Monday’s Practice Notes
•Monday’s first practice was conducted in helmets only, no pads. That is part of the NCAA-required acclimatization period for college football teams. The Cowboys won’t don full pads until the fifth practice on Friday.
•Senior offensive tackle Ryan Cummings and junior defensive end Carl Granderson both participated fully in Monday’s practice. Both starters were injured during the 2016 season and were not able to participate in contact drills during 2017 Spring Practice.
•2017 Mountain West Conference Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Andrew Wingard also participated fully in Monday’s initial practice after missing most of 2017 Spring Practice due to an injury he suffered early in spring drills.
•The Cowboy coaching staff tried something new at the end of their initial practice of fall camp. The UW coaches scripted four extra periods of plays just for the freshmen to give some special attention to the newcomers to the Wyoming Football program.
•The Wyoming tight ends were very visible in the first practice. Juniors Austin Fort, Josh Harshman and Tyree Mayfield caught several passes between them on Monday. All three worked with the No. 1 offensive unit quarterbacked by junior Josh Allen.
•Allen, who is the 2017 Mountain West Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, looked very sharp himself on Monday.
•Sophomore Logan Wilson looks more and more comfortable at the middle linebacker position. Wilson switched to middle linebacker in 2017 Spring Practice, after being named the MW Freshman of the Year as the Cowboys’ weak-side linebacker in 2016. Wilson joined Allen and Wingard on the 2017 Preseason All-Mountain West team selected by media covering the conference.
Quoting the Coach (Quotes from Head Coach Craig Bohl)
“I think we’re certainly further along in our fourth year, and we look like a more mature football team,” said Bohl. “There is more depth and more athleticism on this team. I thought the focus was very good today, particularly for a first day.
“I’m really pleased with Josh’s (Allen) leadership. I think he’s evolving into a mature quarterback as opposed to last year when he was entering his first season as a starter.
“Everyone we had counted on to start camp was good to go today, except for C.J. Johnson (recovering from mononucleosis), who wasn’t completely a full go but he was able to participate in the majority of practice. Sid Malauulu practiced despite battling some back issues. It was good to see a lot of our veteran players back on the practice field, including Ryan Cummings and Carl Granderson.
“I really liked the pace of practice today. It was a great start.
“This is an exciting football team, and there are a lot of opportunities out there for us.”
Cowboys Open Camp with First Practice of Season
Wyoming Football began fall practice for the 2017 season on Monday, July 31, as the Cowboys practiced for two and half hours in the morning before hosting the annual Media Day in the afternoon.
Wyoming returns 15 starters, including six on offense, eight on defense and its starting place-kicker. A total of 48 letterwinners also return -- 23 on offense, 24 on defense and one on special teams.
The returning players include a strong group of proven players with a blend of some young, but talented players.
Among the top returners are two All-America candidates in junior quarterback Josh Allen and junior safety Andrew Wingard. Allen has been mentioned by many NFL Draft experts as a potential first-round pick this coming year. Wingard was a First Team All-Mountain West selection as a sophomore and was one of 16 national semifinalists for the 2016 Jim Thorpe Award, which honors the nation’s top defensive back each season. Another key returner is sophomore linebacker Logan Wilson, who was named the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year last season. Wilson also earned First Team Freshman All-America honors from both the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and USA Today. Wilson will move from the weak-side linebacker position to middle linebacker in 2017.
“There are certain areas of our football team that we feel pretty good about,” said Bohl. “Obviously, the quarterback position is more entrenched than it has been, and the safety and cornerback spots return a lot of experienced players.
“I think we have some young, emerging wide receivers, who we are really excited about.
“The same thing with the tight ends and running backs, some good talent but not a lot of game experience. With the exception of the quarterback, all the guys who will be handling the football are new in terms of starting roles.
“I believe we’ll be stronger at the defensive line position. We have a lot more depth there.
“We have a returning place-kicker in place, and it will be important to continue to improve there.
“We have a lot of returning offensive linemen, but we will have to find a center and we have a couple candidates in
our existing group that we have moved into that position.
“We are developing more depth, and those are signs of being more competitive with our overall program.
“As we watched these players at practice and on tape throughout spring, we were really impressed with how our players competed this past spring.”
