“As everybody says this is a time as a coach trying to come in and build your program, Dimel said. "It’s obviously a big day for us as a coaching staff, and one I look forward to all year, putting all of the pieces of a recruiting class together. All of the stories and tribulations that come to this day is what makes our business so much fun. It’s an important part of what you do as a football coach and all of that comes down to signing day."

The majority of the signees are coming out of high school (23), with nine being transfers. It was a well-balanced class, 15 offensive, 14 defensive and three special teams prospects.

The moment that Dimel stepped foot on campus, he promised to recruit Texas hard. His promise was fulfilled with the addition of 21 Texas signees, while seven are from California, two from Arizona, one from Arizona and one from Pennslyvania.

There were some last-minute additions to this group, including safety McKel Broussard and linebacker DJ Turner. Dimel explained that the process in grabbing players late allows the program to further evaluate players through the holiday break and puts UTEP in a position to offer those that have been overlooked.

"There is two signing days now," Dimel said. "I think that has been a really positive thing for UTEP, having the early signing day allows us to really see what’s out there for us and allows us to do what we do best. It's what you do with your evaluation tools. That is how we are going to build our program is by being great evaluators. That is obviously what we had done at Kansas State to turn that program around, and the other places that I have been and had success is because we have been great evaluators. So that is a big part of what we did with this class."

Along with the 32 signees, the Miners are still able to land graduate transfers throughout the spring and summer.

Here is a full list of the 2019 signees:

Name                         Cl.     Pos.    Ht.     Wt.      Hometown/Previous School

TJ Goodwin                     FR      QB      6-5     200      Houston, Texas/Cypress Falls HS

Jeremiah Byers               FR      OL      6-4     295      Austin, Texas/ L.C. Anderson HS

Justin Mayers                  FR      OL      6-2     295      Frisco, Texas/Reedy HS

Fabio Novoa                    FR      OL      6-4     295      El Paso, Texas/Pebble Hills HS

Adam Cousins               FR      WR     6-0     170      Pflugerville, Texas/Hendrickson HS

Jacob Cowing                 FR      WR     5-11   175      Maricopa, Ariz./Maricopa HS

Skyler Newsome             FR      WR     6-2     200      Lubbock, Texas/Frenship HS

Quintavius Workman      FR      WR     6-5     185      El Paso, Texas/Chapin HS

Rashad Beecham        SO      TE      6-2     235      Cibolo, TX/Allan Hancock College

Luke Laufenberg           R-JR   TE      6-4     235      Argyle, Texas/Mesa CC

Julian Lopez                  FR      TE      6-1     230      El Paso, Texas/Chapin HS

Deion Hankins              FR      RB      6-0     212      El Paso, Texas/Parkland HS

Jalen Joseph                FR      RB      5-9     215      El Paso, Texas/Andress HS

Jett Kinsch                   FR      RB      6-0     190      Phoenix, Ariz./Liberty HS

Michael Young             FR      FB      5-9     215    Euless, Texas/Colleyville Heritage HS

Miles Banks                 JR       DB      6-1     165      Missouri City, Texas/Blinn CC

Robert Corner III         JR       DB      6-1     180      Compton, Calif./Cerritos College

Duron Lowe                R-JR   DB      5-10   185      Shawnee, Kansas/Butler CC

McKel Broussard       FR      S         6-0     190      Sherman, Calif./Notre Dame HS

Dy’vonne Inyang        JR       S         6-0     180      Missouri City, Texas/Kilgore College

Ty’reke James          JR       S         5-11   190     Richmond, Calif./Contra Costa

Joe Jay Smith           R-JR   LB      6-3     225      Bethlehem, Pa./Garden City CC

DJ Turner                 SO      LB      5-11   217      Santa Clarita, Calif./Moorpark College

Jerome Wilson          FR      LB      6-3     205      Etiwanda, Calif./Etiwanda HS

Armonie Brown         FR      DE      6-2     250      Refugio, Texas/Refugio HS

Demarr Hayes          FR      DE      6-4     225      Waco, Texas/La Vega HS

Tre’jon Lewis            FR      DE      6-3     230      Manor, Texas/Manor HS

Jalen Rudolph          FR      DT     6-2     290      Los Angeles, Calif./Junipero Serra HS

Sua’ava Tupua         FR      DT     6-1     270      Harbor City, Calif./Narbonne HS

Mark Ramos             FR      K        5-8     165      El Paso, Texas/Andress HS

Austin Rychlik           FR      K        5-10   156      Cypress, Texas/Cypress Ranch HS

Tanner Boston          FR      LS       6-1     250      Cypress, Texas/Cypress Ranch HS