In reading Coach Sawvel's press conference today, he talked about next season a good deal.
He talked a lot about the new limit of squads. Starting next year, FBS programs will be limited to 105 players. Wyoming for instance this season had 115 players on the squad. The new numbers will mean a huge hit to the preferred walk-on programs. You will have guys that in the past got preferred walk-on offers from P5 programs, won't be now. So, schools like Wyoming will possibly be picking up players that in the past would have received preferred walk-ons at bigger programs. Secondly it will effect certain areas of the team with lower numbers, and one that was mentioned is that schools will not be carrying 3 kickers as they have in the past.
Sawvel also went into the fact that UW has 18 commitments right now ready to sign on the line on Dec. 4th. He did go long into a thank you for the fan base that showed up for a 2-10 team on a Saturday night game. It helped so much that they got 3 commitments out of the 9 recruits that were here this last weekend, and he feels good that they may get several more. Sawvel said he expects to sign 35 players during the offseason. How he is going to accomplish this I have no idea. But again Sawvel went into a lot of talking about how special the Cowboy faithful are and how they outshine other schools in the MWC like San Diego State and New Mexico that even earlier in the season would not get 18,000.
Sawvel went into the fact that the Transfer Portal opens up soon and he does not expect the losses to be great. It was noted that at times there are players that are requested by the staff to "move on", so don't think all of the losses will be because the player wants to move on. He mentioned Kayden Anderson and Harrison Waylee have already mentioned that they will be returning next season. You cannot go through NCAA sports, especially football at any level in the present climate and not expect to see some losses. I was just reading a headline where Wisconsin has had a QB that has already announced that he is entering the Transfer Portal. I am not saying that Wyoming would even go after this young man or expect to get him, but I use it as an example that all programs, regardless of who they are will see some players leaving. Wyoming lost 17 seniors from this year, and I would hope that we might get some experienced players from the Transfer Portal in certain areas. My thoughts are that the defensive side needs the most help from the Transfer Portal, especially in the areas of Linebackers and in the defensive backfield, and it wouldn't hurt to bring in an experienced DE and DL. I wonder if all of our WR's will be returning, and all of our TE's? I guess we will see how the Transfer Portal treats us this year, but we need a decided uptick in talent and the Transfer Portal is a good place of finding them.
In addition to the other items, Sawvel mentioned that if Anderson is unable to go (which is most likely) against WSU, then Evan Svoboda would start and Gage Brock (the w/o from Fort Collins) would be his back-up. I guess it would be safe to say, the young man from Houston would not be seeing the field. It will be a tough game against an 8-3 WSU team. The Cougs have lost 2 games on the road and will be coming home to end the season, and I am sure they will have their seniors up for their final game.
Finally, Sawvel talked about the Deep Dive that he will be undertaking as soon as the season is over. He said that he has already identified some things that need to be corrected. I don't know, I have heard this type of talk before, so we very likely might be in "another rebuilding season" next year, oh goody.
He talked a lot about the new limit of squads. Starting next year, FBS programs will be limited to 105 players. Wyoming for instance this season had 115 players on the squad. The new numbers will mean a huge hit to the preferred walk-on programs. You will have guys that in the past got preferred walk-on offers from P5 programs, won't be now. So, schools like Wyoming will possibly be picking up players that in the past would have received preferred walk-ons at bigger programs. Secondly it will effect certain areas of the team with lower numbers, and one that was mentioned is that schools will not be carrying 3 kickers as they have in the past.
Sawvel also went into the fact that UW has 18 commitments right now ready to sign on the line on Dec. 4th. He did go long into a thank you for the fan base that showed up for a 2-10 team on a Saturday night game. It helped so much that they got 3 commitments out of the 9 recruits that were here this last weekend, and he feels good that they may get several more. Sawvel said he expects to sign 35 players during the offseason. How he is going to accomplish this I have no idea. But again Sawvel went into a lot of talking about how special the Cowboy faithful are and how they outshine other schools in the MWC like San Diego State and New Mexico that even earlier in the season would not get 18,000.
Sawvel went into the fact that the Transfer Portal opens up soon and he does not expect the losses to be great. It was noted that at times there are players that are requested by the staff to "move on", so don't think all of the losses will be because the player wants to move on. He mentioned Kayden Anderson and Harrison Waylee have already mentioned that they will be returning next season. You cannot go through NCAA sports, especially football at any level in the present climate and not expect to see some losses. I was just reading a headline where Wisconsin has had a QB that has already announced that he is entering the Transfer Portal. I am not saying that Wyoming would even go after this young man or expect to get him, but I use it as an example that all programs, regardless of who they are will see some players leaving. Wyoming lost 17 seniors from this year, and I would hope that we might get some experienced players from the Transfer Portal in certain areas. My thoughts are that the defensive side needs the most help from the Transfer Portal, especially in the areas of Linebackers and in the defensive backfield, and it wouldn't hurt to bring in an experienced DE and DL. I wonder if all of our WR's will be returning, and all of our TE's? I guess we will see how the Transfer Portal treats us this year, but we need a decided uptick in talent and the Transfer Portal is a good place of finding them.
In addition to the other items, Sawvel mentioned that if Anderson is unable to go (which is most likely) against WSU, then Evan Svoboda would start and Gage Brock (the w/o from Fort Collins) would be his back-up. I guess it would be safe to say, the young man from Houston would not be seeing the field. It will be a tough game against an 8-3 WSU team. The Cougs have lost 2 games on the road and will be coming home to end the season, and I am sure they will have their seniors up for their final game.
Finally, Sawvel talked about the Deep Dive that he will be undertaking as soon as the season is over. He said that he has already identified some things that need to be corrected. I don't know, I have heard this type of talk before, so we very likely might be in "another rebuilding season" next year, oh goody.
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