Key losses on offense include 2016 Second Team All-America (USA Today) center Chase Roullier, who was drafted is the sixth round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. Also gone is Third Team All-American (College Sports Madness) and Wyoming’s all-time leading rusher Brian Hill, who chose to forego his senior season and was selected in the fifth round of the NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons. Both Roullier and Hill were First Team All-MW performers a year ago, as was tight end Jacob Hollister, who signed as a free-agent with the New England Patriots. Another dynamic offensive performer who has moved onto the NFL is Tanner Gentry, who had an outstanding senior season in 2016, earning him Second Team All-Conference honors. Gentry signed as a free agent with the Chicago Bears. Jake Maulhardt was the fifth member of the Cowboy offense to receive an invitation to an NFL rookie camp. Maulhardt, who was the Cowboys’ second leading receiver a year ago, was invited to the New Orleans Saints rookie camp.
But the Cowboys return the man who made that offense go in 2016 in Allen, who is not only being mentioned as a potential first round NFL Draft pick next spring, but is ranked by some as the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Allen made numerous spectacular plays in 2016, including a game-winning scramble in the season opener to give Wyoming a 40-34 win in triple overtime over Northern Illinois. He threw an amazing 27-yard TD strike to Gentry in the fourth quarter against No. 13 ranked Boise State, followed immediately by a two-point conversion completion to Maulhardt to tie the game at 28-28 on way to a 30-28 Wyoming win over the Broncos. And in the regular-season win over No. 24 ranked San Diego State, Allen connected on two fourth-quarter touchdowns of 30 yards to Maulhardt and 29 yards to redshirt freshman C.J. Johnson to bring the Cowboys back from a 20-27 deficit to capture a 34-33 victory.
On defense, the Cowboys return the majority of players from last season’s team, with eight starters returning. But the three senior starters lost were all leaders on the Cowboy defense. Middle linebacker Lucas Wacha ended his Wyoming career earning Honorable Mention All-Mountain West honors in 2016. Wacha signed as a free agent with the Dallas Cowboys. Strong-side linebacker and kick return specialist D.J. May earned Second Team All-Conference honors his senior season as a kick returner. May was invited to the Detroit Lions rookie camp. And the third senior starter lost on defense was nose tackle Chase Appleby, who returned an interception 55 yards for a touchdown in a 38-17 win over Colorado State and scored the game-winning safety in a 30-28 win over then No. 13 ranked Boise State.
Wingard will once again be the leader of the Cowboy defense. In addition to Wingard earning First Team All-Conference honors as a sophomore and being one of the 16 semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, he ranked among the top defensive players in the nation in tackles. He ranked No. 22 in the NCAA in total tackles in 2016, averaging 9.4 per game, and ranked No. 26 in the NCAA in solo tackles, averaging 5.4 per game. Wingard ended his sophomore season in 2016 ranked No. 1 among all current active NCAA FBS players in career solo tackles, averaging 6.08 per game for his career, and he ranked No. 2 among all current active FBS players in career total tackles, averaging 9.73 per game for his career.
Wingard will be joined in a leadership role on defense by his junior running mate at safety Marcus Epps, who was elected a team captain by his teammates as a sophomore in 2016. Returning Mountain West Freshman of the Year Wilson will also take on more of a leadership role as a sophomore. Wilson was moved to middle linebacker during spring drills to take over for departing senior Wacha.
“I think fans will notice differences on our defense this year in speed and athleticism,” said Bohl. “We’re a year older, and you’re going to see guys playing more confidently. That was apparent in our spring scrimmages. I saw more speed and guys who were in the right spots making plays.
“Some of the good things that happened to our team last year was a combination of us out-scoring people on offense and our defense making key plays at key times and creating turnovers. But we need to get to the point where we can hold opponents’ offenses down. We need to balance things out where we play better defense.
“Overall defensively, we should be much improved, and we need to be. Our statistical numbers last year were off the mark. For us to win games, we need to get that opponent point total down. Even though they’re playing some different positions, we feel like we have good players out there.”
There were some significant players who missed spring practice due to injury, but the head coach said that they should all be ready to go once fall camp opens on July 31.
“Carl Granderson (defensive end) was having a great year for us last season before being lost to injury,” said Bohl. “He’s running now, and we’re anticipating him playing really well again this coming season.
