Wyoming Football Focused on Taking Another Step Forward in 2017
Cowboys Look to Build on Successful 2016 Season
Wyoming Football began fall practice for the 2017 season on Monday, July 31, as the Cowboys practiced for two and half hours in the morning before hosting the annual Media Day in the afternoon.
Wyoming returns 15 starters, including six on offense, eight on defense and its starting place-kicker. A total of 48 letterwinners also return -- 23 on offense, 24 on defense and one on special teams.
The returning players include a strong group of proven players with a blend of some young, but talented players.
Among the top returners are two All-America candidates in junior quarterback Josh Allen and junior safety Andrew Wingard. Allen has been mentioned by many NFL Draft experts as a potential first-round pick this coming year. Wingard was a First Team All-Mountain West selection as a sophomore and was one of 16 national semifinalists for the 2016 Jim Thorpe Award, which honors the nation’s top defensive back each season. Another key returner is sophomore linebacker Logan Wilson, who was named the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year last season. Wilson also earned First Team Freshman All-America honors from both the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and USA Today. Wilson will move from the weak-side linebacker position to middle linebacker in 2017.
“There are certain areas of our football team that we feel pretty good about,” said Bohl. “Obviously, the quarterback position is more entrenched than it has been, and the safety and cornerback spots return a lot of experienced players.
“I think we have some young, emerging wide receivers, who we are really excited about.
“The same thing with the tight ends and running backs, some good talent but not a lot of game experience. With the exception of the quarterback, all the guys who will be handling the football are new in terms of starting roles.
“I believe we’ll be stronger at the defensive line position. We have a lot more depth there.
“We have a returning place-kicker in place, and it will be important to continue to improve there.
“We have a lot of returning offensive linemen, but we will have to find a center and we have a couple candidates in
our existing group that we have moved into that position.
“We are developing more depth, and those are signs of being more competitive with our overall program.
“As we watched these players at practice and on tape throughout spring, we were really impressed with how our players competed this past spring.”
“I think fans will notice differences on our defense this year in speed and athleticism,” said Bohl. “We’re a year older, and you’re going to see guys playing more confidently. That was apparent in our spring scrimmages. I saw more speed and guys who were in the right spots making plays.
“Some of the good things that happened to our team last year was a combination of us out-scoring people on offense and our defense making key plays at key times and creating turnovers. But we need to get to the point where we can hold opponents’ offenses down. We need to balance things out where we play better defense.
“Overall defensively, we should be much improved, and we need to be. Our statistical numbers last year were off the mark. For us to win games, we need to get that opponent point total down. Even though they’re playing some different positions, we feel like we have good players out there.”
There were some significant players who missed spring practice due to injury, but the head coach said that they should all be ready to go once fall camp opens on July 31.
“Carl Granderson (defensive end) was having a great year for us last season before being lost to injury,” said Bohl. “He’s running now, and we’re anticipating him playing really well again this coming season.
“Ryan Cummings (offensive right tackle) is another starter who was not able to be out there during spring. He is coming back well from his surgery, and we’re pleased with that. Those two guys I think are really going to be important for us this coming season.
“Andrew Wingard (safety) missed the back half of spring, but he was out there enough, and we know what he is capable of.”
Bohl has a veteran coaching staff returning in 2017. The entire offensive staff returns, guided by offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brent Vigen, who also takes on the role of Associate Head Coach this season. On defense, Scottie Hazelton was hired as the Cowboys’ new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach this past January. Hazelton had previously coached on Bohl’s staff at North Dakota State for the 2007-11 seasons. His final two seasons with the Bison, Hazelton served as defensive coordinator and linebacker coach. He comes to Wyoming from the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL, where he was the assistant linebackers coach the past three seasons.
“Scottie Hazelton is really familiar with our system and he’s really familiar with our other coaches, so that was somewhat of a seamless transition,” said Bohl. “We’re really pleased to have Scottie back with us.”
With the goal of taking Wyoming Football another step forward in 2017, what does the head coach feel it will take for his team to take that next step forward?
“First of all, our players who have played a significant amount and particularly our guys who are going into their last year -- they have to have their best year,” said Bohl. “While Josh (Allen) is a junior, he is anticipating that this will be his last year. He needs to play at his very best. Ryan Cummings needs to play at his very best. Guys like Drew Van Maanen, Robert Priester, Rico Gafford, Jalen Ortiz need to be at their very best.
“And our other guys who have played a lot need to make sure they continue to improve, whether it’s Andrew Wingard, or Marcus Epps, Carl Granderson, Zach Wallace. It’s about all those guys collectively taking another step forward.
“We have more experience than what we’ve had since we’ve been here, but all of our players need to continue to improve. They need to have a really competitive summer and continue to mature. If they all collectively get better, we have a chance to be a pretty solid football team.”
Asked what it meant to Bohl and his team to see the kind of fan support they experienced last season? Bohl responded, “That is part of another step in the development of our program. I’m sure there were a lot of our fans, who have been loyal to us for many, many years, wondering when we were going to compete for a conference championship again.
“When I went to the Mountain West meetings this past spring, I heard compliments from even Coach (Rocky) Long talking about their experience coming to Wyoming. He was very complimentary about the Mountain West Championship Game, and he said the Wyoming fans were unbelievable. So that is a special shout out to our fans.
“We are so appreciative of the support we’ve received from our fans and the state. I would just say to all Cowboy fans make sure you’re in War Memorial Stadium this coming year because we think we’ve got a good football team coming back.”
The Cowboys season opener will be on the road at Iowa on Saturday, Sept. 2. Wyoming’s home opener will be on Saturday, Sept. 9 versus Gardner-Webb.
