A Younger But Talented Cowboy Football Team Will Take the Field for Wyoming in 2022
Fall Practices Begin on Wednesday, July 27
Fall Practices Begin on Wednesday, July 27
Laramie, Wyo. (July 27, 2022) -- The 2022 college football season begins today for the Wyoming Cowboys as they hold their first practice of fall camp. It is an early start to the Wyoming Football season as the Cowboys will kick off their 2022 season in Zero Week on Saturday, Aug. 27 at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill. Zero Week is the week prior to when the majority of college teams kick off the season. Due to the early start of the season, the Cowboys also are allowed to begin practice for the season earlier than normal.
The Wyoming Cowboy Football team will see a number of new players take on leading roles this coming season. While the team will be younger, it is a team that features a lot of talented players.
Among the talented returners for the Cowboys are running back Titus Swen, linebacker Easton Gibbs, nose tackle Cole Godbout, offensive tackle Frank Crum and kick returner/cornerback Cam Stone. All five of those individuals earned All-Conference recognition a year ago. Stone is a sophomore. All the other All-Conference returnees are juniors.
Other top returners on offense include: senior offensive lineman Eric Abojei, sophomore wide receiver Joshua Cobbs, sophomore fullback/tight end Parker Christensen and junior tight end Treyton Welch.
The defensive side of the ball will also see other talented players return including: sophomore defensive tackle Jordan Bertagnole, sophomore nickel back Keonte Glinton and sophomore safety Isaac White. All three ended the 2021 season as starters for the Pokes.
The offensive group will be led by running back Swen, who rushed for 785 yards as a sophomore in 2021. He led Wyoming in rushing TDs (7) and yards per carry (5.95 yards per attempt) and became more impactful on the Wyoming offense as the season progressed.
Wide receiver Cobbs was second on the team in receptions in ‘21, with 25, and third in receiving yards (245). Tight end Welch had 19 receptions for 163 yards and two TDs, while fullback/tight end Christensen caught 13 passes for 127 yards.
The Cowboy defense returns two of its top three tacklers from last season in linebacker Gibbs and nose tackle Godbout. Gibbs recorded 90 tackles in 2021 to rank second behind team leader Chad Muma, who had 142 from his middle linebacker spot. Godbout was third for the Cowboys with 70 total tackles a year ago. Godbout led Wyoming in sacks in 2021 with 5.0. He and Gibbs tied for second on the team in tackles for loss with 7.0 each, trailing only Muma’s 8.0 tackles for loss. Defensive tackle Bertagnole ranked eighth on the Cowboy defense in tackles with 38. Safety White concluded the 2021 season ranking 10th in tackles for the Cowboys, with 35. Glinton finished the season as the starting nickel and was among the team leaders in passes defended, with one interception and three pass breakups.
The Cowboys concluded last season with a 7-6 record and captured a convincing 52-38 win over Kent State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
Building on Success
Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl is entering his ninth season guiding the UW football program in 2022. During his time in Laramie, Bohl and his coaching staff have accomplished several notable firsts in school history.
Last season, Bohl and his staff became the first Wyoming football staff to lead four of their teams to bowl game appearances.
Bohl and his staff also became the only Wyoming football staff to guide three Cowboy teams to bowl victories.
With Wyoming’s fourth bowl bid in the past six seasons (2016, ‘17, ‘19 and ‘21), that was the first time that feat had been accomplished in the 125-year history of Wyoming Football. The previous best was four bowl games in seven seasons (1987, ‘88, ‘90 and ‘93).
Returning Cowboy Veterans, Who Have Enjoyed Great Success, Will Now Be Asked to Teach Their Winning Ways to Young Pokes
The returning Cowboy veterans, who have been a huge part of Wyoming’s recent success, will be key to teaching UW’s younger players how to win in the Mountain West Conference.
The 2022 team is made up of only three seniors, 15 juniors, 38 sophomores, 31 redshirt freshmen and 23 true freshmen. Part of the imbalance in classes is due to COVID circumstances. Several Cowboys who had an additional year of eligibility remaining graduated last year and decided either to: declare for the NFL Draft, transfer to another university for their final year or not utilize their extra year. Regardless of those facts, it is a year where Wyoming will be transitioning from an extremely experienced team in 2021 to a much younger team in ‘22.
With that being said, head coach Bohl is looking forward to coaching his 2022 squad.
“It is an exciting time. There are probably more questions heading into fall camp than what we’ve had since I’ve been the head coach with the exception of maybe our first year,” said Bohl. “But we have great optimism going into fall camp. There are some question marks certainly, but I think we’ve got a lot of good players who are really eager to move our program forward.
“There is certainly a lot of potential within the squad, but due to the questions we have we didn’t release a depth chart at the conclusion of spring practice.”
Given the fact that the 2022 Cowboys are younger, Bohl was asked what that is like for himself and his coaching staff heading into the fall.
“I think it is exciting because you have guys who are bright-eyed and excited to get their opportunity to shine,” said Bohl. “We have players with good ability.
“What you want to do as a coach is to maximize your potential. Many times when you have a football team that is unproven you don’t have as much complacency as you might have with a veteran team. You have guys who are hungry to prove themselves.
“Some of the most enjoyable years since I’ve been here at Wyoming have been years when we had young players come to the forefront. In 2016, we had a young, unproven football team that ended up to be pretty dynamic. That is not to compare our current team to that 2016 group, but we have some real promise here. It will take a great deal of encouragement by our coaches to bring this team along, but as a head football coach I’m invigorated and excited to coach this football team.”
