2017 Spring Practice Begins for Wyoming Cowboys on March 21
Media Luncheon at Noon Will Kick Off Spring Practice
Laramie, Wyo. (March 16, 2017) -- Wyoming Cowboy Football will begin its on-field preparation for the 2017 season on Tuesday, March 21. The first day of Spring Practice will kick off with a media luncheon at Noon in the Wildcatter Stadium Club and Suites at War Memorial Stadium. A late afternoon practice will conclude the first day.
The Cowboys are coming off one of their most successful seasons in recent history. UW hosted the 2016 Mountain West Championship Game, as winners of the Mountain Division, and earned a bid to the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. The Pokes defeated two Top 25 ranked teams along the way, earned the National Team of the Week honors from the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) for one of those Top 25 wins and accomplished all that against the 19th most difficult schedule in the country among all 128 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams and the second most difficult schedule among all Group of Five schools.
Wyoming Football Focused on Taking Another Step Forward
Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl returns for his fourth season as the Cowboy head coach. The 2016 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year led the Cowboys to one of the biggest turnarounds in college football in 2016, but after the conclusion of the 2016 season his attention quickly turned to what lies ahead for Wyoming Football.
“Taking another step forward as a football program is our focus entering this spring,” said Bohl. “Last year, we were competitive within our conference, but we need to continue to take steps to improve.
“There are certain areas of our football team that we feel pretty good about. 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.
“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 may look to move into that position.”
Outreach Game in Casper on April 8 to be Part of 2017 Spring Football Schedule
Bohl said that spring practice will take a similar structure as the past three years, but there will be some aspects of practices that will have to take into account depth at certain positions due to offseason rehabilitation of injuries.
“Typically in spring our goals are: one, to install our systems on offense, defense and the kicking game; the next goal is to evaluate personnel; and the third one is to experiment a little bit with different schemes,” said Bohl.
“It will be similar, but we will be sensitive to our depth and our injury situation. We will practice Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and later in spring we plan to have a couple live scrimmages.”
The Cowboys are allowed 15 spring practices, which will be spread over five weeks. One of the five Saturday practices will be a practice open to fans and media to be held at Natrona County High School in Casper, Wyo., on April 8 at 1 p.m. -- weather permitting. The other open practice will be the Spring Game on Saturday, April 22 at 2 p.m. in War Memorial Stadium.
New Coaches Join Wyoming’s Defensive Coaching Staff
Another important part of 2017 Spring Practice will be the introduction of two new defensive coaches into the Wyoming Football program.
“This spring will also be an opportunity for our defense to work with a new defensive coordinator and new safeties coach and give our players the chance to get accustomed to their two new coaches.”
Wyoming’s new defensive coordinator is Scottie Hazelton, who comes to Wyoming from the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL where he coached the linebackers. While he is new to the Wyoming Football program, he is not new to Bohl and his coaching staff. Hazelton was part of Bohl’s very successful staff at North Dakota State for five seasons from 2007-11. Hazelton was the defensive line coach his first three seasons and served as the defensive coordinator his final two years, culminating with the 2011 FCS National Championship his final season at NDSU.
“It was critical for us to bring in Scottie (Hazelton),” said Bohl. “We’ve been running a lot of the same systems for years. Scottie and I worked together several years, and he was really the architect for our championship defenses at North Dakota State. It’s good to have him back on our staff. His leadership with our defense will be really important. He’s a proven quantity.”
The Cowboys’ new safeties coach is Jake Dickert. He served as the safeties coach and co-special teams coordinator at South Dakota State in 2016. Dickert also is a familiar face to Bohl and his staff. He joined the North Dakota State coaching staff in 2008 as a defensive graduate assistant on Bohl’s staff. In 2009 and 2010, he was elevated to serve as safeties coach for the Bison. The 2010 NDSU team advanced to the FCS National Quarterfinals.
Fifteen Starters and 51 Letterwinners Return for Wyoming in 2017
The 2017 Cowboy roster returns 15 starters and 51 letterwinners. Key among them are 2016 First Team All-Mountain West Conference free safety Andrew Wingard, Second Team All-MW quarterback Josh Allen and Mountain West Freshman of the Year, linebacker Logan Wilson. Wingard also was one of 16 national semifinalists for the 2016 Jim Thorpe Award, honoring the nation’s best defensive back. Allen was named a Manning Award Star of the Week as a sophomore, and was twice named the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week. Wilson was named a First Team Freshman All-American by both the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and by USA Today Sports.
