Mike Price takes some time to talk to the media during the UTEP Football Camp June 5 (Image: Chris Avila)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – UTEP Coach Mike Price reiterated his faith in new defensive coordinator Andre Patterson as Conference USA coaches and players convened for the league’s annual media day on Sunday in Memphis.

While the Miners have the fifth-best passing offense in the country (283.6 ypg), the 22nd-best scoring offense (31.9 ppg) and the 27th-best total offense (407.5 ypg) during the Price era, subpar defenses have limited UTEP to two bowl berths in six years.

Price wants to put a stop to UTEP’s four-year bowl drought this fall, and believes Patterson is the man to change the team’s fortunes on defense.

“We’re getting back to an old scheme, so I’ve hired an old friend who is going to teach our guys how to tackle, how to line up and how to stop people close to the goal line,” Price said.

“I have a lot of confidence in coach Patterson. He was with me at Washington State and Weber State, and he was in the pros for 13 years.”

UTEP is switching to a more traditional 4-3 defensive scheme in 2010 following a failed two-year experiment with a 3-3-5 formation. The Miners yielded 33.5 points and 446.9 yards per game a year ago.

“We want to play base football where you line up and keep the ball in front of you, don’t give the offense anything easy and just hang in there,” Price said. “It’s difficult to get the kinds of athletes that will be dominant defensive players in recruiting. We were able to do it a couple of times at Washington State, where we had huge defensive lineman who could run. But it’s very hard now. The ones who get the big defensive linemen are the ones who will be at the top of the league.”

UTEP’s preseason depth chart lists 10 seniors in starting assignments on offense, suggesting that the Miners could be even more explosive than they were a year ago. The ’09 squad featured the nation’s no. 4 rusher (Donald Buckram) and a quarterback who threw for a career-high 3,308 yards (Trevor Vittatoe). There’s a decent chance that Buckram and Vittatoe, both seniors, could cap their careers as the school’s all-time leading rusher and passer respectively.

“We’re going to have another outstanding football team,” Price said. “So if we do anything defensively, we’re going to have a much better record.”

Joining Price at Conference USA Media Day was Buckram, who shrugged off injuries earlier in his career to break a 60-year old UTEP rushing record last season. Buckram averaged 132.8 yards per game while going over 100 yards eight times.

“I got more carries last year and the offensive line trusted me more running the ball,” Buckram said. “They knew I could take a blow and get back up and not just be a speed back.”

Buckram hasn’t shied away from setting a lofty individual goal for the 2010 season.

“I want to lead the nation in rushing,” he said. “(Stanford’s) Toby Gerhart is gone, so I think I have a little better chance. I think I have a chance to get up there.”

The Miners will report to campus on Wednesday, Aug. 4 and have their first practice on Thursday, Aug. 5. The season opener is at home versus Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sept. 4.