LARAMIE, Wyo. (July 31, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowboy football team officially opened the season on Wednesday with the first practice of the season inside War Memorial Stadium. The two-hour practice was the first under first-year head coach Jay Sawvel.
 
What Sawvel Had to Say Following Practice
"it's just good to get back out there. You get a chance to do everything that we worked on in the summer, but now put it into team concepts and team situations and get everybody working. I thought the pace was good for the periods we were out there, and the engagement level was good for everybody. it's a good first day. Now we will go watch the video and then I'll probably say there is a lot of that we could do better. By and large I thought for a first practice It was clean with procedural stuff and snap execution.  You look at it and go Okay, on July 31st, this looked like football today and we go to the next day and so on."
 
Notes on the Pokes
 
A Veteran Offensive Line
 The Cowboys return four starters on the offensive line this season. That group of center Nofoafia, guard Jack Walsh, guard Wes King and tackle Caden Barnett along with Guard/Center Luke Sandy have appeared in 108 games. Tulafono leads the way playing in 36 career games for the Brown and Gold. Barnett and Walsh have played in 23 games for the Pokes.
 
Another Season...Another Veteran Defensive Group
The Cowboy defense returns eight starters from last season. The group has combined for 296 games in their careers led by linebacker Shae Suiaunoa with 47 games. Jordan Bertagnole and DeVonne Harris have played in 43 games in their careers. Isaac White has appeared in 40 games and his safety partner Wyett Ekeler has been in 39 games.
 
Top Tacklers Back in Brown and Gold
The Cowboys return a ton of tackles from the defense this season. In total, the Pokes return six of the top seven tacklers from last season with the only exception is the loss of leading tackler Easton Gibbs, who signed with the Seattle Seahawks. The top-six returning tacklers combined for 388 tackles, which is 79 percent of the total tackles last season for the Pokes. Linebacker Shae Suiaunoa is the top returning tackler with 93 a season ago followed by Wyett Ekeler with 77 stops.