LARAMIE – Donnell Kirkwood Jr. remembers Jay Sawvel's voice ringing through the earholes in his helmet over a decade ago.
 
Now the former Minnesota running back will be passing on some of the lessons he learned from the former Golden Golfers defensive coordinator to Wyoming players after joining Sawvel's staff.
 
Kirkwood will serve as the Cowboys' running backs coach after spending the last two seasons coaching the same position at North Dakota.
 
"Sawvel chewed me a lot of new ones in college, and I deserved every bit of it," said Kirkwood, who led Minnesota with 926 yards rushing and six touchdowns in 2013. "I played special teams for him, and he was the standard. There has to be a standard to do what we want to win in this game. I'm excited to get to that."
 
The coaching carousel can be a crazy ride. During this cycle, Gordie Haug, who coached UW's running backs since 2014, left to become North Dakota's associate head coach and tight ends coach.
 
Kirkwood would soon be headed out of the revolving door from Grand Forks to Laramie, but not before getting some advice from Haug.
 
"It was very strange because he came to North Dakota and I was like, I've got a visit at Wyoming tomorrow. But I didn't say anything," Kirkwood said. "Gordie has been phenomenal through this transition. He didn't have to do a thing for me, he didn't know me from a can of paint, and he has been amazing. He helped me find a home here and everything. It has been awesome, great dude."
 
Kirkwood inherits an experienced and talented group led by seniors Harrison Waylee and Sam Scott. Redshirt freshmen Nico Hamilton and Dontae Burch and Charlotte transfer Terron Kellman will also compete this spring.
 
UW bolstered the depth in the room with the signing of three high school prospects – Patrick Broadway II of Houston, Samuel "Tote" Harris of Cibolo, Texas, and Jaden Lawrence of Parker, Colorado – as part of the 2025 recruiting class.
 
"You've got good players all the way around," Kirkwood said. "Guys have talent and they're working hard. We just need to come in and bring a different mentality and it will be every day. I could care less about how talented you are. It's all about work ethic; when you work hard it will all come together."
 
Scott led the Pokes with 435 yards rushing and three touchdowns in 2024. Waylee, who missed eight games with a knee injury, added 323 yards and a touchdown after finishing with 947 yards rushing in 2023.
 
UW, which returns four starters on the offensive line, will focus on reestablishing a dominant rushing attack this fall.
 
"It's very important, especially in a place like this. You've got to run the ball," Kirkwood said. "You have to establish the run to be successful. I'm going to express that in my room every day. How we play the game will determine the type of tone we set."
 
Kirkwood's featured back with the Fighting Hawks, Gaven Ziebarth, rushed for 1,879 yards and 30 yards with backup Isaiah Smith adding 594 yards and two touchdowns last season.
 
During his playing career, Kirkwood was the featured back at Minnesota before taking a backseat to future NFL draft pick David Cobb in 2014. The way he handled the situation, and his maturity stuck with Sawvel this offseason when he was looking for a new running backs coach.
 
"Donnell never griped about his role or anything else. He was a great teammate," Sawvel said. "I stepped back from that (hiring) process. I kind of like Donnell but I wanted to see what the other staff members thought.  We were all on the same page with that."
 
UW opens spring practice on March 25.
 
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