Cowboys show a little more fire

Richard Anderson photo

Wyoming players mix it up late in Thursday's practice.

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By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Boys will be boys.

Near the end of Thursday’s practice in the Indoor Practice Facility, and after Wyoming junior quarterback Dax Crum scrambled untouched for an 8-yard touchdown run, tempers flared between the Cowboys offensive and defensive line.

Coaches and players got in the middle (and for one unfortunate coach) on the bottom of the dog pile. A little wrestling and one major takedown was about all that came from it, although it once again fired up the troops.

It wasn’t exactly disappointing for Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen in the Cowboys ninth practice of the spring.

“They’re competitive,” Christensen said. “Hopefully, you have a whole team of competitive guys and that is going to happen once in a while. We’ll take care of that. Those things don’t carry over to the locker room. There’s a little bit of heat on the field and that is fine. That’s competitiveness.”

Actually, that kind of fire was music to Christensen’s ears, after a less than impressive performance on Tuesday.

“I thought it was a good practice, uptempo, upbeat,” Christensen said. “I thought the kids worked hard and gave a great effort. They were physical at times. It was good work today.”

Christensen was especially pleased coming off the rough Tuesday practice.

“I’m not here to make excuses, but I know one thing; we had a few days off and we came back and were not very good,” Christensen said. “We were better today and I was pleased with the way the kids came out, and I told them that. They came out with their minds right, they came out hard and executed their practice.”

The Cowboys practiced in shells on Thursday with no scrimmaging, although they were physical at times in situational offense versus defense drills.

“We went out and got more work done,” Christensen said. “It was physical in certain areas. We did a nice job of keeping guys healthy and we’ll go at it Saturday morning.”

The Wyoming coaching staff cut the last scrimmage (April 4) short because of injuries. That also led to no scrimmage on Thursday.

“We want to have a good scrimmage on Saturday morning,” Christensen said. “We can’t do that if we get more guys banged up.”

The Cowboys will scrimmage for about 85 plays on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m. in the IPF.
“Numbers-wise we can’t (go more plays),” Christensen said. “We have to go with lowest that we can handle in a scrimmage. That’s what we have to base it on. We’re hoping to get in an 85-play scrimmage.”

Just what is Christensen looking for on Saturday?

“We’re looking to see which players are ready to compete at the highest level in the Mountain West Conference,” Christensen said. “After we evaluate the film, we’ll have each coach go through each of his players and tell me which ones are, which ones are close and which ones have a ways to go and what we have to do to get them there.”

Coaches galore
Also observing Thursday’s practice were several region and state high school football coaches who will be here for Friday’s coaching clinic.

The clinic will begin at 8 a.m. with registration of high school coaches. During the registration period from 8 to 9 a.m., coaches will be offered the opportunity to watch video of Cowboy practices. At 9 a.m. and running until noon, the Cowboy coaches will be available in question and answer sessions.

Following a break for lunch, high school coaching staffs will be invited to sit in on position meetings with UW coaches and players starting at 2:45 p.m. as they prepare for the afternoon’s practice that will begin at 3:30 p.m. Friday’s practice will focus on teaching techniques and will run for a little over an hour.

“We’re expecting at least 100 coaches in here Friday,” said Christensen. “It is a free clinic open to all high school coaches. They will have an opportunity to clinic with each member of our staff throughout the day. We will structure Friday’s practice so that the high school coaches can be out on the field with our staff and players learning the drills that we use to instruct our team. “It is also a great opportunity for us to get to know high school coaches in the area and build relationships with them. There are a lot of coaching clinics out there this time of year. We felt we wanted to make ours free of charge and open up our program to any area coaches who wanted to come and learn about how we do things.”
　

Positive news offensively is good news

Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming junior wide receiver David Leonard grabs a pass on Saturday.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Any positive news is good news for the Wyoming offense … at least compared to the last couple of seasons.

Even if it comes at the expense of a beat up Cowboy defense … in spring drills.

With that in mind, the Cowboys are excited abut how the last couple of scrimmages have gone. In its special scoring system, the offense outscored the defense 38-27 on Thursday and 51-23 on Saturday.

We moved the ball, but again, I will have to look at the film,” Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen said after Saturday’s 85-play scrimmage in the Indoor Practice Facility. “You have to understand that we have a number of guys defensively down. It’s not a true indication of where we are at, but I am certainly happy with the progress that we are making and implementing the offense and getting the whole system of the plays called and getting them executed. We’re making progress in that way.”

Progress is the key word here. Turnovers were a bugaboo the last two years and on Thursday, there was one lost fumble and one tipped-pass interception. On Saturday, there was just one fumble and it was on the last play of the scrimmage.

