With the 2025 college football season very slowly approaching, UTEP seems to believe that it will be kicking a lot of field goals. The Miners listed nine different kickers on its roster for spring practice.
It is entirely unclear what head coach Scotty Walden is looking to do at the position but he is only two kickers away from being able to field an entire offense of legs. Maybe that is his master plan.
UTEP, a college football team that has just one winning season in the last decade, went 3-9 in 2024. Walden was hired to take over the program prior to last season after a successful run at Austin Peay. His first year at the helm was underwhelming but there is nowhere to go but up.
One of the Miners’ most pressing issues was their kicking. Redshirt sophomore Buzz Flabiano made only 10 of his 17 field goal attempts. Redshirt junior Joe Bowman went 0-for-1.
With that in mind, it seems as though Walden is not taking any chances when it comes to next season. UTEP listed nine different kickers on its spring football roster. I have never seen that many kickers on one team.
- Redshirt freshman Aiden Webb
- Committed to UTEP out of high school
- Redshirt sophomore Tanner Cragun
- Transferred from Utah State
- Redshirt freshman Evan Scruggs
- Committed to UTEP out of high school
- Freshman Carlos Arrelola
- Redshirt senior Joe Bowman
- Redshirt junior Buzz Flabiano
- Junior Kyle Gallegos
- Transferred from South Carolina State
- Junior Noah Botsford
- Transferred from Valdosta State
- Freshman Jackson Cleaver
To be fair, it seems like a large number of the specialists are also in the mix to punt. Walden acquired as many legs as he could and wants the cream to rise to the top. There was no way he was going to have a repeat of last year.
And with that in mind, it is also worth noting that UTEP used a placekicker for field goals and a kickoff specialist. There is more than one position available. Surely one of them has to be good enough, right?
Even still, to roster nine kickers at the same time seems like a lot of kickers. Even if there are three spots.