Wyoming will return six starters on offense and 24 offensive lettermen. In addition to starting quarterback Allen, he will be joined in the backfield by senior fullback Drew Van Maanen. Four of the offensive line spots return starters, including left tackle Zach Wallace, left guard Gavin Rush, right guard Kaden Jackson and two players who each started seven games at right tackle. Ryan Cummings started the first seven games of the 2016 season before suffering a season-ending injury. Brinkley Jolly took over and started the final seven games of the season. The one hole on the O-Line that must be filled is a big one. Center Chase Roullier has graduated. Roullier was a First Team All-MW selection as a senior and earned Second Team All-America honors from USA Today Sports. Other key losses include: the departure of Wyoming’s career rushing leader Brian Hill, who earned First Team All-Mountain West honors and was a Third Team All-America selection by College Sports Madness; the loss of First Team All-MW tight end Jacob Hollister; and the loss of Second Team All-MW wide receiver Tanner Gentry and fellow senior receiver Jake Maulhardt.
Defensively, eight starters and 26 lettermen return. Joining Wingard at safety is fellow two-year starter Marcus Epps. Starting cornerbacks Rico Gafford and Antonio Hull also return. Wilson, who starred at weakside linebacker as a freshman in 2016, is going to be given a look at middle linebacker this spring. On the defensive line, Kevin Prosser and Josiah Hall return at defensive end. In addition, Carl Granderson is back after missing the final eight games of his sophomore season following season-ending knee surgery. Inside, Conner Cain returns after starting a combination of 12 games at defensive tackle and nose tackle in 2016. He is joined in the middle by junior Sidney Malauulu and sophomore Youhanna Ghaifan.
Wyoming’s one key returning starter on special teams is sophomore place-kicker Cooper Rothe, who had a strong true freshman season a year ago. Key losses are four-year starters Ethan Wood at punter and Brendan Turelli at long snapper.
The first 30 minutes of practices will be open to media. The practice in Casper on Saturday, April 8 and the Spring Game on Saturday, April 22 will both be open to both media and the general public.
2017 University of Wyoming Football Spring Practice Schedule
Tuesday, March 21 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #1)
Thursday, March 23 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #2)
Saturday, March 25 TBA (Practice #3)
Tuesday, March 28 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #4)
Thursday, March 30 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #5)
Saturday, April 1 TBA (Practice #6)
Tuesday, April 4 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #7)
Thursday, April 6 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #8)
Saturday, April 8 1 p.m. (Practice #9) To be held at Cheney Alumni Field at Natrona County High School
Tuesday, April 11 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #10)
Thursday, April 13 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #11)
Saturday, April 15 TBA (Practice #12)
Tuesday, April 18 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #13)
Thursday, April 20 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #14)
Saturday, April 22 2 p.m. (Spring Game, Practice #15)
Media Luncheon at Noon Will Kick Off Spring Practice
Laramie, Wyo. (March 16, 2017) -- Wyoming Cowboy Football will begin its on-field preparation for the 2017 season on Tuesday, March 21. The first day of Spring Practice will kick off with a media luncheon at Noon in the Wildcatter Stadium Club and Suites at War Memorial Stadium. A late afternoon practice will conclude the first day.
The Cowboys are coming off one of their most successful seasons in recent history. UW hosted the 2016 Mountain West Championship Game, as winners of the Mountain Division, and earned a bid to the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. The Pokes defeated two Top 25 ranked teams along the way, earned the National Team of the Week honors from the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) for one of those Top 25 wins and accomplished all that against the 19th most difficult schedule in the country among all 128 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams and the second most difficult schedule among all Group of Five schools.
Wyoming Football Focused on Taking Another Step Forward
Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl returns for his fourth season as the Cowboy head coach. The 2016 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year led the Cowboys to one of the biggest turnarounds in college football in 2016, but after the conclusion of the 2016 season his attention quickly turned to what lies ahead for Wyoming Football.
“Taking another step forward as a football program is our focus entering this spring,” said Bohl. “Last year, we were competitive within our conference, but we need to continue to take steps to improve.
“There are certain areas of our football team that we feel pretty good about. 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.
“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 may look to move into that position.”
Outreach Game in Casper on April 8 to be Part of 2017 Spring Football Schedule
Bohl said that spring practice will take a similar structure as the past three years, but there will be some aspects of practices that will have to take into account depth at certain positions due to offseason rehabilitation of injuries.
“Typically in spring our goals are: one, to install our systems on offense, defense and the kicking game; the next goal is to evaluate personnel; and the third one is to experiment a little bit with different schemes,” said Bohl.
“It will be similar, but we will be sensitive to our depth and our injury situation. We will practice Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and later in spring we plan to have a couple live scrimmages.”
The Cowboys are allowed 15 spring practices, which will be spread over five weeks. One of the five Saturday practices will be a practice open to fans and media to be held at Natrona County High School in Casper, Wyo., on April 8 at 1 p.m. -- weather permitting. The other open practice will be the Spring Game on Saturday, April 22 at 2 p.m. in War Memorial Stadium.
New Coaches Join Wyoming’s Defensive Coaching Staff
Another important part of 2017 Spring Practice will be the introduction of two new defensive coaches into the Wyoming Football program.
