UTEP at Texas Tech: UTEP's Depth Chart Outlook

A few expected changes, and a healthy defensive back are the highlights in this week's glance at the depth chart.

The most expected change was at punt returner as Junior receiver Jaquan White, and freshman slot receiver Warren Redix will handle the punt returning duties on Saturday.

"That's one thing I can not tolerate." Kugler said of the turnover on punt return.  "The first thing we talk about is catching the punt before we worry about anything.  There will probably be a change made, we'll probably go with Jaquan White, and Warren Redix as the punt returner.  We got to keep in mind too that Nik Needham played every single snap on defense, and really did a hell of a job on defense."

Senior defensive back Traun Roberson was able to run around yesterday for the first time according to Sean Kugler after being in a boot the past couple of weeks.

Roberson is listed as the second corner on the two deep, although UTEP will be in a high percentage of dime situations against the Air Raiders. His return is vital for the UTEP defense.

"We're going to monitor Traun, he did run yesterday and he looked pretty good," Kugler said.  "So I'm hoping we have Traun back in the game.  There's going to be so many different personnel packages when they go four wide receivers we're essentially going to be in dime."

Kugler also noted that Ryan Metz will be QB2 behind Mack Leftwich as Garrett Simpson is still hobbled.

Two freshman appear as reserves at their respective positions for the for the first time this season.

Brad Zaffram is listed as the third fullback, and Stephen Forester is now in rotation at middle linebacker with Cooper Foster.

X-Receiver Donovan Walker is now wearing #23.

The best depth chart news is that UTEP came out injury free on Saturday, and getting Roberson back will be a huge boost in UTEP's young secondary.