The Wyoming offseason countdown continues with the 40s block. This diverse group of Cowboys includes linebackers, fullbacks, and a punter. This group of players is very young, sophomores in this group. Ethan Wood has been a special teams mainstay over the years and has been a very reliable punter for the Cowboys. Lucas Wacha has been a terrific linebacker for the Cowboys and will enter his senior season looking to make a bigger name for himself. Devin McKenna will also be a player to watch this upcoming season, teaming up with Wacha on the front seven. Here we go with the 40s block..
Ethan Wood (41)
Kevin Prosser (42)
Ben Wisdorf (43)
Devin McKenna (44)
Lucas Wacha (45)
Matt List (47)
Jordan Ellis (48)
Ethan Wood, a senior from Colorado Springs, Colorado, was named to the Ray Guy watch list to start this season. That should give you a pretty good indication that he might be doing okay at this punting thing for the Cowboys. He has started all 36 games of his Cowboy career thus far. With his punting ability he helped the Cowboys rank 21st in the country last season in punt return defense. Opponents were only averaging 4.6 yards per return on him and the rest of the special teams unit. Wood ranked 52nd in the nation in punting average last year, coming in at 41.8 yards per punt. He booted his career long punt of 67 yards against Eastern Michigan. Wood also handled the kickoff duties for the Cowboys, averaging over 62 yards per kickoff, with 16 touchbacks. This season Wood will look to continue improving and make a run at the Ray Guy award.
Kevin Prosser, a sophomore from Aurora, Colorado, saw playing time immediately as a freshman for the Cowboys last season. Prosser appeared in all 12 games for the Cowboys, recording six tackles, four of them solo. He also had one sack on the season, his debut against Washington State. This season he is at the top of the depth chart at defensive end, but he’ll have big shoes to fill for the departed Eddie Yarbrough and Siaosi Hala’api’api.
Ben Wisdorf, a freshman from Cheyenne, Wyoming, was a redshirt last season for the Pokes. He should see time this season at the linebacker position.
Devin McKenna, a senior from Millstone, New Jersey, will be playing the middle linebacker position with Lucas Wacha and Eric Nzeocha this season. McKenna played in four games last season but his season was ultimately foiled by an injury. This season he will be responsible for shoring up the linebacker depth for the front seven of the Pokes.
Lucas Wacha, a senior from Texarkana, Texas, started in 11 games for the Cowboys last season at middle linebacker. Wacha finished the season with 96 tackles, good enough for second on the team behind Andrew Wingard. Wacha was fifth in the Mountain West in tackles per game with 8.7. That was also good enough for 44th in the country. In two contests last season he was in the double digit tackles. He was also responsible for a forced fumble. Wacha will be the anchor in the middle of the field for the Cowboys this season and the leader of the defense.
Matt List is a sophomore from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Last season List appeared in three games for the Cowboys, mostly in the special teams department. This season he will part of a trio of fullbacks responsible for plowing the way for Shaun Wick and Brian Hill.
Jordan Ellis, a senior from Colorado Springs, Colorado, is coming into his third year with the Cowboys. He transferred previously from UT-San Antonio. Last season Ellis appeared in eight games for the Cowboys. This season he will enter fall camp second on the depth chart at fullback. He should see time at fullback as well as special teams for the Pokes.
This group above is going to play a big part on the Cowboy defensive success. Kevin Prosser will be asked to fill some big shoes by departed seniors and will need to replace their production for the Pokes to have any kind of success. We know what we’re getting with Lucas Wacha, he brings a leadership to the defense that is going to be needed and will be helping shore up a run defense that needs a lot of help. Ethan Wood will need to keep bringing the heat on special teams and keeping opponents pinned back as far as possible to give the defense a chance to be successful. The two fullbacks will also fill big shoes as there’s two hungry running backs lined up behind them ready to run for a lot of yards.
Up next we’ll be previewing the 30s block!