“This spring will also be an opportunity for our defense to work with a new defensive coordinator and new safeties coach and give our players the chance to get accustomed to their two new coaches.”
Wyoming’s new defensive coordinator is Scottie Hazelton, who comes to Wyoming from the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL where he coached the linebackers. While he is new to the Wyoming Football program, he is not new to Bohl and his coaching staff. Hazelton was part of Bohl’s very successful staff at North Dakota State for five seasons from 2007-11. Hazelton was the defensive line coach his first three seasons and served as the defensive coordinator his final two years, culminating with the 2011 FCS National Championship his final season at NDSU.
“It was critical for us to bring in Scottie (Hazelton),” said Bohl. “We’ve been running a lot of the same systems for years. Scottie and I worked together several years, and he was really the architect for our championship defenses at North Dakota State. It’s good to have him back on our staff. His leadership with our defense will be really important. He’s a proven quantity.”
The Cowboys’ new safeties coach is Jake Dickert. He served as the safeties coach and co-special teams coordinator at South Dakota State in 2016. Dickert also is a familiar face to Bohl and his staff. He joined the North Dakota State coaching staff in 2008 as a defensive graduate assistant on Bohl’s staff. In 2009 and 2010, he was elevated to serve as safeties coach for the Bison. The 2010 NDSU team advanced to the FCS National Quarterfinals.
Fifteen Starters and 51 Letterwinners Return for Wyoming in 2017
The 2017 Cowboy roster returns 15 starters and 51 letterwinners. Key among them are 2016 First Team All-Mountain West Conference free safety Andrew Wingard, Second Team All-MW quarterback Josh Allen and Mountain West Freshman of the Year, linebacker Logan Wilson. Wingard also was one of 16 national semifinalists for the 2016 Jim Thorpe Award, honoring the nation’s best defensive back. Allen was named a Manning Award Star of the Week as a sophomore, and was twice named the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week. Wilson was named a First Team Freshman All-American by both the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and by USA Today Sports.
Wyoming will return six starters on offense and 24 offensive lettermen. In addition to starting quarterback Allen, he will be joined in the backfield by senior fullback Drew Van Maanen. Four of the offensive line spots return starters, including left tackle Zach Wallace, left guard Gavin Rush, right guard Kaden Jackson and two players who each started seven games at right tackle. Ryan Cummings started the first seven games of the 2016 season before suffering a season-ending injury. Brinkley Jolly took over and started the final seven games of the season. The one hole on the O-Line that must be filled is a big one. Center Chase Roullier has graduated. Roullier was a First Team All-MW selection as a senior and earned Second Team All-America honors from USA Today Sports. Other key losses include: the departure of Wyoming’s career rushing leader Brian Hill, who earned First Team All-Mountain West honors and was a Third Team All-America selection by College Sports Madness; the loss of First Team All-MW tight end Jacob Hollister; and the loss of Second Team All-MW wide receiver Tanner Gentry and fellow senior receiver Jake Maulhardt.
Defensively, eight starters and 26 lettermen return. Joining Wingard at safety is fellow two-year starter Marcus Epps. Starting cornerbacks Rico Gafford and Antonio Hull also return. Wilson, who starred at weakside linebacker as a freshman in 2016, is going to be given a look at middle linebacker this spring. On the defensive line, Kevin Prosser and Josiah Hall return at defensive end. In addition, Carl Granderson is back after missing the final eight games of his sophomore season following season-ending knee surgery. Inside, Conner Cain returns after starting a combination of 12 games at defensive tackle and nose tackle in 2016. He is joined in the middle by junior Sidney Malauulu and sophomore Youhanna Ghaifan.
Wyoming’s one key returning starter on special teams is sophomore place-kicker Cooper Rothe, who had a strong true freshman season a year ago. Key losses are four-year starters Ethan Wood at punter and Brendan Turelli at long snapper.
The first 30 minutes of practices will be open to media. The practice in Casper on Saturday, April 8 and the Spring Game on Saturday, April 22 will both be open to both media and the general public.
2017 University of Wyoming Football Spring Practice Schedule
Tuesday, March 21 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #1)
Thursday, March 23 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #2)
Saturday, March 25 TBA (Practice #3)
Tuesday, March 28 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #4)
Thursday, March 30 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #5)
Saturday, April 1 TBA (Practice #6)
Tuesday, April 4 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #7)
Thursday, April 6 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #8)
Saturday, April 8 1 p.m. (Practice #9) To be held at Cheney Alumni Field at Natrona County High School
Tuesday, April 11 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #10)
Thursday, April 13 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #11)
Saturday, April 15 TBA (Practice #12)
Tuesday, April 18 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #13)
Thursday, April 20 4 or 4:30 p.m. (Practice #14)
Saturday, April 22 2 p.m. (Spring Game, Practice #15)
