UTEP’s Scotty Walden talks QB plan against Nebraska and more

Nobody on the team knows yet who will take the first snaps against the Huskers on Saturday afternoon, first-year coach Scotty Walden said Monday. The 34-year-old himself has a leaning but wants to see how the two lead candidates handle a week of game prep first. The team plans to announce its top choice on Wednesday or Thursday.

Either of those options — incumbent starter Cade McConnell and transfer Skyler Locklear, a former backup who followed Walden from Austin Peay — could play a significant role in the opener in Lincoln. Walden didn’t rule out playing both or riding the hot hand in their first action on a national stage. Both are generally pocket passers set to operate an up-tempo attack.

“No better test we can have than playing Nebraska with all the different looks they’re going to give us,” Walden said during a 30-minute media session. “They are certainly not going to make it easy on our quarterbacks.”

Walden praised the Husker defense and the man who runs it in NU defensive coordinator Tony White, who graduated from Burges High School in El Paso in 1997.

“It’s by far the most diverse defense that I’ve gone against in my career, seen on tape,” Walden said. “People say it’s a 3-3 stack and some people think you’re just going to line up in an odd stack and that’s what it is. No, siree. That ain’t it. It’ll be four down in a heartbeat. It’ll be two high (safeties), one high, three high.”

Walden’s own defense hasn’t spent much time considering the true freshman status of Nebraska starting quarterback Dylan Raiola, he said. The coach listed a variety of qualities about the QB, none more important than a strong and accurate arm that gives the Huskers an ability to hurt opponents who stack the box in ways NU couldn’t last year.

“I think his future is through the roof,” Walden said. “He’s got NFL pedigree written all over him, he throws a deep ball that is fun to study, fun to see. I’m hoping it’s not too fun to see on Saturday because he can sling it.”

Walden also called NU’s culture “elite.” He gauges it on film based on how a team looks on kickoffs and field-goal block. Nebraska stuffed multiple kicks a year ago. The kickoff group, he said, looks like “11 wild banshees running down there frickin’ ready to rip somebody’s head off.”

Yet Walden, who won 34 of 54 games as head coach at Austin Peay, warned that the Miners aren’t assuming a negative result even as nearly four-touchdown underdogs. They’ve heard the narrative about Saturday being a “money” game UTEP just needs to emerge from healthy.

“I actually despise comments like that with all my heart and soul,” Walden said. “…We are not going to invest all of this time and effort to prepare to lose. We’re going to expect to win.”