LARAMIE – The Cowboys open fall camp Wednesday as preparations ramp up for Wyoming's 130^th football season.
 
Third-year head coach Jay Sawvel's 2026 squad will face rival Colorado State on Sept. 5 at Canvas Stadium ahead of the home opener on Sept. 12 against Northern Colorado at War Memorial Stadium.
 
The roster has undergone significant turnover through graduation and the transfer portal, making August one of the most important camps of Sawvel's tenure.
 
Here are five key position groups to keep an eye on as the Cowboys grind through the critical August practices:
 
QUARTERBACKS
 
Tyler Hughes has the inside track to winning the starting job after performing well throughout the spring and representing his new team at the Mountain West media day event last month in Las Vegas.
 
The William & Mary graduate transfer was recruited out of high school by new UW offensive coordinator Christian Taylor. Hughes passed for 2,330 yards with 20 touchdowns and three interceptions and rushed for 670 yards and 11 touchdowns at the FCS level last season.
 
"It's hard to stop him, that's what I saw," safety Brooklyn Cheek said of Hughes after he threw a 47-yard touchdown and broke off a 45-yard run in the spring game. "There was the one play where he's running down the sideline and a quarterback isn't usually moving as fast as DBs and safeties, but he's running and he talks after he plays.
 
"That's what I love about him; he's a scrappy guy who loves football. Great player."
 
After joining the program in January, Hughes didn't waste any time in establishing himself as a leader. The dynamic dual-threat quarterback shares the same goal as the rest of the team.
 
"That's one of the first things I addressed when I got here like, guys I want to win, and I know you do, too," Hughes said.
 
Mason Drube, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound redshirt freshman from Gillette, also showed a strong grasp of the playbook and demonstrated leadership traits in the spring after getting some playing time late in the 2025 season.
 
"Mason, off a first impression, is very talented that is for sure," Hughes said. "The kid can rip it around everywhere he wants to. He's super confident, he's a kid who shows up every day, he's smiling Mason every day. I'm super excited for him."
 
Landon Sims, a 6-3, 217-pound junior who was 6-for-8 passing for 38 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries off the bench last season, has made a remarkable comeback from a knee injury suffered in November.
 
"Fully cleared," Sawvel said of Sims. "He will have no limitation in fall camp, which is a credit to him."
 
True freshman Taylor Hasselbeck, whose father Tim Hasselbeck and uncle Matt Hasselbeck were longtime NFL quarterbacks, joined the team in the summer.
 
UW added Tyler Franklin from Fresno, Calif., to the QB room this summer for additional depth. The 6-3 three-star prospect passed for 2,224 yards and rushed for 239 yards with 25 total touchdowns last season for Bullard High School.
 
"I'm happy with that group right now," Sawvel said. "They're uber-competitive and they pick it up really well and Coach Taylor does a great job with them."
 
DEFENSIVE TACKLES
 
UW's defense was stout last season despite being ravaged by injuries on the interior of the line.
 
Both Dante Drake and Caleb Robinson are back after missing 2025 and Jayden Williams anchors the 2026 unit, which is expected to be a strength for defensive tackles coach Deonte Gibson.
 
"Coach Gibson always tells us it starts with us," the 6-3, 294-pound Williams said at MW media days. "I feel like that's so true because if we're starting too slow it travels to the secondary and everywhere else because it affects their play. I think as defensive linemen we need to start out super hot, super fast and that's going to set the tone for the game."
 
Murray State transfer Ja'Quan Redfern will compete for a spot in the rotation after missing some time in the spring with an injury. UW has also added 6-3, 293-pound Mohanad Nahhas, a Hudson Valley Community College transfer.
 
Homegrown sophomores Alex Haswell (Sheridan) and Tegan Seeds (Douglas) add some reliable depth.
 
The future of the position is bright with true freshmen Tanielu Maafala-Barbasa, MacGregor Byers and Xavier Jackson. Redshirt freshman Henry Rehberg will push for playing time after missing time with an injury.
 
"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."
 
