For UTEP to make the next step, Gavin Hardison needs to make the next step

In terms of jersey numbers and nameplates, the football team UTEP will put on the field Aug. 26 at Jacksonville State will look much like the team it put out last November against UTSA. It will look similar to the Miners that took the field last August in the opener against North Texas.
That team ended up 5-7, missing a bowl on the final play of the regular season.
For that to change, for UTEP to make the leap forward, there is one obvious place to start. The Miners need their quarterback Gavin Hardison's fourth season as the starter to be his best.
He's always shown the big arm, the poise, the talent, the willingness to stand tall in the pocket and make the throw. At times, Hardison has shown excellence. If he can turn those flashes, often extended flashes, into something he does every play, he and UTEP could reach some new ground this year.
"Gavin's progression and his improvement need to continue," coach Dana Dimel said. "He knows that, we felt like he had a good spring. We really locked into our fundamental work with him and I think that's improved a bunch. His understanding of the offense is good and it just gets better all the time.
"He takes it very seriously, he's a very intelligent guy. Gavin has all the intangibles, he's been a good player and now Gavin needs to raise his game to that great level. It's time for him to put it all together and have that last big year."
As for how that happens, Hardison is a player who always focuses on the process. He's a believer that there is no magic wand or pixie dust, that his improvement will come from preparing at the highest level and taking that onto the field.
"Executing better," Hardison said, and almost all his answers end up, or begin, with those two words. "Eliminating turnovers and being better in the red zone. Completing passes, getting us in the right situations.
"Lock in on your assignments. From my end protect the football, eliminate turnovers, execute our plays and go full speed."
More: What does UTEP football need to do in fall camp? Here are 5 things
The protecting the football will be a big part of improvement. Hardison completed 52 percent of his passes last year and had eight interceptions against 11 touchdowns. The Miners ranked 95th out of 130 teams in red zone offense and that number would have been significantly worse if they hadn't had one of the best field goal kickers in the country.
Dimel said UTEP is attempting to address that with how it handles position-group meetings and play calling, which Dimel is taking over full-time this year.
"The completion thing is more a schematic thing than it is Gavin's issue," Dimel said. "I think that's something we can help him with, offensively, what we're doing.
"The interceptions is being on the same page as the receivers. That's why we've restructured things with our meetings. There's not ever a meeting that involves the passing game that doesn't have quarterbacks, tight ends and receivers.
"That's very unusual but it's something that we did a long time ago at Kansas State, now we've incorporated it here. We get all those groups together, the communication is better and that's going to help Gavin."
UTEP doesn't formally have a full-time quarterbacks coach this season and Dimel has taken on a bigger role there.
More: Rating Conference USA football stadiums: Who's the best?
"I'm working with him all the time," Dimel said. "I'm in every position meeting, last year I was in zero. That's a tremendous difference with position meeting work with quarterbacks. That's important."
Hardison's receivers believe he has improved this fall, though they have always been high on him.
"He's more in control of the offense, he knows what he wants, he knows where to put the ball," Kelly Akharaiyi said. "This is his team, he's going to get it done."
Asked where he's seen growth, Tyrin Smith said, "Being a leader, stepping up into that leader role and making smart decisions. He’s come a long ways since the first season I played with him."
As for Hardison, when asked specifically how he can get better, he came back to the process.
"Executing better and of course eliminating turnovers," he said. "Executing better in the red zone, completing passes and getting us in the right situations.
"My footwork has gotten better, it’s definitely progressed. I’ve matured a little bit more and I think I’ve put myself in position to put make better decisions with the football and eliminate turnovers."
If that happens this fall, UTEP could be set up for a special season that will go as far as their fourth-year quarterback starter Hardison can carry them.