When Cowboy fans pack into War Memorial Stadium, the one thing that they all have in common is that they are rooting for the players suited up in the Brown and Gold, and rooting against whatever team is wearing foreign colors. 
 
The Wyoming faithful see one unified roster run onto the field behind that horse on game days, but there is a lot more going on behind the scenes that many of them do not realize.
 
Throughout the year, offense and defense compete against one another and it is not until Saturdays that we are all working together completely. You might wonder which two groups have the most consistent battles during the year. That's us – the offensive and defensive linemen.
 
We are Gavin Rush and Josiah Hall, offensive and defensive linemen for your University of Wyoming Cowboys and we're here to tell you all a little bit about our lives. 
 
This series of installments will hopefully provide a unique insight into what goes on almost every other day, except for what the fans see on Saturdays. We are in the middle of the offseason right now, and although we are not lining up against Colorado State anytime soon, there is a lot of preparation that goes on during the spring semester. 
 
We come back from Christmas break and the ball immediately gets going with winter conditioning starting that Monday. From the start there is instant competition. Lifting, running, and agility drills are the name of the game and everybody is trying to beat the person next to them. 
 
We, as competitors, thrive on this. Constant competition year-round so that when we do get to those Saturday nights in August, September, October, November, and hopefully December, we have not lost our edge. 
 
After winter conditioning is over, comes every college student's favorite part of the year, spring break. We have to be careful though with how we spend our time because as soon as that week is over spring ball starts up. 
 
That usually includes a short workout program that allows us to have fun but at the same time makes sure we don't lose all of the work that we put in during these winter months. This week is a really good time to unwind a little bit from school and football, because we know in the back of our minds that when we get back, it's right back to work. 
 
Spring ball is a five-week period that is capped off at the end by the annual spring game. For those five weeks there are three practices a week and the days that we don't have practice there are meetings. There's a lot of film being broken down and the competition is high, as this is as close to actual practice and games that we will get until the fall.
 
While this is the majority of what goes on football wise we are also students, so while all of this is going on it is also a big responsibility to keep our grades up and make sure we are eligible to play in the fall. Gavin and I are doing an internship, some guys are doing online classes, some taking in class, and some a mixture of all of it. 
 
Not to mention our social lives – yes, we are allowed to have a life outside of football, it's just a little hard sometimes. But when we leave campus we typically just like to relax, hang out with the guys, hang out with our girlfriends, call our moms, and study, just about anything any other college student would do. 
 
These installments are written by Josiah Hall and Gavin Rush and hopefully you enjoy taking a quick peek into our lives as student athletes, and you like taking a look into life in the trenches. 
 
Keep an eye out for our next article, as we're going to talk more in depth about our winter conditioning program. We hope you enjoy.