What does UTEP football need to do in fall camp? Here are 5 things

On paper, the UTEP football team is about to enter a season of expectations.
The Miners team that takes to Glory Field on Thursday afternoon to begin a one-month run-in to the Aug. 26 opener at Jacksonville State returns most of a 5-7 team that missed a bowl on the last play of the regular season.
The Miners play an easier schedule that includes two teams moving up from the FCS and another in the FCS and they enter the sixth season of Dana Dimel's tenure with more depth than they've had, maybe in more than a decade.
With so many starters returning, many of the questions they face involve finding backups, always a good place to be in July.
Here is a look at five questions they will look to answer over the next 25 practices.
Where is the receiver depth?
The biggest question mark on the team took a dramatic turn for the better when Tyrin Smith transferred back from Texas A&M after spending the spring there. His 1,039 receiving yards last season was essentially half of the yardage produced by wideouts, and that this is still the No. 1 question even after getting him back speaks to how big his return was.
Now UTEP only has to replace one major loss, Reynaldo Flores, and has almost everyone else back to do it. What they now need is some of those veteran hands to step up. That begins with Kelly Akharaiyi, Marcus Bellon, Jeremiah Ballard, Jostein Clark and Emari White.
All have shown flashes of talent, and Akharaiyi emerged late last year as a legitimate No. 3. Now he needs to be No. 2 and at least several other members of a large cast also have to take a step forward. Dimel knows the ability is there but until now the production hasn't.
Last year "we felt Kelly Akharaiyi, Marcus Bellon, Jeremiah Ballard and Jostein Clark would have good years; when it was all said and done none of them had a good year," Dimel said. "We have a lot of talent, now that talent has to make plays."
One name brought in to challenge that group, transfer Dre Spriggs from UTSA, has yet to emerge but has the talent. True freshman Jackson Weng is another name to watch.
What will safety look like?
The defensive backfield was not a strength of the team last season and it was the hardest hit spot by graduation. That made the position the focus of recruiting and UTEP feels it is now overflowing with corner and nickle back depth, which started with getting New Mexico transfer AJ Odums at corner.
"We're super deep at corner and nickle," Dimel said. "What used to be a weakness a year ago today has got to be a strength."
That could possibly hold true at safety as well, but after Kobe Hylton, unquestionably one of the best players on the team and one of the best safeties in Conference USA, UTEP has much to prove.
Junior McKel Broussard is looking to make the move up to full-time starter in his fifth year in the program and does have one game of starting experience, but many of the seven tackles he had last year were on special teams so he counts as one of the few new faces in the starting lineup.
"It's time for Mikel to step up and shine," Dimel said.
After that Dimel listed three junior college transfers, Oscar Moore, Jaleal Williams-Evans and Lantz Russell, as the next lines on the depth chart.
Getting them up to speed will be the biggest task for the defense.
Can quarterback Gavin Hardison take the next step?
A top question in spring was finding a backup for Hardison, and as UTEP heads into camp, Kevin Hurley and Jake McNamara are co-No. 2s. If Hardison gets hurt, Hurley and McNamara will play and one can win the job in a game on the field.
Much of UTEP's success will hinge on Hardison staying healthy and making a big step forward in his fourth year as a full-time starter. He and Dimel are facing a transition this year as Dimel takes over full-time play-calling duties and will be working more with the quarterbacks. Getting Hardison to improve on his 52% completion percentage and his 11-8 touchdown-interception ratio will be a key to UTEP's season.
"Can we get that kind of play out of him? I believe we can," Dimel said. "He has every intangible and talent. There’s nothing holding him back except among great communication between him and I, the play caller and the quarterback. With me spending more time with the quarterback it’s going to help the football team."
As for his accuracy, Dimel said that's not the exact issue.
It's "having his eyes where they need to be," Dimel said. "Gav doesn’t struggle with accuracy, but if your eyes aren’t where they need to be then you’re late with your timing, now the ball comes out inaccurately. Gav is a very accurate thrower, he has precision accuracy with velocity, he’s not like a fastball pitcher with control problems.
"What is was with him, sometimes his eyes weren’t where I thought they should be, they get there late, the ball comes out late in an abrupt manner and it’s not as accurate as it might be."
Settle the kicker position
UTEP graduated one of its all-time great kickers coming off an all-time great season in Gavin Baechle, and while the Miners have no one who has tried a field goal in a game or handled a kickoff in anything other than an onside kick capacity, they do have one of the best names in college football ready to take over: redshirt freshman Buzz Flabiano.
Behind him are two locals, junior Mark Ramos from Andress, who was the holder and onside kick specialist last season, and Eastlake's Julian Melucci.
The last time UTEP cast about for a kicker, it found Baechle and settled the position for four years, which followed several seasons of struggles there. The Miners would like to skip those struggles.
How will the tailback carries be distributed?
UTEP is clearly making a push to make junior Deion Hankins, a Parkland alum, the face of the program, and after some noises that there could be a committee at tailback in the spring, Dimel said Hankins will be the featured back.
That will mean about half the carries, about 20 a game. The other 20 will go to some combination of Mike Franklin, Torrance Burgess Jr. and Americas alum Aaron Dumas. After his second transfer Dumas is waiting on a waiver from the NCAA, which UTEP is optimistic about, but if he isn't available, the Miners are high on true freshman Ezell Jolly.
Hankins "gets better the more carries he gets," Dimel said. "We’re going to have a backfield with multiple players getting touches because that creates problems for a defense, but he’s going to be the guy for sure. The other guys are too talented not to get their touches and they compliment each other.
"Burgess is a shifty, splashy guy, Mike and Deion are more powerful."
Burgess could take over Flores' role as a player who splits time between tailback and slot receiver.
Beyond all that, building offensive line depth, dealing with brutal heat as they prepare for an August opener in Alabama and getting backup quarterbacks ready for what could be their first Division I game action will also be key developments.
There is much to do between now and kickoff, that's always the case in July, but the Miners like where they stand at the dawn of camp.