The UTEP football team held its third Spring Game under head coach Scotty Walden on April 19, entertaining more than 500 fans at Sun Bowl Stadium. The event featured fast-paced play and several activities designed to engage the community, including halftime competitions among UTEP Athletics staff and a media 40-yard dash.
The Spring Game aimed to strengthen ties between the program and El Paso supporters as the team prepares for competition in the Mountain West Conference. Walden said, “We wanted to get some work in today and play some football, but we also wanted to celebrate the community and celebrate a united El Paso front.” He added, “We need that going into the Mountain West is a united El Paso front, a united UTEP. There are so many reasons to be negative and look at the things we don’t have. Let’s look at the things we do have. It’s not what can go wrong but what can go right. For the fans who came out, we had over 100 recruits for junior day today. We had our signees come back, so it was just such a great day.”
Walden involved fans directly by inviting them from the stands to call plays during portions of the game. The contest ended with Orange Swarm defeating Blue Blaze by a score of 97-87 after various point-scoring opportunities throughout play.
Several former UTEP players attended, including Derek Elmendorf (offensive lineman), Kalaii Griffin (linebacker), Will Hernandez (offensive lineman), Josh Ortega (defensive end), and Trevor Vittatoe (quarterback). Vittatoe addressed current players before kickoff about building positive legacies within the program.
Hernandez announced his taco/clothing brand Mijo will partner with UTEP Football Youth Camp on June 20. Walden said this partnership is important: “Trevor Vittatoe spoke to the team this morning. Will Hernandez announced that we are going to do our camps in conjunction with Mijo this June,” he said. “That was really important to me since I took the job, to get guys like Will back into the Sun Bowl for their camps to help them and further that united El Paso front. So, overall, it was a fantastic day.”
On-field highlights included long touchdown passes from transfer quarterbacks for Blue Blaze and defensive plays such as an interception by Orange Swarm’s transfer cornerback.
Reflecting on player performance, Walden said: “We have got a lot of new players and there is definitely some football-wise that I want to clean up… Overall…we were really good at taking the football away on defense and we tackled well…We’ll clean it up.”
