UTEP linemen seek power through numbers Bret Bloomquist, Wochit
The quickest way for the UTEP defense to improve is to get better on the defensive line.
As a unit they quietly improved in 2018, as judged by how many tackles the linebackers behind them were making, but the line didn't produce many big plays.
What they did best was to begin to establish some depth, and even though they lost three key players to graduation and transfer, the sheer quantity of bodies and the experience they have on the line are the biggest reasons this group could leap forward in 2019.