Welcome to West Texas
Home of some of the best Chilaquiles money can buy, and a potential CFF monster waiting in the lurch...
God, I love West Texas.
- Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water (2016)
Many are called—few are chosen. Some come to the mythical lands of Western Texas in search of something transcendent: oil, Mexican food, small-town high school football, and Mexicans playing small-town high school football. There’s a lot that this region has to offer.
Indeed, tourists in this part of the world often lament that they need multiple trips to cover all of the relevant landmarks. One such can’t-miss event is a UTEP Miners football game. This is a proud program located in the auspicious town of El Paso, right on the border of New Mexico and the Lone Star State.
CFFers are intimately familiar with this program. There have been a litany of standout skill players rolling through this campus dating back to the mid-2010s. NFL RB Aaron Jones initiated the carrying of the torch, rushing for 1,000+ yards in 2014 and 2016. Then there was an incredible run of three straight 1,000+ yard receivers from 2021 to 2023 (Jacob Cowing, Tyrin Smith, and Kelly Akharaiyi), despite absolutely horrendous QB play.
And believe me, I know. As someone who rostered Tyrin Smith in 2022 and thus watched more Miner football than I care to admit, it was a miracle that any receiver finished the season with positive yardage.
Unfortunately, in 2024 that streak came to an end. Presumed WR1 Jaden Smith fell to injury after four games. The remaining top three (Kam Thomas, Trey Goodman and Kenny Odom) shared the remaining target share, each finishing with 40+ receptions.
While all four of those players return in 2025, it is Odom who is reportedly set to be the featured man this upcoming season. Odom finished with 741 yards and eight scores in 2024 in his first campaign with the Miners.
He was part of the cohort that was brought over with the coaching staff from Austin Peay last offseason.
Coaching & System
WR1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 12.21 (half ppr)
Unfortunately, we only have one season of data in the database sample to draw from for Scotty Walden’s PPG. The list of WR1s at his previous stop in the FCS is an interesting group. Tre Shackelford, previously at Wazzou and now at Tulane, led the Governors in 2023 with 52 receptions, 799 yards, and six scores.
In 2022 and 2021 it was current Texas Tech receiver Drae McCrae, who went over 1000 yards on 75 catches and nine TDs in ‘22. McCrae accrued considerable hype in the 2023 offseason as a potential candidate to be then Texas Tech OC Zack Kittley’s slot receiver.
That Austin Peay program under Walden certainly seemed to be an incubator for future FBS receivers.
I’m not sure if it’s good or bad news that the Miners return QB Skyler Locklear for another year of carnage. Locklear won the job late last offseason after joining the program with Walden from the FCS level and was pretty inconsistent last year. He did have two standout performances but one was vs. Southern Utah (FCS) and the other against Kennesaw State, a former FCS program in their first year at the FBS level. So, that’s not really encouraging at the QB position.
Walden’s Miners averaged 55% run plays last year and approximately 66 plays per game, which is pretty average.
The starting QB may very well be Skyler Locklear once more. At this point, I have no clue what Malachi Nelson is up to (whether that be in the portal, or doing whatever it is he does when he joins new teams during spring camp).
Seriously, I’m going to need that 30 for 30 documentary on Malachi Nelson and how he seemingly tricked every recruiting service out there during his high school days ASAP.
All that to say, my confidence in the UTEP QB position is low to non-existent once again. If this program could just get a solid season out of its passer, I feel that it could do great things. And with so many high school legends coming out of small West Texas towns, you’d think there’d be something of a lineage of UTEP gunslingers in college; but alas, such is not the case.
Kenny Odom (5’8, 165)
2024 STATS: 46 (79) - 741 - 8 (14 PPG)
Odom began his college career in 2022 as a freshman with Walden’s Austin Peay program. He played sparingly, catching one pass for 17 yards on the year. His second season was more fruitful—bringing in 28 passes for 301 yards and three scores on the year.
However, his most productive season by far was his third, and first in the FBS with UTEP in 2024. Odom caught 46 of his 79 targets for 741 yards and eight scores, averaging a solid 14 PPG in PPR formats.
While updates are hard to come by out of UTEP’s camp, there is an encouraging piece of text via Fantrax’ player blurb from the El Paso Times:
Odom is expected to see a large target volume for the Miners this fall.
Odom was referred to as an "expected star receiver" in UTEP's spring game recap despite being limited for precautionary reasons this spring. The 5-foot-8 redshirt sophomore, who tallied 46 receptions for 741 yards and eight touchdowns across 12 games with the Miners last season, appears poised for another productive season.
Despite all of the poetic waxing above regarding West Texas high school football, Odom’s presence on the roster almost makes this UTEP team have more Georgia ties than Texas ties.
A lot of the Scotty Walden regime that he brought over were from the peach state, or neighbouring south east areas, which I guess makes sense given that Austin Peay are located in Tennessee.
I see Odom continuing the trend of UTEP receivers being cool in CFF. I don’t think he has incredible upside, but he has the potential to be a really good CFF asset settling around 15-17 PPG. His QB play will be the ultimate coin flip on whether Odom’s career kicks up another level this season.
We’ve seen that good results can happen here regardless (though under a different staff), but it would certainly help to get some better production from the QB compared to years past. ◾
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Sample of 2018-2024, excluding 2020.