LARAMIE, Wyo. — The wait for Cowboy football is almost over.
Wyoming will take the field on Wednesday morning for the first fall camp practice of the Jay Sawvel era. The program’s first-year head coach takes over a team that returns 16 starters from last year’s nine-win campaign.
Here are five key position battles to keep an eye on over the next month before UW sets the depth chart for the 2024 opener at Arizona State on Aug. 31 at Mountain America Stadium, with kickoff at 8:30 p.m.
Right tackle
The Pokes return four starters on the offensive line, including standout center Nofoafia Tulafono and preseason all-Mountain West guard Jack Walsh.
Caden Barnett is expected to take over the left tackle spot vacated by current Denver Broncos rookie Frank Crum. Wes King mans the other starting guard position, pushing for a spot in the rotation.
Offensive line coach Joe Tripodi is searching for a new starter at right tackle.
Alex Conn, a talented junior who started his career at Nebraska, will rejoin the competition after suffering an injury in the spring.
Redshirt freshmen Jake Davies and Nathan Geiger accrued valuable experience trying to block veteran defensive ends DeVonne Harris, Sabastian Harsh, Braden Siders and Tyce Westland in spring practice.
“There’s a lot of competition, especially between the tackles because there’s an open spot obviously,” Davies said. “That’s another part that’s making us all better is the competition.”
Cornerback
Tyrecus Davis, who finished last season as UW’s top cornerback, made it clear that he will remain CB1 after a dominant spring.
With the graduation of Jakorey Hawkins, cornerbacks coach Benny Boyd is looking for two more players he can trust on a defense that is very strong up the middle with the return of defensive tackle Jordan Bertagnole, middle linebacker Shae Suiaunoa, nickelback Wrook Brown and safeties Wyett Ekeler and Isaac White.
Sophomore Keany Parks made significant gains in the weight room this offseason and is a top-two candidate to man the cornerback position opposite Davis. Ian Bell, who was practicing with the first team before suffering a foot injury in the spring, is ahead of schedule with his rehab and could be in the rotation at some point this season.
Another intriguing candidate is 6-foot-3 redshirt freshman Naz Hill, who still had some development to do following the spring to catch up with Parks and Bell.
A wild card in the race is Caleb Merritt. The physical sophomore moved from wide receiver to cornerback late in the spring to help with depth. He flashed natural ball-hawking skills immediately.
Boyd and Sawvel are also excited about the potential of true freshmen Tyrese Boss and Charles Williams.
“If I don’t make it to the NFL, I want to be a personal trainer. So, I like to train them and get them better and make them fix their mistakes and just help them out,” Davis said regarding being the leader of a young cornerbacks room. “I will do it and it will happen quick. It is a process. They’re young, so they’re still learning. But I’m their mentor, so I’m going to get them right.”
Wide receiver
Starting quarterback Evan Svoboda will have a deep talent pool to work with at wide receiver as offensive coordinator Jay Johnson establishes a play-maker pecking order in his scheme, which will feature tight end John Michael Gyllenborg.
Veterans Alex Brown, Will Pelissier, Jaylen Sargent and Caleb Cooley lead a group that has elite speed with Devin Boddie Jr. and Tyler King; impressive young prospects in Chris Durr Jr., Justin Stevenson and Kayden LaFramboise; and some lengthy targets in 6-foot-3 Bricen Brantley and 6-foot-4 Jaylan Bean.
Wide receivers coach Mike Grant will also have help from an extra pair of well-trained eyes with UW legend Jovon Bouknight joining the staff as an offensive analyst.
“There’s definitely a lot of talent in that group,” Bouknight said on the One Wyoming Podcast. “There’s young talent that you can see needs to be a little bit more developed, a little more polished, but you can see the raw ability. Coach Grant obviously is doing a really good job with those guys and those guys are obviously bought in with what he’s doing. I’m just here to assist where needed.”
Weak-side linebacker
Suiaunoa is ready to carry on the tradition at middle linebacker by following the footsteps of current NFL players Logan Wilson, Chad Muma and Easton Gibbs.
At the end of spring practice, Sawvel said Connor Shay was leading the race to be the starting weak-side linebacker. The 6-foot-2, 232-pound senior was in the rotation last season and has been patiently waiting for a lead role.
VMI transfer Evan Eller, who had 106 tackles last season at the FCS level, and veteran Read Sunn also performed well during the spring. Cole DeMarzo is also expected to challenge Shay for the job over the next three weeks.
New defensive coordinator Aaron Bohl, who will continue coaching the linebackers, has quality depth to work with in juniors Micah Young and Nic Talich as well as touted freshmen Adrian Onyeigo and Dash Bauman.
“We’re really solid; we’ve got a lot of returning guys, which is great,” Shay said. “I think all of us really know how to play together. It’s going to be something special.”
Nose tackle
Bertagnole, a preseason all-MW selection, returns for his sixth and final season with the Pokes. The 6-foot-4, 295-pound super senior from Casper is one of the best defensive tackles in the country.
The search for Cole Godbout’s replacement at nose tackle continues after Jaden Williams and Jayden Williams started making their case in the spring. Ben Florentine should also be in the rotation again after gaining 13 pounds of muscle over the last year.
Several young players, including Dante Drake, Lucas Samsula and Cody Crawford, will have opportunities to play meaningful snaps on the interior of the defensive line while learning the ropes from Bertagnole.
“The type of young men that end up at the University of Wyoming are very similar to the types of guys that were at Washington State and Mississippi State and at North Dakota State,” said first-year defensive tackles coach Jeff Phelps, who was on Mike Leach’s staff in Pullman, Washington, and Starkville, Mississippi, before spending last season in Fargo, North Dakota. “Hard-nosed, tough, love the game of football and are very passionate about that game. If you have that, you have a recipe for success.”
UW will begin fall camp on Wednesday at War Memorial Stadium.
