In my opinion the current problem with this team, as some of you guys have already mentioned, lies in the quality of players that make up this roster. The team consists of many guys who frankly have no business playing division I NCAA football. Kugler and his staff truly picked up players from the bottom of the recruiting barrel, lots of which are from El Paso. Now I am an El Paso native and I love the idea of having home-grown players playing ball for the Miners, but the reality is that the talent coming out of the Sun City is not up to standard. I asked a recent former player from UTEP's football team (who himself graduated from an El Paso high school) how many players he thought were division I quality players that graduate each year from El Paso. His answer, maybe 4 to 7 across the entire city. How many are on this roster? Obviously, this is only a small part of the overall much larger problem.
When you go to the games, watch the players warm-up for both UTEP and the opposing team that they may be playing. You do not have to be a scout to see the difference in quality from our guys to theirs, no matter really who they are playing. Northern Arizona, for instance, has some pretty damn good football players on their team, from the quarterback, wide receiver, running back, punt returner, both offensive and defensive lines, etc. Now Ky, I am not making the lousy excuse other people are making that Northern Arizona is a "pretty good team so let's not feel too bad about our guys." No, what I am saying is teams like Northern Arizona have recruited and developed players who are quality, division I NCAA athletes. Our roster seriously resembles that of, for really lack of a better description, a high school team made up of fifth year seniors if there ever were some. There is not a lot of speed, there is not a lot of size, I personally do not see tons of athleticism, they are not exactly physical at the point of attack, and there is not heaps of skill among every position. I am sorry to say but our players do not currently meet a standard that is competitive with other NCAA football programs, and that is the result of very poor recruiting.
Hope is not lost however. I do believe this coaching staff is superior to the previous group. I do think they will be able to improve the program with better recruits and transfers, which they have already shown. It is going to take time to develop and nurture this project, but it's going to require lots of sweat and grit and a commitment to constant improvement. The sloppy penalties and poor assignments on Saturday night though, needs to be cleaned up NOW. No excuse for that nonsense. But I am hoping, as the rest of you, that the team will pull through and begin to trend upwards.
