Wyoming Turns Up the Intensity in Sixth Spring Session
- Jeff Bugher
- 13 hours ago
- 5 min read
LARAMIE, Wyo. — Saturday’s sixth spring practice for the Wyoming Cowboys was a physical, spirited session which is exactly what head coach Jay Sawvel has expected. The team also hosted a youth camp, which Sawvel was excited to discuss.
“Yeah, it’s great. This will be fun and our players enjoy what’s about to come here with the youth thing,” Sawvel said with a smile. “We had 275 signed up — whether all 275 are here or not, I don’t know. But there’ll be a lot of them here, and it’ll be fun. This is good.”
Sawvel, now in his second spring as Wyoming’s head coach, continues to emphasize community outreach and development — on and off the field.
“You know, we’re the University of Wyoming. And so you want to do things for Wyoming, you know? And so this is great.”
Before welcoming youth campers, the Cowboys got after it in an intense practice that featured live tackling and a heavy focus on situational football.
“Good day today. A lot of energy. We got a lot of stuff done — physically. And then we gotta come back and go to the next day and get better,” Sawvel said. “We’ve got three weeks left. Next Saturday will be a scrimmage. Right now it looks like it’s supposed to be like 70 degrees too, so I’m kind of happy about that.”
Combat Saturday: Living Up to the Billing
Saturday's workout was dubbed “Combat Saturday” — and by all accounts, it delivered.
“It was good combat,” Sawvel said. “There was some good stuff there. There’s a lot of periods there that were physical — between an inside run earlier, the blitz, the red zone period, a couple of the team periods, and then this thing here at the end. So yeah, I mean it’s a physical practice.”
That physicality was intentional, and as stated earlier, something Sawvel expects going into the future. With the Cowboys not returning to the field until Tuesday, the staff pushed the pace and intensity.
“We would not do this and have a practice tomorrow,” Sawvel noted. “You wouldn’t have a sustainability to have this duration of a practice with that much contact and do it like tomorrow as well.”
Eller Stepping Up at Linebacker
Graduate linebacker Evan Eller, who transferred from Virginia Military Institute in 2024, has caught Sawvel’s eye during camp.
“He has a much better understanding of playing linebacker, which is a good thing. It’s the reason that we redshirted him last year,” Sawvel explained. “He wasn’t going to be as good as what we thought he could be. He runs very well. He’s a smart football player.”
With a competitive linebacker room, Sawvel says everyday matters.
“There’s a lot of competition there. And so that can be a day-to-day change too.”
Tight Ends Thriving, Jake Wilson Impressing
Wyoming’s tight end group continues to impress Sawvel this spring, especially sophomore Jake Wilson, who stands at an imposing 6’5”.
“Jake Wilson’s a good football player,” Sawvel said. “He’s going to do a lot of really good things here. He’s a physical guy, big body. He’s 245 pounds now — I think he came here at 220 — runs very, very well. Jake Wilson’s going to play a lot for us this fall.”
Roster Updates and Portal Priorities
Youngstown State transfer senior defensive end Dawan Martin is no longer with the team, and sophomore defensive end Jordan Turnbull is undergoing evaluation for a potential achilles issue per Sawvel.
“We’ll have to get him checked out. Hopefully it’s not anything big,” Sawvel said of Turnbull.
With the transfer portal window opening April 15, Sawvel has his eye on potential additions.
“Right now we’ve got a hit list of five things that I want to get and potentially a defensive end is in it,” he said. “I think a running back was part of that. Punter will be part of that. Another receiver is potentially part of that, probably another defensive back — and then best available.”
New Running Backs Coach Coming Soon
Sawvel said a new running backs coach has been selected and will join the team next week.
“That hire will be made this evening [Saturday night] and that coach will be here next week,” he said. “I brought two on campus. There was a third really good one I was going to bring, but after I brought the two, it was just like, ‘No, we’ve got two really good candidates.’”
Emphasizing the Middle Eight
One area of emphasis for Sawvel this spring is the “middle eight” — the final four minutes of the first half and the first four of the second.
“We were not a good enough football team a year ago all the way through — coaching, playing, all the way through,” Sawvel admitted. “We’ve made coaching changes. We’ve made some adjustments to certain things that we’re doing and how we do it. Certain things will be an emphasis too. But no, that is a major emphasis.”
He pointed to last year’s Boise State game as an example, where giving up a field goal before halftime allowed the Broncos to tie it up.
“Take Washington State — right before halftime, we get a field goal to get it back to a one-score game, then we get another field goal coming out. So we won that section,” he said. “That’s what a lot of that comes into. How do you finish a half? How do you start the next half? That’s a big deal.”
Building Up
Sawvel praised wide receiver Clay Nanke and cornerback Jaylan Bean for their progress this spring.
“Clay Nanke’s doing really well. Jaylan Bean has had a really good spring so far, too,” he said. “Their attitude — and the attitude of the team — is really good.”
That positive mindset is part of what’s impressed Sawvel the most in spring ball.
“We’ve not had a practice yet where it’s been like, ‘OK, we were lethargic,’” he said. “Leadership’s kind of set that tone and I appreciate that.”
As for the defense, Sawvel sees promise — but does want to see some improvement.
“In the secondary, fundamentally we’ve got to improve,” he said. “I do think our defensive line is doing some good things. I think at linebacker we’ve got a chance to be solid.”
With most of the installation phase complete, the next step is repetition and execution.
“Now they get to just go and rep and rep and rep,” Sawvel said. “So there should be a higher level of execution, a lower level of misassignment, a lower level of miscommunication. And that’s a big thing.”
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