“Ryan Cummings (offensive right tackle) is another starter who was not able to be out there during spring. He is coming back well from his surgery, and we’re pleased with that. Those two guys I think are really going to be important for us this coming season.
“Andrew Wingard (safety) missed the back half of spring, but he was out there enough, and we know what he is capable of.”
Bohl has a veteran coaching staff returning in 2017. The entire offensive staff returns, guided by offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brent Vigen, who also takes on the role of Associate Head Coach this season. On defense, Scottie Hazelton was hired as the Cowboys’ new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach this past January. Hazelton had previously coached on Bohl’s staff at North Dakota State for the 2007-11 seasons. His final two seasons with the Bison, Hazelton served as defensive coordinator and linebacker coach. He comes to Wyoming from the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL, where he was the assistant linebackers coach the past three seasons.
“Scottie Hazelton is really familiar with our system and he’s really familiar with our other coaches, so that was somewhat of a seamless transition,” said Bohl. “We’re really pleased to have Scottie back with us.”
With the goal of taking Wyoming Football another step forward in 2017, what does the head coach feel it will take for his team to take that next step forward?
“First of all, our players who have played a significant amount and particularly our guys who are going into their last year -- they have to have their best year,” said Bohl. “While Josh (Allen) is a junior, he is anticipating that this will be his last year. He needs to play at his very best. Ryan Cummings needs to play at his very best. Guys like Drew Van Maanen, Robert Priester, Rico Gafford, Jalen Ortiz need to be at their very best.
“And our other guys who have played a lot need to make sure they continue to improve, whether it’s Andrew Wingard, or Marcus Epps, Carl Granderson, Zach Wallace. It’s about all those guys collectively taking another step forward.
“We have more experience than what we’ve had since we’ve been here, but all of our players need to continue to improve. They need to have a really competitive summer and continue to mature. If they all collectively get better, we have a chance to be a pretty solid football team.”
Asked what it meant to Bohl and his team to see the kind of fan support they experienced last season? Bohl responded, “That is part of another step in the development of our program. I’m sure there were a lot of our fans, who have been loyal to us for many, many years, wondering when we were going to compete for a conference championship again.
“When I went to the Mountain West meetings this past spring, I heard compliments from even Coach (Rocky) Long talking about their experience coming to Wyoming. He was very complimentary about the Mountain West Championship Game, and he said the Wyoming fans were unbelievable. So that is a special shout out to our fans.
“We are so appreciative of the support we’ve received from our fans and the state. I would just say to all Cowboy fans make sure you’re in War Memorial Stadium this coming year because we think we’ve got a good football team coming back.”
The Cowboys season opener will be on the road at Iowa on Saturday, Sept. 2. Wyoming’s home opener will be on Saturday, Sept. 9 versus Gardner-Webb.
2017 Wyoming Coaching and Administrative Staff
Coaching Staff
Craig Bohl (Nebraska ‘82), Head Coach
Brent Vigen (North Dakota State ‘98), Associate Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
Scottie Hazelton (Fort Lewis ‘97), Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Mike Bath (Miami of Ohio ‘01), Running Backs/Fullbacks
AJ Cooper (North Dakota State ‘06), Special Teams Coordinator/Defensive Ends
Jake Dickert (Wisconsin-Stevens Point ‘07), Safeties
Scott Fuchs (North Dakota State ‘95), Offensive Line
Mike Grant (Nebraska ‘93), Wide Receivers
Pete Kaligis (Washington ‘94), Defensive Tackles
John Richardson (North Dakota State ‘10), Cornerbacks
Administrative Staff
Brent Vernon (Missouri ‘08), Director of Football Operations
Gordie Haug (Bemidji State ‘09), Director of Recruiting
Graduate Assistants
Aaron Bohl (Minnesota State Moorhead ‘16), Defensive Graduate Assistant
Jacob Claborn (Cal Lutheran ‘09), Offensive Graduate Assistant/Tight Ends
Josh Firm (Missouri S&T ‘13), Offensive Graduate Assistant
Ian McGrew (Tennessee-Martin ‘15), Recruiting Graduate Assistant
Rob Schlaeger (Southwest Minnesota State ‘15), Defensive Graduate Assistant
Doug Watterson (Colorado State-Pueblo ‘16), Administrative Graduate Assistant
