The second day of spring practice for the Wyoming Football team was completed on Thursday with progress being shown at wide receiver, linebacker and running back.  But a potential season-ending injury was also sustained on day two of spring drills.

 

“Day two -- we made some progress today,” said head coach Craig Bohl.  “We are, however, disappointed in that Anthony Makransky may be done for the year.  The indication initially is that he may have a torn achilles tendon, which is a pretty significant injury.  We’ll find out a little bit more tomorrow.”

Makransky was the Cowboys primary backup at strong safety last season to fellow junior Marcus Epps.  Makransky played significant minutes in Wyoming’s Poinsettia Bowl appearance to end the 2016 season when Epps went out of the game with a concussion.

After Bohl delivered the news about Makransky to media following Thursday’s practice, he also pointed out a number of positives from the practice.

“Some of the positive things I saw out there today were Austin Conway continues to make progress as a wide receiver.  We saw some other receivers make plays out there today.  It is a good group of players (the receivers).  They’re just inexperienced  

“Over on defense, I think Logan Wilson is making great strides at the MIKE linebacker position.  It is a little bit new for him, but he’s really got good ability, so were pleased with that.

“Also pleased at the running back position.  Kellen Overstreet is showing signs that he is getting that movement back, and Nico Evans I think has picked up a step or two.”

Linebacker is one of the areas of the Cowboy defense that was hit hard by graduation with the loss of seniors Lucas Wacha and D.J. May.  As the Cowboys completed their second day of spring drills Bohl commented on what he has seen early in the spring from that position group.

“We’re seeing some progress with Cassh (Maluia) moving to WILL linebacker,” said Bohl.  “At SAM linebacker right now we have a mix of guys.  Jalen Ortiz was not able to practice on Tuesday due to a class conflict, but it was good to see him out there today.  We’re a little bit unsettled there right now.  We’re going to have to continue to take a look at different guys there.  Drew Harvey is taking some reps.  We’ll see how some of the other guys progress.  I feel a lot better quite frankly where Logan is at in the middle and where Cassh is at than we do the SAM backer.”

Bohl was asked how important the middle linebacker (MIKE) position is in the Cowboys’ defensive scheme, and how important the shift of Wilson is to that position.

“It is a critical position,” said Bohl.  “Beyond the physical play and the attributes we expect from our MIKE linebackers, he really has to take command of moving the defense and making the check calls.  It takes somebody who has experience and authoritative command out there.  That initially is not Logan’s (Wilson)  natural personality.  But we have seen Logan come out of his shell a little bit.  My son, (Aaron) is a graduate assistant here, and he was talking to Logan about making that same move from WILL to MIKE linebacker after his first year of college.  It’s a fairly common move, and I think we’ve got a real keeper there in Logan.”

One of the defensive newcomers who Bohl was asked to comment on Thursday was freshman safety Josh Boyd, who signed with Wyoming in February of 2016 but was unable to begin his Cowboy playing career until this spring due to not originally meeting all NCAA academic qualification standards.      

“Josh (Boyd) has shown an ability to run and cover a lot of ground,” said Bohl.  “Obviously, he was not able to practice in the fall, so all of these things are new for him.  But we are pleased with his progress.  Any time you have a veteran player like Anthony (Makransky) miss time, that is going to provide more opportunity for our younger players.  We need to have a sense of urgency there as we have to come up with some more players at the safety spot.”

Bohl announced that the Cowboys would transition into full pads for the first time for their next practice on Saturday. 

“Come Saturday, we’ll have the pads on, so that’s going to change the play some on the line of scrimmage,” said Bohl.  “We’ll follow best practices and go through our progression on tackling.  There won’t be any live scrimmaging on Saturday.  We’ll use it as more of an instructional day.”          

Saturday’s practice will conclude the first of five weeks of spring drills for the Cowboys

Saturday, March 25             TBA (Practice #3)

Tuesday, March 28              4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #4)

Thursday, March 30             4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #5)

Saturday, April 1                  TBA (Practice #6)

Tuesday, April 4                   4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #7)

Thursday, April 6                  4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #8)

Saturday, April 8                  1 p.m. (Practice #9)  To be held at Cheney Alumni Field at Natrona County High School

Tuesday, April 11                 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #10)

Thursday, April 13               4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #11)

Saturday, April 15                TBA (Practice #12)

Tuesday, April 18                 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #13)

Thursday, April 20               4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #14)

Saturday, April 22                2 p.m. (Spring Game, Practice #15)