Cowboys Look to Build on Successful 2016 Season
Wyoming Football began fall practice for the 2017 season on Monday, July 31, as the Cowboys practiced for two and half hours in the morning before hosting the annual Media Day in the afternoon.
Wyoming returns 15 starters, including six on offense, eight on defense and its starting place-kicker. A total of 48 letterwinners also return -- 23 on offense, 24 on defense and one on special teams.
The returning players include a strong group of proven players with a blend of some young, but talented players.
Among the top returners are two All-America candidates in junior quarterback Josh Allen and junior safety Andrew Wingard. Allen has been mentioned by many NFL Draft experts as a potential first-round pick this coming year. Wingard was a First Team All-Mountain West selection as a sophomore and was one of 16 national semifinalists for the 2016 Jim Thorpe Award, which honors the nation’s top defensive back each season. Another key returner is sophomore linebacker Logan Wilson, who was named the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year last season. Wilson also earned First Team Freshman All-America honors from both the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and USA Today. Wilson will move from the weak-side linebacker position to middle linebacker in 2017.
“There are certain areas of our football team that we feel pretty good about,” said Bohl. “Obviously, the quarterback position is more entrenched than it has been, and the safety and cornerback spots return a lot of experienced players.
“I think we have some young, emerging wide receivers, who we are really excited about.
“The same thing with the tight ends and running backs, some good talent but not a lot of game experience. With the exception of the quarterback, all the guys who will be handling the football are new in terms of starting roles.
“I believe we’ll be stronger at the defensive line position. We have a lot more depth there.
“We have a returning place-kicker in place, and it will be important to continue to improve there.
“We have a lot of returning offensive linemen, but we will have to find a center and we have a couple candidates in
our existing group that we have moved into that position.
“We are developing more depth, and those are signs of being more competitive with our overall program.
“As we watched these players at practice and on tape throughout spring, we were really impressed with how our players competed this past spring.”
“I think fans will notice differences on our defense this year in speed and athleticism,” said Bohl. “We’re a year older, and you’re going to see guys playing more confidently. That was apparent in our spring scrimmages. I saw more speed and guys who were in the right spots making plays.
“Some of the good things that happened to our team last year was a combination of us out-scoring people on offense and our defense making key plays at key times and creating turnovers. But we need to get to the point where we can hold opponents’ offenses down. We need to balance things out where we play better defense.
“Overall defensively, we should be much improved, and we need to be. Our statistical numbers last year were off the mark. For us to win games, we need to get that opponent point total down. Even though they’re playing some different positions, we feel like we have good players out there.”
There were some significant players who missed spring practice due to injury, but the head coach said that they should all be ready to go once fall camp opens on July 31.
“Carl Granderson (defensive end) was having a great year for us last season before being lost to injury,” said Bohl. “He’s running now, and we’re anticipating him playing really well again this coming season.
“Ryan Cummings (offensive right tackle) is another starter who was not able to be out there during spring. He is coming back well from his surgery, and we’re pleased with that. Those two guys I think are really going to be important for us this coming season.
“Andrew Wingard (safety) missed the back half of spring, but he was out there enough, and we know what he is capable of.”
Bohl has a veteran coaching staff returning in 2017. The entire offensive staff returns, guided by offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brent Vigen, who also takes on the role of Associate Head Coach this season. On defense, Scottie Hazelton was hired as the Cowboys’ new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach this past January. Hazelton had previously coached on Bohl’s staff at North Dakota State for the 2007-11 seasons. His final two seasons with the Bison, Hazelton served as defensive coordinator and linebacker coach. He comes to Wyoming from the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL, where he was the assistant linebackers coach the past three seasons.
“Scottie Hazelton is really familiar with our system and he’s really familiar with our other coaches, so that was somewhat of a seamless transition,” said Bohl. “We’re really pleased to have Scottie back with us.”
With the goal of taking Wyoming Football another step forward in 2017, what does the head coach feel it will take for his team to take that next step forward?
“First of all, our players who have played a significant amount and particularly our guys who are going into their last year -- they have to have their best year,” said Bohl. “While Josh (Allen) is a junior, he is anticipating that this will be his last year. He needs to play at his very best. Ryan Cummings needs to play at his very best. Guys like Drew Van Maanen, Robert Priester, Rico Gafford, Jalen Ortiz need to be at their very best.
“And our other guys who have played a lot need to make sure they continue to improve, whether it’s Andrew Wingard, or Marcus Epps, Carl Granderson, Zach Wallace. It’s about all those guys collectively taking another step forward.
“We have more experience than what we’ve had since we’ve been here, but all of our players need to continue to improve. They need to have a really competitive summer and continue to mature. If they all collectively get better, we have a chance to be a pretty solid football team.”
Asked what it meant to Bohl and his team to see the kind of fan support they experienced last season? Bohl responded, “That is part of another step in the development of our program. I’m sure there were a lot of our fans, who have been loyal to us for many, many years, wondering when we were going to compete for a conference championship again.
“When I went to the Mountain West meetings this past spring, I heard compliments from even Coach (Rocky) Long talking about their experience coming to Wyoming. He was very complimentary about the Mountain West Championship Game, and he said the Wyoming fans were unbelievable. So that is a special shout out to our fans.
“We are so appreciative of the support we’ve received from our fans and the state. I would just say to all Cowboy fans make sure you’re in War Memorial Stadium this coming year because we think we’ve got a good football team coming back.”
The Cowboys season opener will be on the road at Iowa on Saturday, Sept. 2. Wyoming’s home opener will be on Saturday, Sept. 9 versus Gardner-Webb.
