by By Bret Bloomquist / El Paso Times , El Paso Times

When those 18-year-olds arrive on the UTEP campus to play for the Miners, typically as conquering high school stars dreaming of fall Saturdays, they almost always are given the green jersey of a scout team player and sent off to anonymity for a year.

That was the status of Aubrey Alexius, Richard Spencer and Corey Trisby when they reported for fall practice.

That had to be especially rough on Trisby, who blew out his knee his senior year in high school two seasons ago and spent last fall rehabbing an injury.

Then, in a moment all three will remember, they learned on the eve of the New Mexico State game that they wouldn't be wearing green anymore.

"I was surprise, really excited and a little shocked," said Alexius, a linebacker who was playing at Cypress Springs High near Houston this time a year ago. "I was glad to be put on the team, glad I could do my part. This will give me some experience of getting in the flow of NCAA Division I football ."

Alexius, the safety Spencer and the receiver Trisby are among five true freshmen playing for the Miners this year.

Like Trisby, DeShawn Grayson is a grayshirt, meaning he was a senior in high school two years ago and went through spring drills for the Miners. He was a key backup from the beginning of Camp Socorro.

McClure, like the other three true freshmen, lost his redshirt season (greenshirt season, if you will) prior to the New Mexico State game.

Alexius, Spencer and Trisby so far have spent most of their time on special teams coverage units, which are a good place to get used to the speed of the college game.

"What's different (from high school) is that everyone out here is as good or better than me," Alexius said.

According to various online scouting services, Spencer was UTEP's most highly-touted prospect and came here from Rancho Verde High School in Moreno, Calif.

That's a long ways to come, but it was the same school that gave UTEP the safeties Grayson and Da'Mon Cromartie-Smith.

"The type of defense we run here has a lot of safeties, and it's a fun defense to play," Spencer said. "I went to school with Da'Mon Cromartie and DeShawn Grayson. Those guys told me it was good out here. That was a big part of my decision.

"I wasn't sure if I'd play this year, but I thought I'd come out and do my best. I was very excited when I found out I would play this year."

He acknowledged that this is a big transition.

"The speed of the game has picked up, and there's a lot more as far as reading and learning the defense," Spencer said. "I'm learning the packages, learning my role, not trying to do stuff on my own.

"Here, if you don't do your job, a lot of things go wrong. In high school, if you mess up you can still make up. College you can't mess up."

Trisby is a little ahead of Spencer and Alexius in terms of going through a spring with the Miners. He was anxious to play this year and was a candidate all along to lose his redshirt.

He played a little quarterback in the Wildcat packages at Camp Socorro, and that is likely to pop up again next spring, but right now he is a receiver and special teams player.

"I didn't want to redshirt," Trisby said. "It's been a long time since I've played. I've worked on gettingbetter and better every practice. Getting to play in the spring helped because it gave me an advantage learning the playbook."

Now five true freshmen are giving UTEP fans a glimpse of the future.

Bret Bloomquist may be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; 546-6359.

Copyright 2009 El Paso Times, a MediaNews Group Newspaper All Rights Reserved
	Terms & Conditions     Privacy Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.