The longer a productive spring progressed for the UTEP football team, the more one theme emerged: The new 3-4 defense moved ahead of the new offense.
That came to a head in the spring game, when a defense that the players laud as easy-to-grasp and aggressive, but still one missing a number of potential starters, flew all over the field against an offense that won't be completely installed until Camp Ruidoso in August.
"We played really fast, we played really hard, we've been making improvements all spring and we did well," said safety Brandan Royal, who got a sack to kill the first offensive series and finished with three tackles.