Former UTEP standout guard Will Hernandez is on pace to become a top-40 draft pick in the 2018 NFL draft.
He would be UTEP’s highest draft pick since Thomas Howard was selected 38th overall to the Oakland Raiders in 2006.
But if he gets drafted on Thursday, Hernandez could be the first Miner picked during the opening round in exactly 50 years.
Miner great Fred Carr is the highest drafted player in the program’s history at No. 5 to Green Bay Packers, followed by guard George Daney, who went 22nd overall to Kansas City Chiefs—both coming in the 1968 NFL draft.