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'Speed, speed, speed': Kenny Odom's breakout season powers UTEP's offense
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- 'Speed, speed, speed': Kenny Odom's breakout season powers UTEP's offense
The most apparent attribute Kenny Odom brings to the UTEP football team is his legs. The 5-foot-8 wideout can run.
Twice against Colorado State, he took short passes, turned a corner and separated from everyone on a jaunt to the end zone. Odom brings the track team element to an offense that prioritizes it, and he'll have that on display Thursday in the Sun Bowl against Sam Houston State.
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The obvious attribute is where coach Scotty Walden begins when extolling what Odom does on a field, but he quickly moves on.
UTEP receiver Kenny Odom scores a third-quarter touchdown against Colorado State Saturday in Fort Collins
"Speed. Speed, speed, speed," Walden said. "The thing about Kenny is he's a phenomenal kid. He wants to be the best. He wants to work at his craft and he's very coachable. If you teach him something, he's going to learn it the first time, and if he doesn't, he's going to keep fighting for it.
"He's a heckuva blocker, one of our better blockers. He gets after it on the perimeter even if he's a buck 65 (165 pounds), whatever he is. He fights, he works extremely hard, he's got a never quit mentality. You can ask him to run 12 go routes in a row and he's going to give you everything he's got.
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"That's what separates him. Some of those speed guys they are fast, but they don't have the work ethic. This guy has speed and he has the work ethic. I'm very proud of the way he's been playing."
Consider this season the culmination of all that coming together. A third-year sophomore, Odom is one of the 11 transfers who came with Walden from Austin Peay but, on paper, one of the less accomplished ones in terms of having three touchdowns and 301 receiving yards last season.
He has three receiving touchdowns and 289 yards in four games this year as he's hit a new level.
"It's coming to work the same, preparing the same like we always have been," Odom said of his progression and the progression of his team. "It paid off last game, so keeping that same mindset to come to work every week.
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"I'm learning from last year and all the time I've been at the next level (UTEP). It's trusting in my teammates. They got the blocks to spring me for those big plays. It's trusting in the process."
That's been a constant for Odom since joining Walden at Peay in 2022 out of Savannah Country Day High School in Georgia. He played one game in his redshirt season in '22 then earned three starts last year.
UTEP receiver Kenny Odom competes in a drill Monday at Glory Field
That put him on a trajectory for this year's breakout, and Odom knew it would come at UTEP with Walden.
"I love the relationship I developed with Walden," Odom said of his decision to transfer from Peay to UTEP. "He and the coaching staff there were always checking up on me if I had any questions. Building that relationship, the strong foundation we had, trusting and believing in his work and the vision he had for us - it was an easy decision.
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"So far, it's been great. El Paso is great, the city is great, the school UTEP is great. Everyone is very supportive, and I'm appreciative."
Physically, Odom has transformed himself, bulking up while becoming faster. He's still not huge at 165 pounds, but that's become a sculpted 165 pounds. Walden sees the improvement there.
"He looks stronger," Walden said. "Some receivers think, when you ask them to gain weight or you ask them to put muscle on they think they are going to get slower. It's the opposite. We're talking about putting good weight on you, quick twitch muscle fiber that's going to make you more explosive and he bought into that.
"Some guys think, 'I don't want to get too big, too heavy.' He didn't care. He knows that's good, lean muscle mass. You can see it in his burst, when he gets out in the open field he looks even faster than he did when we recruited him. He's gotten better every single year, his freshman year to now. I'm excited about the future with him."
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UTEP quarterback Cade McConnell sees the speed
"Kenny Odom brings explosiveness," McConnell said. "He's ridiculously fast and he's a threat any time to be able to take the top off. If he gets an underneath route in space, he can make it turn into something really, really big. Having guys like that on the squad is extremely important."
Heading forward Odom's goals are the same as ever. He's a player who believes in the process and in doing the same things he's done for three years to reach this breakout point.
"It's trusting the vision we've had, the process, those repeated reps," Odom said. "We make the plays in practice before we make them in the game. All I have to do was my job, go score."
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That simple mantra has much going into it, and all of it has led Odom to a special place as UTEP gets ready to take on Sam Houston Thursday night.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Kenny Odom breaks out for UTEP football as Sam Houston looms
