Cowboys set for 1st spring practice next week

Mar. 23—LARAMIE — Jay Sawvel has had Tuesday marked on his calendar since taking over as the University of Wyoming's football coach in December.

Sawvel, who spent the past four seasons as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator and safeties coach, will kick off his first spring practice as head coach with high aspirations. He's eyeing several key position battles during the spring slate, most notably at backup quarterback, offensive tackle, wide receiver, cornerback, defensive tackle and backup safety.

"There's a lot of interesting pecking-order battles that we have to deal with," Sawvel said during Friday's news conference. "Even though we have a lot of people back, we have a lot of people back in ways where there could be some juggling going on based on how people perform. So, I'm excited about that."

Sawvel listed four Cowboys who will sit out this spring because of injuries: defensive tackle Jordan Bertagnole, offensive tackle Caden Barnett, running back Dawaiian McNeely and cornerback Keany Parks. He expects all four to be good to go by the time the season-opener against Arizona State rolls around in August.

"Everybody is basically on track to be cleared for summer workouts once they start in May," Sawvel said. "We don't have (any) long-term threats to the season or anything like that right now, so that's a good thing."

The Cowboys are coming off a 9-4 campaign that saw them win their most games since Joe Tiller's squad in 1996. UW also set a home attendance record at War Memorial Stadium in the process.

While there's a handful of positives to build on from last year, Sawvel knows there's plenty of room for improvement going into his first season at the helm. After starting last season 2-0 in conference play, the Cowboys lost three consecutive road games at Air Force, Boise State and UNLV to fall out of Mountain West title contention.

Those losses are ones Sawvel doesn't want this year's team to forget anytime soon.

"When we're in War Memorial (during spring practice), I may just have a freeze-frame picture of the final score of the Boise game on the scoreboard or the Air Force game on the scoreboard," Sawvel said. "We're going to remind each other, 'We still have work to do. We have a lot of work to do.'"

One of the most notable stories this spring will be at the quarterback position. After the graduation of two-year starter Andrew Peasley, Sawvel quickly announced backup Evan Svoboda as the starting quarterback going into the offseason.

Iowa transfer Carson May and redshirt freshman Kaden Anderson are the two likely candidates to compete for the backup job going into the spring. Jayden Clemons is also in the room with one career start, and UW signed Deyon Batiste — a 6-foot-5, 230-pound Houston native — in this year's recruiting class.

"The first thing we have to see ... is the order of who's behind (Svoboda) in the spring," Sawvel said. "Look, I said what I said about Evan being a starting quarterback and doing that, but nobody's immune to competition. Evan still has to go out and do his part in spring practice. But he's played in games, and he's performed well, and he's had a tremendous offseason. Tremendous.

"... You go back through time, Jayden Clemons had to start games for Peasley. Svoboda had to start games for Peasley. It's a fact of life in football that you're a play away from a guy having to start one, two or more games as a backup quarterback. We've got to figure out what that order is right now, and that's one of the chief things for us offensively is to figure out that order at quarterback and where we go in that room."

Sawvel has been impressed with his team's dedication in the weight room this offseason. Starting center Nofoafia Tulafono posted a video on Instagram of him squatting 585 pounds earlier this month. Sawvel also mentioned defensive tackle Jaden Williams and offensive linemen Jake Davies and Nate Geigers as players that have made big strides in their strength training.

"I think we've had a number of players across the board that have made big, big gains," Sawvel said. "... (Tulafono) is one that I think has had a tremendous offseason. I think just his overall body has improved. You can tell that that's a guy who's really, really hungry."

"... I'm really pleased with what the progress has been in the weight room and what our bodies look like and where are weights are at right now. ... As an entire football team, I think we're in a really good spot. We made some great gains, and there's a lot of people that are — this is the best they've looked in their career."

The players haven't been the only ones working out in UW's weight room this offseason. Sawvel posted a video on X of him bench pressing 305 pounds earlier this month. He was surrounded by his players while doing so, something the longtime coach takes a lot of pride in.

"(Working out with players is) something that I've done largely since I've been here," Sawvel said. "... Just in doing that, you get a chance to see players outside of my office or you see players outside of the meeting room.

"Look, for every 100 times that I go and ask somebody, 'Hey, how are you doing? How are things going? How's the day?' 99 times out of 100, everybody (says), 'Oh, I'm good,' or, 'This is good.' But it's that one time out of 100 that somebody does have a little bit of an issue or a little bit of a problem, and sometimes you pick up on it right there and then you realize, 'Hey, you know what, maybe I need to ask a couple more questions or maybe I need to just say, 'Hey, when you're done working out, come up and see me.'

"It's very intentional that way. It puts me in a position where, yeah, I'm still the head coach and I am a coach, but I'm in their world and not where I'm giving directions behind a desk or something. I'll try to do this job for 15 years, and I'll try and do that all 15. I think that's probably my biggest strength is just relationships with players and relating to players throughout. I think that's probably the thing I do best."

The Cowboys' spring schedule will kick off Tuesday afternoon with their first of 15 practices. For the first time since the Dave Christensen era, Sawvel will open two practices to the public. Those dates are April 6 and April 13.

"People love Cowboy football. I do know that," Sawvel said. "I'm starting to get the vibe that we're going to have a lot of people show up. I also had someone grab me the other day and say, 'Coach, you do realize there's going to be a lot of people at these practices?' So, I hope so. I want to make people's week.

"Hey, if we have to stack everyone around where we have to stack them around, we'll figure it out. I just think it's good to have the engagement and for people to get to see these guys work. It's also good because it's a change-up for us, too.

"Players are going to get out there, and there will be people there, and there's going to be a little bit of atmosphere to it."

UW's annual spring game will be April 27 in Cheyenne due to the renovation project at War Memorial Stadium.

Alex Taylor is the assistant editor for WyoSports and covers University of Wyoming athletics. He can be reached at ataylor@wyosports.net. Follow him on X at @alex_m_taylor22.