University of Wyoming Shaun Wick runs by Great Ibe of Eastern Michigan University at Jonah Field at War Memorial Stadium. Wick will return to the Pokes this season after receiving a medical redshirt. (Photo via Michael Smith/UW)
The Wyoming football team wrapped up their spring football practices this past weekend. The Cowboys had several positives come out of their spring football practices. The Pokes will be riding a new quarterback this season, and the starter going into fall camp is Josh Allen. Allen will be a redshirt sophomore after receiving a redshirt last season after an injury derailed his season. Allen showed some signs of brilliance during the spring, as well as a laser rocket arm. He will need to learn to take a little bit off of his fast ball on the shorter routes. His athleticism should be a huge positive for the offense with his ability to extend plays and escape trouble. With any luck the coaching staff has worked with him on sliding rather than taking a big hit, which resulted in his broken clavicle last season.
The rushing attack looked very good this spring. Junior Brian Hill was held away from contact in the spring games, as there was no need to risk injury to the Pokes’ work horse running back. Shaun Wick will be returning to the Cowboys this season after being granted a medical redshirt. Wick’s season was cut short by concussion injuries. He ran well in spring ball. In the third and final spring game, the Brown vs Gold game, Wick ran for 126 yards and three scores. His effort was not enough to help the Brown squad defeat the Gold squad. Kellen Overstreet will miss this season with an injury but should be back for the 2017 season. Nico Evans also had a good spring. In the B vs G game he rushed for 121 yards and a score.
The receiver core will return Tanner Gentry next season who missed games last year due to an injury. Gentry caught two passes for 57 yards in the spring game. During the spring the Cowboys lost Jake Maulhardt for some time due to a high ankle sprain. There’s no reason to think he won’t be ready to go for fall ball. UW football announced that receiver Justice Murphy will not return next season and will be transferring. Hard to tell what Murphy’s reason was for transferring, but there are plenty of young receivers ready to step into his spot.
One of the more interesting stories from spring camp was Austin Conway, a redshirt freshman guard on the Wyoming basketball team. Conway redshirted last season for the basketball team but decided he wanted to give football a try. Conway was an outstanding high school football player but chose to play basketball in college. Conway has been quoted as saying that he would like to be a dual sport athlete. Whether or not Bohl and new basketball head coach Allen Edwards can come up with an agreement to allow that to happen remains to be seen. He would not be the first dual sport athlete at Wyoming. Craig Bohl was quoted as saying, “Austin is not a fish out of water. I think he sees himself as a football player, but Austin and I are going to have a good conversation, and I’m going to run that all through Allen.” He has the potential to be very good at both sports.
Andrew Wingard put on some weight in the offseason and is up to 205 pounds. If he can continue the good things he did in 2015 there’s no reason to think that he will not be a All-Mountain West pick this coming season. Wingard recorded four tackles and two interceptions in the spring football game. Also putting on some weight is Carl Granderson. Granderson was forced into early action last year but was woefully undersized. With the added weight he should become a true outside rusher from the defensive end spot and should cause some disruptions in the backfield. He recorded four tackles and two sacks, plus a forced fumble. Leading the tackles in the spring game were Natrone Barnes, Adam Pilapil, and Austin Lopez, all recording six tackles.
Wyoming football announced this week that they will be playing their road game vs Eastern Michigan on Friday, September 23rd in Ypsilanti, MI. The game will be a 5:30pm start and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.