LARAMIE – In recent years Wyoming has produced more of the freakiest football athletes than the rest of the the Mountain West combined.
 
Respected national college football reporter Bruce Feldman has been compiling his late summer "Freaks List" article for 20 years, and the Cowboys are represented in the 2025 version published Monday by the Athletic.
 
"It is a player or the player in the college football program that can do something that everybody inside the program's jaws drop, and it wows them," is how Feldman defined a freak on this week's episode of The Audible podcast with Stewart Mandel.
 
UW tight end John Michael Gyllenborg, who checks in at No. 54 on this year's Freaks List, certainly matches the description. The only other MW player included is New Mexico cornerback/kick returner Abe Williams at No. 100.
 
"The former high school basketball standout only played one season of football before coming to college, but he has the kind of athleticism at 6-5, 250 pounds that will intrigue NFL scouts," Feldman writes of Gyllenborg. "He's hit 21.6 mph and his flying 10-yard time of 0.93 seconds is impressive, as are his 37-inch vertical and 10-8 broad jump. He squatted 500 pounds, benched 350 (up 25 pounds from last year) and cleaned 335."
 
Eric Donoval, the Director of Sports Performance for Cowboy Football, said Gyllenborg's habits away from the spotlight are what make the senior one of the nation's most physically gifted players.
 
"You can go back to how J-Mike operates as a person and then you're not really surprised by the progress he has made," Donoval said. "He's one of our most consistent people. He drinks the same smoothie every single day at the same time, he takes his vitamins at the same time, his nutrition is completely on point.
 
"When you look at someone who runs like a wide receiver, has power outputs like offensive linemen and then does it at over 250 pounds, it's just very impressive what he does."
 
Over the last five years, four UW players have been featured on the Freaks List compared to a combined three for the rest of the MW.
 
In 2024, wide receiver Alex Brown (No. 64) and safety Wyett Ekeler (No. 80) were selected. Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, the Heisman Trophy runner up, was the only other player from the conference in the ranking at No. 54.
 
Additionally, in the synopsis on Brown, Feldman noted that Gyllenborg and Evan Svoboda were part of "a trio of freaky athletes" on the Cowboys' offense. Svoboda, who started at quarterback last season, has moved to tight end where he and Gyllenborg are leading a deep room this year.
 
"First and foremost, it speaks volumes about the hard work that our athletes consistently put in," Donoval said of the accolades. "All the credit will always go to the athletes. It's their work, it's their consistency, it's their level of attention to detail and it's their level of consistency outside of the building in terms of nutrition and sleep.
 
"Then secondly our staff does an incredible job of identifying and recruiting the right type of athlete that is going to be someone that thrives in an intensive program that develops them."
 
Two former UW players, cornerback Kolbey Taylor (Vanderbilt) and Emmanuel Pregnon (USC), were also included on the 2024 Freaks List.
 
In 2023, Taylor was on the list at No. 23 ahead of his redshirt sophomore year with the Pokes. Boise State quarterback Taylen Green, now playing at Arkansas, was the other MW representative at No. 88.
 
No MW players were selected by Feldman in 2021 or 2020 when there was less overall data due to media access and workout restrictions during the pandemic.
 
In the years to come, Feldman will have other developing Cowboys to consider for the Freaks List.
 
"We've definitely got a couple of those guys we've already identified," Donoval said. "Whether they're incoming transfers that have multiple years left or the high school guys that have either enrolled early or got here in the summer. We plan to continue to put players on that list from our program."
 
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.