UTEP football alums Tyrice Knight, Jeremy Springer Super Bowl 60 stage

The UTEP football team hasn’t always ended up on the right side of the scoreboard, but the school has produced some memorable players in the last two not-always memorable decades.

Coaches always state a priority of producing not just wins, but producing good human beings who go on to success, and two former UTEP players are on the edge of the ultimate success in their chosen profession of American football.

If the Seattle Seahawks kick off to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., Seattle’s Tyrice Knight, a second-year linebacker from UTEP (2020-23), could be running down the field to make the tackle. In his way will be the Patriots’ special teams unit, coached by UTEP alum Jeremy Springer (2007-11), the team’s special teams coordinator.

In their four years of playing for the Miners, Springer won 20 games, and Knight won 18. This year, the Patriots have won 17 games and the Seahawks 16, each against two losses.

UTEP may not have literally sent them off as winners, but Knight and Springer were prepared to be winners in this moment on their game’s biggest stage.

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Tyrice Knight: ‘Football junkie’

That Tyrice Knight ended up at UTEP was a little surprising. That he stayed four years in the current climate of collegiate sports, when he could have left for a power-conference school contending for a national championship, is astounding.

A star at Independence Community College in Kansas after the 2019 season, Knight was looking for a four-year school right as the transfer portal was transforming the recruiting process. This was on the eve of COVID, and when the late UTEP head coach Dana Dimel went to Kansas to recruit him, there were three power-conference schools at Independence that day as well.

For reasons no one can adequately explain now, none were looking at Knight except Dimel. And across America, junior college players in general were being overlooked in favor of more proven Division I players entering the newly created transfer portal.

More: Loyalty to the program has been UTEP football’s secret to success

Tyrice Knight found a home at UTEP

“UTEP was the only school that offered me,” Knight said after he got to UTEP. “They actually didn’t offer me until late December (2019). They were the only school recruiting me at that time so I took what I had to take. I took full advantage of it.

“I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder because I’ve been underrecruited. It fuels more fight to the flame every Saturday I strap up.”

After a productive sophomore year in 2020 that didn’t count against anyone’s eligibility, Knight saw UTEP hire Bradley Dale Peveto as its new defensive coordinator and those two formed a bond that eventually led Knight to stay with the Miners three more years.

It’s so cool. I’m so proud,” said Peveto, now co-defensive coordinator at North Texas. “I texted him right after the (NFC Championship) game and told him how proud I was of him. He came in here from Independence Community College and ended up working himself into, not a good, a great college linebacker.

Seahawks LB Knight: ‘An old soul’

“What people don’t know is how hard he worked with everything he did, from the weight room to running to conditioning to notes. He prepared, he studied. He wasn’t a go-out (and party) guy; he was a football junkie who worked at the game and developed himself into a great football player. It’s showing now.”

What also showed was a loyalty almost unheard of in the 2020s. While putting up eye-popping numbers alongside a revolving door of (quite productive, actually) linebackers starting next to him, Knight never wavered from UTEP.

“I think he’s an old soul, and old-school loyal guy,” Peveto said. “I think that’s the bottom line, there are still some of those guys left.”

In the final game of 2022, with Knight still looking at one more year of eligibility, the Miners lost a 34-31 game to UTSA on the last play to finish a 5-7 season. The Miners would have gone to the Hawaii Bowl if they could have held a three-score lead.

“I’ll never forget when we walked off the field in San Antonio, we lost a heartbreaker to UTSA that day, which would have put us in a bowl game,” Peveto said. Knight came up to me and said, ‘If you’re coming back, I’m coming back.’ ‘I can tell you one damn thing, I’ll be here.’

“We had a lot of fun, a lot of fun.”

Tyrice Knight: ‘Loyal guy’

In 2023, Knight explained his decision to stay at UTEP like this: “I’m more of a loyal guy. Staying here with the people who took me in and took a chance on me, I just couldn’t walk out on them like that.”

After recording 140 tackles and 15.5 tackles for loss as a senior in 2023, Knight was a fourth-round pick by Seattle in the 2024 NFL draft. As a part-time starter at linebacker and full-time coverage hand on special teams, he had 38 tackles last year and 41 this year. He had four tackles in Seattle’s NFC Championship win against the Los Angeles Rams.

Earlier this season, Knight twice got strip-sacks on Arizona quarterback Jacoby Brissett and both were returned for touchdowns by lineman DeMarcus Lawrence, who won NFL defensive player of the week.

“He’s really special,” Peveto said. “He’s a special guy, a special worker, he’s unselfish. He never said anything, he just worked and prepared and worked himself into a great, great linebacker, one of the best I’ve ever coached.”

Jeremy Springer: A path less taken

There were no such expectations for Jeremy Springer when he arrived at UTEP as a redshirting freshman in 2007. He was a superstar quarterback at Los Fresnos High in South Texas with all the accolades that come with the position, but it was his twin brother Justin who was the highly recruited linebacker who ended up starring at Kansas when the Jayhawks were a power.

As for Jeremy Springer, on 2007 signing day, coach Mike Price proclaimed him the future face of the program as a star quarterback-to-be.

That never happened. Springer redshirted in 2007, then, as a third-team quarterback in 2008, he volunteered to play on special teams. The next year he was moved to linebacker, which per Price, was not a popular move with Springer at the time.

Jeremy Springer expands horizons

“He was a good athlete, he had good size, he didn’t shy away from getting hit on offense,” Price said. “Athletically, he was perfect for what we needed at that time — 6-2, he could jump and run. He was sitting on the bench, third string, what the hell, let’s play him (on defense).”

That also meant being an anchor for most special teams units, which at the time were coordinated by Jeff Banks (now at Texas), who became a mentor to Springer.

Springer started every game at linebacker as a sophomore in 2009, was a backup as a junior, and was elected captain as a senior after starting every game and taking a star turn.

“I think (the move to defense and special teams) really did help him in the coaching profession,” Price said. “He got to play special teams and got to know coach Banks. It’s great to see him do well.”

Jeremy Springer works up to Patriots

After his playing career ended following the 2011 season, Springer spent the next three years at UTEP as an assistant ops person and graduate assistant, then in 2015 went to join Banks at Texas A&M as an assistant special teams quality control coach.

He was there for three seasons, then three at Arizona and one at Marshall, before Springer “turned pro” in 2022, becoming a special teams assistant for the Los Angeles Rams. Last year, he went to New England as special teams coordinator under first-year head coach Jared Mayo, and special teams were about the only thing that went well for the Patriots in 2024, when most of the staff was fired after a 4-13 season.

New coach Mike Vrabel kept Springer; the Patriots’ special teams played a big role in the run to the Super Bowl and Vrabel is now the NFL coach of the year. Springer, who never won a ring at UTEP, has a chance for the biggest one of all in the Super Bowl.

“He’s an aggressive coach, excitable, enthusiastic, I’m really proud of him,” Price said.

UTEP has reason to be proud of both Springer and Knight.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: From UTEP football to Super Bowl 60: Knight, Springer chase NFL glory