UTEP Basketball: UTEP officially receives LOI from Roman Silva

UTEP Athletics officially announced the signing of 2016 center Roman Silva from Pomona, California.

He player under Eric Cooper at Diamond Ranch High Scool, Mr. Cooper is the father of former Miner great C.J Cooper.

Read what Coach Floyd, and the Cooper's said about Silva.

Tim Floyd

"We're really excited about Roman and the potential that he brings to our program," coach Tim Floyd said.  "At seven-foot-one, he has a knack for putting the ball in the basket and he has great hands.  We really believe he's a fine player and he's only going to get better.  He has a 4.2 grade point average and wants to major in engineering at UTEP.  We look forward to watching him progress both academically and athletically.  Adding Roman gives us some insurance with Matt Willms' foot injury, and the development of Kelvin Jones will allow us to play two bigs at one time."

Roman Silva

"It was an easy decision to go to UTEP because the coaches are really friendly and I felt like I could trust them," Silva said.  "That was a big part of the whole process for me.  They were genuine, and that's something my family and I appreciated.  There were quite a few schools looking at me with a lot of interest.  But the fact that coach Floyd came to see me and offered a scholarship right away showed that he trusted in me, and that was huge.  I feel like I can make a big impact in the frontcourt for the Miners.  I've worked really hard to establish a post presence and once I get stronger, it will be even bigger than it is now."

Eric Cooper

"He has a passion to be the best that he can be," Eric Cooper said.  "He didn't have the skill level and everything that he needed when he came to our school, and within a short period of time he put the work in, developed and turned into a totally different creature.  Within two months he had a decent jump shot, he hit his free throws, he worked on his post moves down low and he had a little jump hook.  If you saw him six months ago, you wouldn't believe he was the same player that he is now.  His future is much brighter than his past and he's going to improve really quick."

C.J. Cooper

"Getting Roman to UTEP is big," C.J. Cooper said.  "I enjoyed my time there and I taught him a lot about the program.  He is a good player.  He has all the skills to be successful.  All he has to do is get stronger.  He hasn't been playing basketball for very long.  He has a really strong work ethic.  It's crazy how much better he has gotten and he has so much more room to grow.  The sky is the limit with him."