The UTEP football team leaves for Ruidoso, New Mexico on Wednesday to start fall camp, and today added a JUCO safety to the class of 2015.
6'0, 205 pound safety Brendan Royal has been added per his previous school's Twitter account. Royal started 20 games the past two years for the City College of San Francisco and made UTEP his four year college destination.
S Brendan Royal chooses UTEP & is on campus now. Congrats Brendan! Another scholarship for the 2014 NorCal champs. #rampride #scholarships
— CCSF Football (@CCSFFootball) August 3, 2015
Royal barely started playing football on the big stage in his senior year of high school and signed with Sacramento State out high school, but transferred to CCSF after red-shirting a season at Sacramento State.
He has been an integral part of CCSF's defense over the past two seasons, Royal finished with 52 tackles, 7.5 tackles-for-loss, two fumble recoveries and seven pass breakup last fall.
Royal played mostly strong safety last season, but can play either the free safety spot, or nickel in UTEP's 4-2-5 look. He runs a reported 4.5 40-yard dash with way above average closing speed on the ball, and had an offer from Washington State, and had been in contact with California and Syracuse.
The San Francisco, California native is immediately eligible and is reportedly already with the team, he will have two years of eligibility as a Miner.
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