LARAMIE – Wyoming's blistering presence on the defensive line has graduated.
 
Ben Florentine, the nose tackle Craig Bohl once described as being "tougher than mustard gas," emerged as a lead on the Cowboys' defense while amassing 36 tackles, 7.0 tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, two pass breakups, a forced fumble and a blocked kick as a senior in 2025.
 
Head coach Jay Sawvel is hoping the human tank that is Jayden Williams will fill the void. The 6-foot-3, 296-pound junior from Bryan, Texas, has the experience and physicality to be an all-Mountain West defensive tackle for UW.
 
"Fundamentally he has improved a great deal. The physical tools are there to be a dominant player," Sawvel said. "He's 296 pounds now, extremely strong, extremely fast. We're really fortunate to have him in our program and to have him still here in our program.
 
"There's a big expectation of what we're going to have and get from him. We're going to push, push, push for a while with him and there's going to come a point in time probably later in the spring where we'll start to back off his reps because we know we've got a pretty good player there."
 
Williams has been a solid rotational player the past two seasons and has registered 52 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and four quarterback hits over that span. He showed off his athleticism with a 17-yard run on a fake punt against San Diego State in 2024.
 
Florentine's mentorship and Williams' dedication to developing his body, knowledge of defense and technique have prepared him for a breakout season this fall.
 
"I just approached things in a calmer head space and took it a step at a time. It's natural for me since day one to overthink things and try to be too perfect almost," Williams said. "What I learned from last year is that you need to just be calm, assess what you're looking at, do your job and don't do too much.
 
"Ben has taught me so many things, I love Ben so much. I'll say confidently I strive to be like Ben. He's my role model. I want to play just as hard as he plays because last year there were a lot of times when we would kind of start slow and Ben is on the ball just playing and having fun. He always preached to have fun, be a savage and play hard."
 
Sawvel said one of the key factors in retaining Williams this offseason was hiring Deonte Gibson as defensive tackles coach last year. The highly respected assistant helped unlock Florentine's inspiring performance after UW lost four interior defensive linemen, including projected standouts Dante Drake and Caleb Robinson, to injuries.
 
"Gibson is honestly like no other coach. He's smart, he really trusts his guys, and he gives you confidence and gets you fired up," Williams said. "He also teaches you the offense and gets you to know the things we wouldn't know at D-tackle without him."
 
For example, Williams has improved his ability to read an offense before the snap and anticipate which gaps and angles to attack.
 
Drake and Robinson have been cleared for full contact but are being eased into spring practice. Sophomore Alex Haswell is back in the mix after having his 2025 campaign interrupted by injury. Another homegrown prospect, sophomore Tegen Seeds, is building on the snaps he accrued last season.
 
Two newcomers, Murray State transfer Ja'Quan Redfern and true freshman Tanielu Maafala-Barbasa, are already making noticeable strides under Gibson's tutelage.
 
Williams is now passing down his knowledge to younger players.
 
"It's funny because as you get older you just naturally want to coach up your younger guys," Williams said. "I feel old but it's fun, it's beautiful and it would be wrong if I didn't coach up my younger guys like Tani and Alex. The same thing happened for me when I was young with Bert (Jordan Bertagnole) and Ben, all those guys ahead of me. I want to keep passing down the torch and keep teaching them so when they get to my position, they do the same as well."
 
Sawvel notes after each practice that the Cowboys can't even see the light at the end of the tunnel yet. There is a lot of work to do over the next five months before the season kicks off on Sept. 5 at Colorado State.
 
But the "surge of growth and maturity" for Williams is one of the reasons why Sawvel believes this could be UW's best defense since he joined the program in 2020.
 
"He's going to be a problem (for opposing offenses)," Sawvel said of Williams. "And we appreciate that."
 
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.
 
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