UTEP football coach: Sloppy start at first scrimmage, but UTEP QBs deliver under pressure

UTEP football coach Scotty Walden frequently says that the quarterback competition is going to go to the last possible second because Cade McConnell and Skyler Locklear are so even.

Receiver Jaden Smith surely agrees. The Miners had their first scrimmage of their fall camp Friday morning, Aug. 9, and McConnell, Lockler and true freshman Franklin alum Shay Smith tied in one specific area: They each threw a touchdown pass to Jaden Smith.

Early on, he took a medium-depth pass from Shay Smith and turned it into an 81-yard score. In the middle of the scrimmage, he caught a 9-yard pass for a score from McConnell, and the scrimmage ended when Smith went into double coverage in the corner of the end zone and came up with a 15-yard touchdown that served as a walk-off.

This was the most significant moment of Smith's brief UTEP career, though the senior transfer from Eastern Kentucky has had them in college before, as his former foe, UTEP coach Scotty Walden, knows.

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"I'm used to seeing that on the other side; he was a conference rival at Eastern Kentucky," Walden said. "He carved us up every time we played him. Last year, we doubled him, didn't matter, he carved us up. He's a special talent, a special player, a great young man. We're glad he's a Miner."

Specifically, Smith went off for 130 yards and a touchdown against Peay last year, which is part of the reason Walden started chasing him as soon as he entered the transfer portal.

Smith was humble about what he did after Friday's scrimmage.

"I'm not going to take all the credit," he said. "It's not up to me to make the plays if the quarterback doesn't get me the ball or the if the o-line isn't blocking. Shay, Cade, Skyler all played great today. The running backs ran the ball well today. They stepped it up. I'm proud of them."

As for his skill set, "I tell the quarterbacks to throw it to me, I have better hands than Allstate," Smith said. "I don't care who's throwing me the ball as long as I get a target. I'm happy whenever the ball comes my way."

Walden calls scrimmage 'sloppy'

The transition to a new coach always entails growing pains, and Walden saw some on Friday. For the first time this fall, there were officials at a UTEP practice, and they were busy, with plenty of flags on both sides of the ball.

"I thought it was a little sloppy," Walden said. "We had way too many missed assignments, way too many things we need to clean up. It was either really, really good or really, really bad, not too much in between. We have to fix that.

"There were way too many penalties. That's part of putting a tempo system in. I'd say that on defense, too. We are very aggressive on both sides of the ball, and when you are that, there's a tendency for some penalties early on. We have to clean it up.

"There's no excuse not to be cleaner. We have to coach it better, we have to demand better and we have to be better next time out."

The players did see some progress in some places.

"There are things we need to clean up, small things, but from a team perspective, I think we did well," said defensive end Maurice Westmoreland, who, for the most part, was held out of the scrimmage as one of the few players who has a starting spot sewn up. "Getting into a scrimmage setting is way different than practice. You have to have those days where you fly around, get super competitive. It's great for the team dynamic."

Quarterbacks up and down

Walden's comments on McConnell and Locklear were predictable and, in this case, completely accurate.

"There was a time today when I thought Cade was doing really well, then Skyler came right back and dropped two dimes," Walden said. "It's the dangdest thing. I'm not just saying it. When one of them starts seeing the other one do well, they go to a new focus and take it to a new level.

"I thought they were very square today. Both showed great toughness and great leadership. They bounced back from bad decisions and made some key throws. We're nowhere near making a decision."

For the first time since early in the Sean Kugler era a decade ago, the quarterbacks were live and could be hit. McConnell's last pass involved his arm getting hit as he threw, leading to an easy pop-up interception from Dillion Williams. McConnell wasn't sacked but did have to throw the ball away several times and Locklear was sacked once.

"We made the quarterbacks live and that changes everything," Walden said. "The quarterback decision making, we really have to go back and assess that. When there are four guys trying to rip your head off and your life, it's a different deal.

"We panicked into some decisions. That's why we did it. We have to find out who our starting quarterback is and part of that is putting those guys in live settings. They handled it well in terms of being excited to do it, but at the same time, we panicked into some decisions."

Early in the scrimmage, Atiq Muhammed intercepted Locklear, and McConnell looked better in the first part of the day, but Locklear responded with a 44-yard touchdown pass to Trey Goodman before closing the scrimmage with the touchdown to Smith.

Standouts

Walden couched praise by saying he needed to review the film but gave a few standouts from his first impressions.

Defensive players he cited were defensive backs Xavier Smith, Corey Chapman and Muhammed.

"Our linebackers, in general, played physically," Walden said. "We had a freshman Stratton Shufelt in there who was flying around. Valentino Diaz had a huge sack. He disrupted it all by being fierce."

On offense, Walden cited tailbacks Corey Wren and Jevon Jackson and the receiver Goodman.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at [email protected]; @Bretbloomquist on X.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP coach critiques team's 'sloppy' play in first fall scrimmage