Aug. 5, 2008
Daniel Palmer is expected to earn playing time in the Miner backfield this season. Below is a Q&A session with the freshman running back from College Station.
You grew up in College Station, which is Texas A&M territory. Were you an Aggie fan growing up?
I was a fan up until my junior year, when they wanted me to play cornerback. I didn't really want to play corner in high school, so I decided to go to UTEP and play running back.
You were pretty highly recruited out of high school.
Yes. UTEP, Oklahoma State, TCU and Houston all recruited me. And later on, Texas Tech tried to get me during my gray shirt year [with the Miners]. But I'm still here.
You're one of the running backs that most people don't know about, but you're expected to be a big part of the Miner ground game this fall. Talk about your running style and what you can bring to the offense.
Wow. Terrell [Jackson] is kind of a change of pace guy with his quickness, and Buck [Donald Buckram] is a speed guy who can break a run at any time. I'm bigger, so I can take the pounding and bust a run anytime too. So I think I can bring a little of both of what those guys can do.
What do you envision as being your role this season?
My role really stepped up a lot when Jason Williams got hurt in the spring game. I'm just trying to do whatever I can this year, and help out as much as I can. I'm third or fourth on the depth chart right now. It's kind of hard when you're used to being the man in high school, then you come in and you're behind guys. I was kind of nervous that I was going to be redshirted this year. I'm happy that I'm going to be getting some playing time.
You were a gray shirt last year, which means you sat out but you don't lose your redshirt year.
It has worked out well for me. I came to El Paso in January [2007] and I got to work out the first session and just go to summer school and get used to the college life. It helped me class-wise. I came in kind of overweight, but I lost the pounds and got slim and now I'm in shape and ready to go.
UTEP lost a 1,000-yard rusher from last season in Marcus Thomas, who is currently with San Diego in the NFL. With him gone, do you envision this being more of a running back by committee this fall?
That's how it looks now. It will probably stay like that because we have a lot of backs who bring a lot of different things to the table. We can change it up and keep people on their toes.
