Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen will be counted on heavily this season to lead the Cowboy offense. Allen is returning from a season ending shoulder injury last season. (Photo via County10.com)
The Wyoming offseason countdown continues, this time with the 10-19 block! There’s a lot of youth in this block, similar to many other blocks that have been featured so far. This block will be important in that the leader of the offense, Josh Allen, is in here. Allen, whose season ended after just a few plays last season against Eastern Michigan. Allen looks to return this season and pick up where he left off, showing a lot of promise to make this offense click. Also in here is the heir apparent to Allen, Chandler Garrett, a true freshman from Oklahoma. Eric Nzeocha, a senior this season will be fighting for playing time at linebacker for the Cowboys. This group features a lot of Cowboys who could be house hold names in the near future if they manage to live up to the hype of their arrival to Laramie.
Chandler Garrett (11)
Eric Nzeocha (11)
Christian Irving (12)
John Okwoli (13)
Ethan Patrick (13)
CJ Johnson (14)
Nick Smith (15)
Jaylon Watson (15)
Milo Hall (16)
Josh Allen (17)
Anthony Makransky (19)
Chandler Garrett is a true freshman from Yukon, Oklahoma. He will be a newcomer to Laramie this season after being a highly decorated recruit. He is considered to be the quarterback of the future, but for now he will likely be studying behind Josh Allen and Nick Smith.
Eric Nzeocha is a senior linebacker from Neusitz, Germany. He will begin the year on the depth chart behind fellow senior linebacker, Lucas Wacha. Nzeocha is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his brother who is now with the Dallas Cowboys. Nzeocha finished last season with 35 tackles, one tackle for loss, one pass breakup and one forced fumble. Last season was his first season on defense after moving over to the other side of the ball from tight end.
Christian Irving is a sophomore linebacker from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As a true freshman Irving saw playing time, mostly with the special teams unit. His freshman season ended with one tackle in six games for the Pokes. This season he will look to develop his role on the Cowboy defense.
John Okwoli is a freshman receiver from from Phoenix, Arizona. It’s unknown right now whether or not Okwoli will be a redshirt in this coming season.
Ethan Patrick is a junior cornerback from Laurel, Maryland. Last season was Patrick’s first with the Cowboys, coming here with teammate Du’Ryan Ebbeson. He will be looking to carve out playing time with the Cowboy defense this season.
CJ Johnson is a redshirt freshman wide receiver from Bellevue, Nebraska. Last season he was a redshirt for the Cowboys. Coming into this season he is listed second on the depth chart behind senior receiver Jake Maulhardt. He is one of the most improved Cowboys coming out of spring football and is looking to make his mark on the offense this season.
Nick Smith is a sophomore quarterback from Merritt Island, Florida. Nick Smith played in parts of five games last season for the Cowboys due to injuries with the starters. In his spot appearances he was 27/60 for 245 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. He is currently listed second on the depth chart behind Josh Allen.
Jaylon Watson is a redshirt freshman linebacker from Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Watson was a redshirt last year from the Cowboys and will be on the depth chart behind Wacha and Nzeocha.
Milo Hall is a redshirt freshman running back from Denver, Colorado. He was a redshirt last year for the Pokes and will be on the depth chart behind Brian Hill and Shaun Wick.
Josh Allen is a sophomore quarterback from Firebaugh, California. Last year was Allen’s first season with the Cowboys after transferring from Reedley College in California. He was set to be the backup and probably heir apparent to Cameron Coffman, however, his season was gone after just a few snaps. Filling in for the injured Coffman he came in vs Eastern Michigan and had the Cowboys moving down the field. In the middle of a quarterback keeper instead of sliding Allen decided to take on the defense. They snapped his collarbone and his season was over. This season he will enter as the starter for the Cowboys. In his short stint playing last season he showed flashes of being a good quarterback. The Cowboys season may depend on him continuing his brief success from last season if the Pokes are going to win football games.
Anthony Makransky is a sophomore safety from Friendswood, Texas. Makransky played in eight games last season as a true freshman. He finished the season with ten tackles, one tackle for loss, and one pass breakup. He will enter fall camp as the second string corner behind Marcus Epps.
This group, like many other number blocks are a young group. A lot of this season will be dependent on the success of Josh Allen and his arm. He will be the leader of the Cowboy offense and will be depended on getting the ball into Brian Hill’s hands, or downfield to a talented group of receivers. Eric Nzeocha is one of the seniors that will be sorely needed on defense to keep this young group focused during games. The defense may be just as important to the success of the Cowboys than Josh Allen. There is a lot of pressure on all of these groups this year.
Up next, the final installment of this series, the 0-9 block!