WIDE RECEIVERS
 
Pokes fans have been waiting for an explosive passing attack since Josh Allen left for the NFL. Hughes and Co. will need some big-play targets to emerge to make the plan a reality.
 
Veterans Eric Richardson and Jackson Holman will try to build off strong finishes to the spring during fall camp. Charlie Coenen, a reliable senior, has a chance to carve out a larger role in the offense.
 
UW added experience in graduate transfer Justin Popovich, whose physicality stood out in the spring.
 
"If you have a good trait, Coach Taylor is going to use you, and I feel like he sees that in me," Popovich said. "I'm blocking a lot, I'm a good one-on-one guy, so I'm just kind of working. It's really nice because if you have abilities, he's going to use you."
 
Deion DeBlanc, Bricen Brantley, Pierre "PJ" Jackson and Ke'Lyn Washom have the talent to change games need to consistently deliver over the next three weeks for wide receivers coach Jovon Bouknight.
 
The next generation has arrived in freshmen Jayden Williams, Jarell Gary and Jordan Styles.
 
"Who is next?" Sawvel said. "We've got to have some people emerge."
 
CORNERBACKS
 
The camp competition between the emerging receivers and the young cornerbacks will be intense.
 
Speedy sophomore Tyson Shamsid-Deen is listed as a cornerback and wide receiver on the roster but will have to master the former to get snaps at the latter.
 
"He's a very special athlete," cornerbacks coach JB Hall said. "He has the skillset to be a dominant corner. Our job is to continue to develop him. There are some minor things we have to continue to work on just like with anyone in the room, but he has that capability to go out there and be an absolutely dominant player. If he pushes himself and we push him, he can be a guy that just stays out there."
 
This camp is an opportunity for juniors Ian Bell, Junus McGraw, Logan Mackey and BJ Inmon to make their mark.
 
But don't be surprised if true freshman Kendall Griffin and classmate Therman Williams are making plays in the Border War. Both made strong impressions after enrolling early and competing in the spring.
 
"We're really confident in our secondary," linebacker Ethan Stuhlsatz said at MW media days. "There's been a lot of talk about corners and young guys, but at the end of the day in this new landscape of football age doesn't really matter. If you can ball, you can go out there and ball. We're confident in what they can do and eager to see them out there."
 
RUNNING BACKS
 
This is an area of strength. The loaded backfield can carry the Cowboys to a winning season in Taylor's versatile scheme.
 
The headliner, Samuel Harris, led the team with 568 yards rushing as a true freshman. Now the 5-11 "Tote" checks in at 202 pounds, up from around 187 pounds last season.
 
"There's a reason for the changes that we made offensively, and he's going to be a key to that," Sawvel said of utilizing Harris' skill in the running and passing game. "His versatility is key. He can function like a receiver, he can function like running back, there's a lot of things to it."
 
The lightning-quick Harris will be the featured back, but Markell Holman adds some thunder to the rotation. The 214-pound senior rushed for 1,063 yards and scored nine touchdowns at Western Illinois last season.
 
"Even though I had a big year it's like, I have to do it again. That's in the past," Holman said. "Obviously, I'm trying to replicate that but I'm just growing being around the strength staff and coaches and Coach Taylor. They have nuances to the game I didn't quite see myself, so I collect the pieces and wisdom from them and try to keep building every day."
 
Another potential impact transfer, Diore Hubbard, led West Virginia in rushing last season but missed the spring while recovering from a torn ACL.
 
Nico Hamilton is coming off an impressive offseason. Jaden Lawrence, Dontae Burch, Nikos Varelas and Ryken Banks give running backs coach Gary Harrell quality depth to work with.
 
"We're deeper and better on the defensive line than what we've ever been in my time at Wyoming. We have more talent in the secondary than we have at any time in my time at Wyoming," Sawvel said. "We've got a better running back room than we've had at any point in my time at Wyoming, and I think the quarterback room is the best that it's been.
 
"When you start with those things right away, then you feel a little bit better about certain things."
 
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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