“That’s the biggest thing with the whole team, to hold onto the ball,” Wyoming redshirt freshman James Caraway said. “We got a lot of turnovers and we don’t want that. We want to be a completely different team than last year. Everybody, we’re all trying to hold onto the football. That is big aspect of it.”

Caraway, along with senior Darius Terry and sophomore James Davis, are looking to take over for the departed Devin Moore and Wynel Seldon, two of the top rushers in UW history.

On Saturday, Caraway scored twice on runs of 1 and 13 yards and finished with 44 yards on 13 carries. As a team, the Cowboys ran for 132 yards on 36 rushes.

“I think the running backs are doing a nice job of running hard,” Christensen said. “As we got going, Caraway started hitting the hole a little better instead of dancing. I feel good about that position right now. Again, we’re down some receivers also and we had some guys step up and make plays.”

Through the air, three Cowboy quarterbacks combined to complete 29 of 42 passes for 257 yards and one touchdown. Senior Karsten Sween was 17-of-26 for 154 yards one and one touchdown and junior Dax Crum was 11-of-12 for 98 yards.

“Everyday all of our quarterbacks become better,” Christensen said. “It’s a lot for a quarterback. We don’t necessarily always need a guy to go out and win the game. He just needs to manage the game and not lose it. When we’re not turning the ball over and we’re not taking sacks, we’re doing good things.”

In these scrimmages, the Cowboy QBs are dressed just like the other players and are not wearing their “don’t hit me blue uniforms.”

Christensen said it is difficult to evaluate the quarterbacks and see how they are going to react if they don’t put them in live situations.

“If they are never going to get hit, then everybody is brave then,” he said. “We feel at this point and time that we have to see what they can do when the heat is on, and they are responding well.”

One of the big keys for improvement this season in Christensen’s no huddle, spread offense, is also the ability of the Wyoming wide receivers. This is also an area where depth is a little thin, without senior Donate Morgan and sophomore Mike Sando.

Junior wide out David Leonard had six catches for 64 yards and an 18-yard touchdown reception from Sween, while junior Travis Burkhalter added five catches for 57 yards.

“We’re down in numbers right now, so we have to stay in it mentally,” Leonard said. “I think we’re coming out, especially in the scrimmages, for the first time and getting a real taste of the speed of it.”

Again, a healthy Wyoming defense probably makes these offense versus defenses a wash. Early in the spring, the defense had won the matchups.

Confidence on offense, however, they get it, will never be taken lightly in the future.

Hendricks filling in as needed

Sophomore linebacker Brian Hendricks

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Brian Hendricks began working his way into the lineup as a redshirt freshman last season. As a sophomore, he is expected to be one of the top linebackers for the Wyoming Cowboys this season.

With the Wyoming defense a little banged up, especially with the likes of Gabe Knapton and Jimmy DeAndrea likely out for the spring season with knee injuries, Hendricks will be on the field a lot.

Probably more than a lot.

On Saturday in the second scrimmage of the spring, Hendricks likely felt that he was not only a starter, but on the second team – all at the same time.

“We had a few guys nicked up, so we had to jump in with the twos and get some extra reps,” Hendricks said.

Hendricks understandably looked tired after the 85-play scrimmage in the Indoor Practice facility. A smile on his face, however, indicated that he didn’t really seem to mind.

His 16 tackles on the day led the Wyoming defense – partially due to his talent, but also due to the fact that he played a little more than in a normal scrimmage.

“Coach (Marty) English, before the scrimmage, told us to not feel bad about things and just hustle to the ball and that’s what we did,” Hendricks said.

Hustle is the name of the game for all Cowboys and the new Wyoming offense under head coach Dave Christensen certainly has the defense on its toes.

“With this new offense, it’s no huddle with a quick pace,” Hendricks said. “And when you’re at 7,220, you’re going to be breathing hard. You just have to look after yourself and get going.”

Utah has a similar offense, but for the most part, it is an offense that the cowboys won’t see a lot of – other than in practice.

“Seeing it every day, it is totally different from last year’s offense,” he said. “It’s quicker, it’s a no huddle. It’s a little different, but we’ll get used to it.”

Despite injuries and illnesses that have several Cowboy defenders on the sidelines, Hendricks is excited about the defense under English, who moved from linebackers coach under Joe Glenn to defensive coordinator under Christensen.

“I think we just hustled, we just flew around to the ball,” Hendricks said. “Again, everyone is hurt and we decided to just rotate two deep and kept going, kept finishing the plays.”

