LARAMIE – It has been one battle scar after another for Wyoming's defensive tackle room recently.
 
Caleb Robinson missed the 2024 and 2025 seasons with injuries. Dante Drake joined him in the training room last July when the duo was both lost with Achilles tendon ruptures.
 
Ben Florentine stepped up as a force in the heart of the defensive line and a team leader during his senior season, but Robinson and Drake were missed.
 
"Unfortunately, it's something I've had to do two times now, but it's part of it," Robinson said of being relegated to innocent bystander while rehabbing a major injury. "It's all about your perspective. Me and Dante used to talk about that in the locker room a bunch when we first started during spring ball."
 
From head coach Jay Sawvel's perspective, it didn't make any sense to have Robinson and Drake participate in team drills during spring practice.
 
Jayden Williams, the gifted 6-foot-3, 296-pound junior, anchored the Cowboy defensive line for the bulk of the 14 practices. He also watched the spring game safely from the sideline.
 
Sawvel was 10 feet away when Drake suffered his injury last summer and stayed with the 6-3, 301-pound junior for the devastating diagnosis.
 
"When you see a guy you really have a strong appreciation for sitting on a training room table crying because he knew what just happened to him, it kills you. It absolutely kills you," Sawvel said. "The only thing you can do is stay with the guy in the moment and help him. But he has come back with a great attitude. He's 302 pounds and he's going to be really good. He was a good player in '24 and we missed him badly last year."
 
Drake, Robinson and Drake will enter summer workouts completely healthy and atop the depth chart.
 
A list of other defensive tackles who were in and out of the lineup with injuries this spring are among the players competing to join the rotation.
 
Murray State transfer Ja'Quan Redfern, developing Sheridan prospect Alex Haswell and true freshman Tanielu Maafala-Barbasa were able to show defensive tackles coach Deonte Gibson flashes of their talents.
 
"I've been able to get a pretty good (evaluation) on everyone," Gibson said. "Cody (Crawford) had to get (knee) surgery and he's the only one I didn't get a true eval on. But for the most part every guy I have a good understanding of what they look like now versus what we kind of projected in August."
 
Tegen Seeds was an iron man during the spring and accrued dozens of extra reps as the defensive tackles thinned out. The sophomore from Douglas learned how important depth at the position can be when he was thrust into the lineup against San Diego State after a cluster of injuries last season.
 
"We appreciate the fire right now," Gibson said. "Obviously, last year when (Seeds) moved to the D-tackle room he had been an offensive lineman the whole time. This is actually a calendar year since he has been a D-tackle, so to see the growth in him has been impressive."
 
Maafala-Barbasa enrolled early and proved he is physically ready to play at this level. Two of his 2026 recruiting classmates, MacGregor Byers and Xavier Jackson, will join the fray this summer. Sawvel also plans to sign another defensive tackle from the portal.
 
Crawford will miss the season with a torn ACL, but Henry Rehberg will return for fall camp after tearing an ACL last year.
 
Despite the lack of healthy bodies in the spring, Gibson believes defensive tackle can be a strength for UW this season.
 
"It's me pouring into them and letting them know, hey, you guys can play ball, and the buck can stop with us," Gibson said. "Sometimes in football we say it has to be hard. It doesn't have to be. Get after somebody and end it and end it right now and keep ending it.
 
"I think these guys can be really special, but it's also on me to make sure they work to be really special."
 
Defensive ends coach Brian Hendricks signed three veteran players from the portal to give the Pokes an experienced group of edge rushers.
 
Thaddeus Gianaris (Dartmouth) made his presence felt on the first play of spring when he dumped Samuel "Tote" Harris in the backfield. Jack Dunkley (Duquesne) made his presence felt after a winter injury. Donnie Wingate (Southern Illinois) will return from an injury for summer workouts.
 
The trio had a combined 35.0 sacks and 58.0 tackles at the FCS level before transferring to UW.
 
"There's a lot of experience in the room. It's kind of like the (New England) Patriots, whenever they go into free agency, they bring in a lot of veteran guys," Hendricks said. "That's kind of what we've done here as far as the defensive end room. There are a lot of guys who have played a lot of football. That maturity helps. …
 
"When (Wingate) comes back we get even better. Depth is key. And right now, some of the returners coming back are showing improvement. There's competition and that's the biggest key."
 
Veteran returners Esaia Bogar and Kevin Sjogren played well throughout the spring. Redshirt freshmen Jason Handy and Cade Brook made plays during the spring game. Eltoum Murgus' development is trending in the right direction.
 
Haswell's younger brother, Beck Haswell, was signed as a defensive end prospect in the 2026 class.
 
"They bring some (expletive) to the table," left tackle Rex Johnsen said of UW's defensive ends. "I don't know what a lot of them are going to do, so we're making each other better every day."
 
(Editor's note: This is the first in an eight-part series reviewing UW's position groups. Wednesday's review: Linebackers)
 
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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