LARAMIE – O captain! No captains!
 
Jay Sawvel knows it will take more than four or five players to get the ship turned around this season.
 
That's why Wyoming's second-year head coach decided not to name team captains in 2025.
 
"Our leadership has evolved tremendously this spring and summer partly because they know in the end, we're not going to cut it down to four or six people and vote for captains," Sawvel said at the recent Mountain West football media day event in Las Vegas. "We're going to keep on going with people who are leading in the program, and we've empowered people."
 
The Cowboys will lean on a strong senior class to hold the Cowboys to a high standard as a collective.
 
Tight end John Michael Gyllenborg and center Jack Walsh represented UW well in Las Vegas, but classmates Jalen Sargent, Caden Barnett, Tyce Westland, Evan Svoboda and others are also driven to finish their careers wearing the brown and gold on a winning note.
 
"After understanding why and seeing it play out after these last few months it's absolutely something that I think is the right move for this team. Other teams might be different. Our team specifically we have so many guys that can step up," Gyllenborg said. "On the offensive side we've got a lot of natural born leaders, a lot of guys that do things right. So, just limiting it to one or two guys would be kind of tough. I don't know if that would work out for us. On defense there's just so much opportunity for guys to step up into that role.
 
"To see how things have gone in the spring and summer, seeing a number of guys step up any day, it's really cool."
 
Typically, team captains are decorated seniors.
 
The 2023 group – which included quarterback Andrew Peasley, left tackle Frank Crum, tight end Treyton Welch and linebacker Easton Gibbs – left with nine-win season. Their leadership void was not filled in 2024 as UW struggled on the field during the changing of the guard from the Craig Bohl era.
 
"Coach Bohl told me one of the biggest keys to really good teams is seniors playing at a really high level, seniors leading at a high level," Sawvel said.
 
The leadership group Sawvel meets with on a regular basis also includes several highly respected young players, including sophomore quarterback Kaden Anderson, sophomore wide receiver Chris Durr Jr. and freshman linebacker Gary Rutherford.
 
"This year we will be in a position to spread the wealth around a lot leadership wise," Sawvel added.
 
Sawvel and his staff signed 47 new players (23 transfers, 24 freshmen) to the roster during the offseason. It will be critical for the key nucleus of returning standouts to get everyone on the same page during fall camp, which begins July 28.
 
"We have to create the urgency in a lot of players that is in Jaylen Sargent and Caden Barnett and Jack Walsh and John-Mike Gyllenborg," Sawvel said. "We needed to create more competition, more depth."
 
There is no doubt Walsh, whose father John was a member of UW's back-to-back WAC championships in 1987-88, would be a team captain if a vote were taken this summer.
 
But the revered Poke will happily trade the in the "C" for a bunch of "W's" this season.
 
"I want them to say that Jack Walsh was a team guy, a guy that gave it everything he had and left no stones unturned. That's the legacy I want to leave," Walsh said. "I want to leave Wyoming in a better place than where I found it. I want to teach guys to lead others so that when all of us seniors are gone you (younger) guys can take the reins."
 
If you are interested in learning more about NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) or would like to support our student-athletes, please visit 1wyo.org. 1WYO was created out of Wyoming's culture of neighbor helping neighbor. The mission is to promote and strengthen local charitable organizations and develop Wyoming student athletes. 
 
Follow Ryan for more stories on Wyoming athletics on X at @By_RyanThorburn on Facebook at Wyoming Athletics and Instagram at wyoathletics. Also follow him at Pokes Insider at Gowyo.com/pokesinsider.