Saturday's Scrimmage Statistics

Passing
Player Comp.-Att Yards TD Interceptions Long
# 16 Karsten Sween, qb 17-26 (.654) 154 1 0 18
# 9 Dax Crum, qb 11-12 (.917) 98 0 0 28
# 13 Adam Barry, qb 1- 4 (.250) 5 0 0 5
Totals 29-42 257 1 0 28
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Receiving
Player Receptions Yards TD Long Fumbles
# 33 David Leonard, wr 6 64 1 18 0
# 3 Travis Burkhalter, wr 5 57 0 28 0
# 89 Zach Bolger, wr 3 42 0 15 0
# 4 Kaither Holiway, wr 3 22 0 16 0
# 22 Brandon Stewart, wr 2 16 0 10 0
# 85 Jesson Salyards, te 2 16 0 9 0
# 25 James Davis, rb 1 13 0 13 0
# 82 Justin Morgan, wr 4 9 0 5 1
# 26 Darius Terry, rb 1 7 0 7 0
# 42 Greg Genho, te 1 6 0 6 0
# 86 Joe Evers, te 1 5 0 5 0
Totals 29 257 1 28 1
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Rushing
Yards Yards Net
Player Attempts Gained Lost Yards TD Long Fumbles
# 1 James Caraway, rb 11 45 -1 44 2 13 0
# 26 Darius Terry, rb 7 39 0 39 0 13 0
# 16 Karsten Sween, qb 6 26 -8 18 0 12 0
# 22 Brandon Stewart, wr 3 17 0 17 0 15 0
# 25 James Davis, rb 3 10 0 10 1 6 0
# 9 Dax Crum, qb 3 13 -7 6 0 8 0
# 13 Adam Barry, qb 3 5 -7 -2 0 4 0
Totals 36 155 -23 132 3 15 0
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Defensive Highlights, Page Five
Player UT AT TT Sacks TFL Broken Up FF FR Int
# 2 Marcell Gipson, cb 2 1 3
# 4 Tashaun Gipson, cb 3 1 4
# 6 Alex Toney, lb 2 7 9
# 8 Brian Hendricks, lb 4 12 16
# 9 T.J. Atwater, cb 3 1 4 1.0-1
# 12 Tramaine Brown, cb 2 1 3
# 15 Ben Durbin, lb 2 4 6 1
# 18 David James, cb 0 0 0 1
# 19 Jamichael Hall, ss 0 2 2 1
# 24 Chris Prosinski, fs 4 2 6
# 36 Weston Johnson, lb 0 5 5
# 44 Josh Biezuns, lb 1 1 2 1.0-1
# 45 Bryson Studnicka, lb 1 2 3
# 47 Mike Neuhaus, de 2 1 3 0.5-3.5 0.5 -3.5
# 55 Corey Orth, de 2 2 4 1.0-8 1.0-8 1
# 93 Marcus Felker, ng 1 2 3
# 98 Mitch Unrein, de 2 3 5 1.5 -10.5 1.5 -10.5
# 97 Alex Stover, dt 0 3 3
# 99 Alex Hays, de 1 3 4
Totals 32 53 85 3.0 -22 5.0 -24 3 1

Cowboys look to pick up the momentum with Saturday's scrimmage

UW photo service
Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen observes before Thursday's scrimmage.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Let’s just call Thursday’s scrimmage a dress rehearsal for the Wyoming Cowboys.

The Cowboys will amp it up from 69 plays on Thursday, to about 120 plays for Saturday's scrimmage. Practice begins in the Indoor Practice Facility at 9 a.m., with the scrimmage slated for about 9:45 a.m.

Saturday will also be a chance for the Cowboy defense to get back its brown jerseys, after the offense prevailed in its scoring system, 38-27.

Wyoming junior cornerback Marcell Gipson said the defense has to do a better job on Saturday, as they complete their first week of spring ball.

“No touchdowns, definitely, and get some turnovers,” Gipson said. “For the secondary, I just hope we don’t make any mental mistakes and communicate out there for the most part.”
Cowboy senior running back Darius Terry, who scored one touchdown on Thursday, is looking forward to additional work they will receive.

“It’s exciting … about 120 plays to get after it,” Terry said. “I’ve been waiting for this all year.”

First-year Wyoming coach Dave Christensen said it will be more of the same for all facets of the team and hopefully a chance to refine what they have accomplished.

“We’ll look to put guys in the actual pressure of game situation, the tempo of the game when the ball is being moved,” Christensen said. “We’ll look at turnovers, taking the ball away on defense and protecting the ball at offense. Those are a couple of things that we are emphasizing this spring. Obviously, we’re looking at the number of penalties, which we were good (Thursday). We’re just looking for competition, to see how the kids compete, their physicalness in a live situation. We’re getting a lot of questions answered.”

Offensively, the Cowboys had their best day of practice on Thursday, considering how much they have had to absorb in this first week.

“We’ve put a lot of stuff in, but we’ve had to taper back a little because they are getting a little overloaded,” Christensen said. “We’ve backed off. I would say at this point of time, what we have wanted to get put in this spring, we’re probably 65 percent of what we want to get in. We’ve made good progress.”

