#22

Lantz Russell

Senior safety on UTEP's 2025 roster.

S · UTEP · Sr. · #22

6′3″ · 210 lb · Riverside, CA

CFB Index 34 · #410 of 544 safetiesMedium confidenceReturning to UTEP for 2026

Recruiting

3★

CB recruit

No. 186 nationally · Joined UTEP

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 safety on UTEP's 2025 roster.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to UTEP in 2023.

His career, year by year

How he projects

Erases the deep middle of the field.

The full scouting read

Lantz Russell

S · UTEP · Sr · #22

Erases the deep middle of the field. Lantz Russell has played for two head coaches in three seasons at UTEP. One game to point at: 5 tackles against Missouri State — Week 12, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2023UTEP3-9HC: Dana Dimel · Run-leaning

2024UTEP3-9HC: Scotty Walden · Run-leaning

2025UTEP2-10HC: Scotty Walden · Balanced

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

34Below cohort / limited sample #410 of 544?

Medium confidenceFading6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: qb hurries (22nd percentile).

Box-score production (6)

Passes defended#517 / 2975 · 78th pct

Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct

1.0

Tackles#1543 / 2975 · 47th pct

Solo tackles#1735 / 2975 · 40th pct

Tackles for loss#1936 / 2975 · 28th pct

1.0

QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 10 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home5g	2.6	0.2	0.2	0.4
Road5g	2.8	0.0	0.0	0.2

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-75g	2.6	0.2	0.2	0.4
Weeks 8+5g	2.8	0.0	0.0	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Scotty Walden

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Rotational

Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

34 · #410 of 544 safeties

Three-star recruit. Now #410 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-Mountain West

Based on 2025: #18 of 25 Conference USA Ss — his program moves to the Mountain West for 2026

How the All-Mountain West estimate is computed

22% estimated, 95% confidence interval 19–25%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player. The base rate was measured on players who stayed in the same conference; this estimate is not adjusted for the move to the Mountain West.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	UTEP	27	12	1.0	1.0	3	--	--
2024	UTEP	54	31	4.5	2.0	2	2	--
2023	UTEP	2	--	0.0	0.0	--	--	--
Career		83	43	5.5	3.0	5	2	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2025

W 42–17

vs UT Martin

1 SOLO · 1 TOT

Dominant 25-point win at home against UT Martin.

With N. Botsford — 50 AVG · 3 IN 20 · 66 LONG · M. Nelson — 278 yds · 4 TD · 0 INT · QBR 52.0 · -2 rush yds (2 car)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 10 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	L 16-28@ Utah State	3	0	0.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 2	W 42-17vs UT Martin	1	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 3	L 10-27@ Texas	2	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 5	L 11-30vs Louisiana Tech	2	2	0.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 7	L 8-19vs Liberty	5	2	1.0	1.0	—	0	Season-high 5 tackles
Wk 8	W 35-17@ Sam Houston	1	0	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 11	L 27-30vs Jacksonville State	4	2	0.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 12	L 24-38@ Missouri State	5	3	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 13	L 31-34vs New Mexico State	1	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 14	L 31-61@ Delaware	3	0	0.0	0.0	—	0
Total		27	12	1.0	1.0	—	3