Wyoming Football: News and Notes From Traditional Signing Day

LARAMIE -- For nearly 44 minutes -- and a lengthy off-the-record overtime period -- Jay Sawvel broke down roster construction, the transfer portal and an offseason that now includes 40 new faces in the program.

Wyoming's second-year head coach said the rent came due early in the 2024 campaign.

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The depth, he said, wasn't strong enough to overcome a plethora of injuries, including a pair of senior starters in the secondary and a rookie left tackle, among other positions.

Sawvel said he hopes he rectified that issue this winter, adding 16 transfers and 24 prep players.

"You can't fix it while you're in it," he said, referring to a mid-season conversation he had with former head coach Craig Bohl. "But once you get out of it, you need to fix it. And there's some things I looked at from a depth, competition and maturity standpoint within the roster. We needed to get fixed."

Sawvel reiterated that the players he wanted to keep this offseason remain on the roster.

That includes names like John Michael Gyllenborg, Kaden Anderson, Chris Durr Jr. and Jack Walsh, among many others. Wyoming also welcomes back four starting offensive linemen, along with running back Harrison Waylee.

In fact, the team's leading passer, rusher and receiver are all still in the mix.

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It's the defensive side of the ball that demanded most of the attention this winter. Sawvel and Co. went out and snagged 11 transfers on that side of the ball, including an entirely new secondary and linebacking corps.

Wyoming also added 10 defensive rookies to the roster.

"We needed an infusion of it all the way through, because the bottom line to it is, you need depth so you can be injury resilient," he said. "I'll admit it right now, I did not do a good enough job a year ago of making this roster kind of resilient enough against the full load of a season.

"We didn't have depth at certain positions. We didn't have enough quality throughout."

Roster limits are coming down the pike. All FBS programs will be forced to cut down to 105 players. Sawvel said 103 will take part in spring practices, which are scheduled to begin March 25 in Laramie. Another 21 will arrive on campus this summer.

You can do the match from there.

"It's kind of like when the Joker took the guys in the Dark Knight and threw the little (pool) stick on the floor. Welcome to the team," Sawvel said of the position battles that will ensue. "Whoever got that stick, that's kind of the way it went. So, that's kind of what we're looking for in that regard."

Here's some other news and notes from Sawvel's Wednesday press conference:

* The Cowboys Wednesday made it official, inking running back Patrick Broadway II, edge rusher Jason Handy and defensive tackle Gabriel Ikechukwu. Those three are full-scholarship players. The team also added long snapper Charlie Houston, who is a preferred walk-on. These four newcomers are all from the Lone Star State, bringing the final tally of new Texas players to a team-high nine.

* Wyoming had 61 official visits this season, according to Sawvel. Forty players committed. "That's a hit rate of 65.6%, which is really good," he added. On the Dec. 13 weekend, he said, 11 transfers and junior college players visited campus. Nine of those guys also signed on the dotted line.

* Jack Walsh, a former guard, will slide over to the center spot this spring, replacing Nofoafia Tulafono, the lone offensive lineman to exhaust his eligibility last season.

* Left tackle Nate Geiger was injured just 11 plays into the 2024 season. The redshirt freshman suffered a torn ACL and was replaced by another rookie, Jake Davies. Geiger, according to Sawvel, won't participate in spring practice but will be full go during the summer and fall. Fellow lineman Quinn Grovesteen-Matchey underwent labrum surgery this offseason and could be available late in the spring.

* Jayden Williams suffered a broken bone on the outside of his foot. The big defensive tackle underwent surgery on Tuesday and will be limited in the spring. Sabastian Harsh also went under the knife this offseason for an undisclosed injury. Sawvel expects the defensive end to be a full participant this spring. Offensive lineman Wes King and running back Harrison Waylee are also "good to go" after dealing with nagging setbacks last fall. Evan Svoboda got his deviated septum repaired this winter and is also at full speed in the tight end room. "Everybody's pretty much there, which is good," Sawvel said. "So, that was one thing that came out of this season is that, you know, we had a lot of injuries that went through the season. We don't have a lot of residuals that came out of it."

* Sawvel mentioned numerous times Wednesday that not only did the team not replace the production of 2023 leaders like Andrew Peasley, Easton Gibbs, Frank Crum and others, their leadership was sorely missed, too.

* Wyoming will look to add "3 to 4" players during the spring portal window, which is open from April 16-25. Sawvel said he would like to land a running back with at least three years of eligibility and maybe add a wide receiver or two.

* While the Cowboys are returning nearly their entire offense from a season ago, that doesn't mean the vultures weren't circling. Quarterback Kaden Anderson, Sawvel said, just told him about messages he received from a "third party" on social media. He said Gyllenborg has been contacted, too. "We don't have a team yet," Sawvel added, referring to the spring portal window. "That doesn't happen until like May 1." You might recall defensive tackle Gavin Meyer was lured away after the Cowboys annual spring game last season. He knows the calls, messages will continue. "I know a number of our guys have had that over and over and over again," he said.

* The days of this program having team captains is over. Sawvel said instead of voting or naming the leaders, he will instead look at who is putting in that effort on a week-to-week basis. "When some guy gets his feelings hurt that he's not a captain anymore, he stops leading," Sawvel said. "And that's happened the last couple years around here. I've witnessed it. I sat there and watched it happen, you know, even a year ago, and I'm like, wait a second, here. (They say) 'Well, I'm not a captain, I really can't (say anything)'. Well, that's a bunch of crap. So, we're not going to do that." Sawvel went on to say he is looking for "25 leaders, not four."

* Is Sawvel concerned about losing wide receivers TK King and Justin Stevenson to the NCAA Transfer Portal, along with replacing the likes of Alex Brown and Devin Boddie Jr? "None," he said bluntly. "I knew after the Idaho game, I thought I was a T-Ball coach that didn't take them to get ice cream, OK? I was like, we're going to revamp the receiver room at the end of this year, and the people we've got are the people we need ... There's no regrets about that." The Cowboys leaders in receptions and yards -- Jaylen Sargent, Gyllenborg and Durr -- all remain on the roster.

* Sawvel said 20 mid-season arrivals have been bought in since arriving on campus last month. He also added, all 20 passed their drug test, which is a rarity in 2025.

* Brayden Johnson is a 6-foot-3, 250-pound linebacker, who spent the last three seasons at Oklahoma Baptist University in his native state. Sawvel told an anecdote Wednesday that describes the "live-and-breathe-football guys" he has been searching for this winter. "A couple weeks ago, when it's super cold here, his car door was froze," he said of Johnson. "He couldn't open it to come to a 6:30 a.m. run. The number of guys that would have tried to call in, make an excuse, do something like that, well, he Rocky Balboa'd it across Laramie for a little over a mile to get here on time for the run. So, he's out, you know, hitting his run at six in the morning to get here. So, you appreciate that, right?"

* Sawvel is opening every Saturday practice in the spring to the public and all other workouts to the local media. He warned you better pack a lunch. Those sessions will go at least two-and-a-half hours. "We've got to become a far more violent football team," he said. "We're not anywhere close to where we needed to be with that. We're going to figure that one out this spring."

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* Sawvel wasn't the only coach to speak on Wednesday. Stay tuned for a number of stories from signing day, along with thoughts from new running backs coach Donnel Kirkwood, defensive tackles coach Deonte Gibson and wide receivers coach Jovon Bouknight.

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