At the same time, Christensen said they are coming along at the pace that he expected.

“They are picking up the system, they are learning the tempo of how we want to play," he added. “The big thing is we have to become a much more physical offensive line to help our running game and get a chance to throw. We have to be able to play catch better and catching the football in this offense is very, very important.”

Terry, who looks to pick up for departed backs Devin Moore and Wynel Seldon, said it has been a good spring to date. The fast tempo has been a big change, almost to the point that it hurts physically.

“But you look across the line, and you think, ‘man, if I’m hurting, our defense is hurting,’” Terry said. “It gives us a little spark and makes us want to go harder. It’s more explosive to what we are used to.”

Defensively, Christensen said he likes the experience coming back from last season, although the defensive line is a little banged up with injury and illness. At the same time, he said that is enabling some of the younger players to pick up some valuable playing time.

“We’re making good progress defensively and we’ll continue to improve on getting the proper leverage positions and keep every thing in front of us,” Christensen said.

Gipson said it isn’t as much of a change defensively as it is for the offense, with the retention of Marty English, who moved up from linebackers coach under Joe Glenn to defensive coordination under Christensen.

“For the most part, Coach English has put his twist on the coverages and things like that, but it is not too much of a change,” Gipson said. “ It’s the tempo -- we’re just running and running.”

Saturday’s scrimmage will feature the series beginning at the offense’s own 2-yard line, 25-yard line and 35, followed by series beginning at the defense’s 45-yard line and 25, along with some work on two-minute offense and concluding with series beginning at the offense’s own 30 and 40-yard lines.

Fans are reminded that while the scrimmage is open to the public, they will have to observe in the west end zone for safety reasons.

Editor’s Notes: KOWB/KCGY sports director David Settle contributed to this report.

Saturday's first practice in pads

Cowboys get physical with thud work

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Three practices into their spring season, the first day in pads, the Wyoming Cowboys were looking for a competitive edge on Saturday in the Indoor Practice Facility.First-year head coach Dave Christensen saw some positives in that area.

“The kids competed well. In fact, I felt the competition level in practice was better than I expected,” Christensen said. “The enthusiasm was good, the physicalness was good. We still have a lot of work to do, but I felt we improved again today. We’ve improved every single day of practice this first week. I’ve been really pleased with our practices thus far.”

For much of the offense vs. defense drills this spring, the Wyoming coaching staff is looking for that edge. The reward: one point to the winner.

At the end of the practice, Christensen gave the edge to the Wyoming defense, 4½ points to 3.
With that in mind, the offense had to do a few up-downs at the end of the drills and the defense gets the brown jerseys for Tuesday’s workout.

“It was good competition out there, they wanted to know what the score was every time we were in a drill,” Christensen said. “That’s the whole idea of this program, to teach these kids how to compete.

“Today, the defense won and they’ll get the brown jerseys for Tuesday, and it will be a challenge for the offense to get them back.”

The first hour of practice included special teams work along with fundamental sessions by position.

It was in the second hour of practice that the Cowboys started thudding -- hitting but not taking ball carriers to the ground -- for the first time this spring. That second hour featured a two-back running drill, pitting the No. 1 and No. 2 offense going up against the No. 1 and No. 2 defense. One-on-one passing drills were next, with receivers and backs going up against defensive backs.

Work on the inside running game in a second thud session followed. The offense and defense then faced off in seven-on-seven passing drills, with the Cowboy backs and receivers challenging the defensive backs and linebackers.

The last part of that second hour was filled with some more special teams and concluded with work on Wyoming’s option running game out of its new spread offense. That led up to the highlight of the day when the final 24 minutes of practice was devoted to full 11-on-11 offense versus defense in thud work.

“With the kids in pads, you can begin to evaluate who your physical players are and which athletes are capable of performing at the level you need them to carrying their full pads,” said Christensen. “It was the first test of the physicalness of our football team, and I believe they were up to the challenge.”

As could be expected, the physical practice had some casualties, including senior nose guard Fred Givens, who appeared to have injured a shoulder. Christensen said that five Cowboys left practice because of injuries, although he didn’t have enough information to report on any injuries after Saturday’s practice. He hopes to have more detailed information by Tuesday.

On Thursday, Christensen said he promised the team that Saturday would be the most physical practice that they had seen this year, and he was right.

“With the five guys who had to leave the practice because of injury, they believe me,” Christensen said.

As a whole, Christensen said that they still have to become a more physical football to compete with the best teams in the Mountain West Conference, and Saturday was a good step in that direction.

“For the first day in pads, I was pleased,” he said. “We made a great deal of progress. There were some physical things that I saw that were really good and there were some areas where we have to be more physical.”

Wyoming’s next practice will be Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
(For more on Satrurday's practice, see Rich's Daily Blog)