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UTEP Football: Final Report Card, Defensive Line

Progress is always good, especially when your program wants to win the battle in the trenches.

High points: Emergence of Sky Logan, Nick Usher's continued improvment, Roy Robertson-Harris' leadership, UTSA game

Low points: Inconsistencies at defensive tackle, entire defense allowing almost five yards per carry for the year

Final Grade: C+

Sean Kugler was excited about the direction the defensive line was headed into fall camp, and for good reason as the defensive line became a defensive strong point right next to the linebackers.

While it took them awhile to become a force, some adjustments, and UTEP's two veteran leaders taking their production to the next level helped this group prosper in the second half of the season.

Junior Nick Usher had the best statistical season of his career, and earned C-USA honorable mention honors for his strong season.  Usher was second behind Alvin Jones with 10 TFL's, and recorded three sacks this season

Senior Roy Robertson-Harris also finished the year strong, the 6'7 NFL prospect had 4.5 TFL's in the final four games, and recorded 2.5 sacks for the season.

2015's breakout player played inside, and thrived once he was placed in the starting lineup.

Junior-to-be Sky Logan started his first career game against UTSA, and ended up with three sacks, and five tackles for losses from the three-technique for his season stats. Logan will be a valuable piece for UTEP going forward along with Usher, and Silas Firstley.

Firstley played well towards the end of the season, along with the athletic Lawrence Montegut.

UTEP had a stuff rate on defense of 20.7% which ranked 56th in the nation, and also boasted a 5.4% havoc rate which ranked 54th in the nation.

Those numbers improved steadily as the season went along, as the defensive line also ranked 49th against teams adjusted offensive line yards, meaning UTEP's defensive line held their own.

Going forward, UTEP will rely upon a number of red-shirt freshman next season, mixed with some proven production that showed they can be relied upon in 2016.

UTEP wants to win games in the trenches, and in some sequences UTEP's defensive line did just that.  But a new era of defensive lineman will take the reigns in 2016.

Key losses: Roy Robertson-Harris,  Alex Villarreal

Key Returners: Nick Usher, Silas Firstley, Sky Logan

2016 commits: Christian Johnson, Josh Ortega

Defensive Footprint
Team Rk Nat'l Average
Std. Downs Run Rate 58.0% 85 60.1%
Pass. Downs Run Rate 28.9% 110 33.8%
Overall Havoc Rate 14.9% 91 16.5%
DL Havoc Rate 5.4% 54 5.2%
LB Havoc Rate 3.3% 97 4.6%
DB Havoc Rate 6.1% 73 6.5%
PD to INC 27.6% 105 32.8%
Individual Defensive Stats
Name Pos Ht, Wt Year Tackles % of Team TFL Sacks Int PBU FF FR
Alvin Jones LB 5'11, 220 SO 70.5 12.7% 14.5 6.5 0 0 0 0
Jimmy Musgrave LB 6'0, 240 SR 42.5 7.6% 7.5 2.0 0 1 1 0
Roy Robertson-Harris DL 6'7, 255 SR 39.0 7.0% 7.5 2.5 0 4 0 0
Nick Usher DL 6'3, 235 JR 36.5 6.6% 10.0 3.5 0 0 1 0
Kalon Beverly DB 6'1, 175 FR 33.5 6.0% 0.0 0.0 1 2 0 0
Michael Lewis DB 5'11, 170 FR 32.0 5.7% 0.0 0.0 0 2 0 0
Nik Needham DB 5'11, 185 FR 31.5 5.7% 2.0 0.5 1 5 0 0
Dashone Smith DB 6'0, 200 JR 30.5 5.5% 1.5 0.0 1 0 0 0
Ishmael Harrison DB 6'0, 200 SR 29.0 5.2% 3.0 0.0 0 6 0 0
Kelvin Fisher Jr. DB 5'11, 200 SR 26.0 4.7% 0.0 0.0 1 4 0 0
Sky Logan DL 6'2, 285 SO 23.0 4.1% 5.0 3.0 0 1 1 0
Traun Roberson DB 6'0, 200 SR 21.0 3.8% 1.0 0.0 1 4 0 0
Gino Bresolin DL 6'2, 290 JR 19.0 3.4% 1.0 0.0 0 0 0 0
Trey Brown LB 6'0, 225 SR 18.0 3.2% 0.5 0.0 0 0 0 0
Da'Carlos Renfro DB 5'10, 175 SR 16.0 2.9% 0.0 0.0 0 7 0 0
Silas Firstley DL 6'0, 265 JR 15.5 2.8% 4.0 1.0 0 0 0 0
Mookie Carlile DB 6'1, 200 FR 11.0 2.0% 0.5 0.0 0 1 0 0
Lawrence Montegut DL 6'1, 230 SO 10.0 1.8% 3.0 2.0 0 1 1 0
Adrian Hynson DB 5'10, 185 FR 9.0 1.6% 1.0 1.0 0 0 0 0
Alex Villarreal DL 6'4, 300 SR 7.5 1.3% 1.0 0.0 0 0 0 0
Trent Trammell DB 6'0, 200 SR 6.0 1.1% 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0
Leon Hayes DB 5'10, 200 JR 3.5 0.6% 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0
Cooper Foster LB 6'1, 210 JR 3.0 0.5% 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0
Brian Madunezim DL 6'3, 275 JR 3.0 0.5% 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0
LaQuintus Dowell DB 5'10, 205 SR 2.0 0.4% 1.0 0.0 0 0 0 0
Note: It appears "Fumble Returns" are getting pulled instead of "Fumble Recoveries." My apologies. Will try to get that corrected.