Seniors Mark Nzeocha and Colby Kirkegaard headlined the performances in the Wyoming football team’s first scrimmage on Saturday in the Indoor Practice Facility.
“Colby did some good things today,” said head coach Craig Bohl. “He got the ball downfield.”
The quarterbacking crew, consisting of Kirkegaard, senior Sam Stratton and sophomore Aaron Young, combined 144 yards passing and connected on 21-of-34 passes. They were also sacked a total of seven times.
“I was particularly pleased with our defensive front,” said Bohl. “Their pursuit angles looked good. They gang tackled well. I thought they put a lot of pressure on the QBs and established the line of scrimmage.”
Nzeocha had a diversified stat sheet as he recorded nine tackles, two of them for a loss, one sack, forced a fumble and had a fumble recovery.
Fourteen different players caught passes during the day. Senior Jalen Claiborne caught four passes for 19 yards. Senior Trey Norman added three more catches for 22 yards and sophomore Eric Nzeocha caught two passes for 44 yards.
“I was pleased with how our receivers caught the football,” said Bohl. “We have some pretty good playmakers at receiver.”
Redshirt sophomore DJ May led the charge for the running backs racking up 56 yards on five carries. May missed all of last year to a torn pectoral muscle.
Sophomore Oscar Nevermann had 55 yards on seven carries.
Redshirt freshman Joshua Tapscott rushed 4 times for 25 yards and junior Shaun Wick ran it four times for a total of eight yards.
Wyoming has a deep running back crew led by Wick and May, but their offensive line in the past couple weeks has lost, Riese and Madden, who have decided to leave the team. This will presumably hurt Wyoming’s depth at that position.
In the kicking game junior Stuart Williams made both of his field goals, one from 23 the other from 29. Sophomore punter Ethan Wood booted it four times for 137 yards an average of 34.2 yards per punt.
Players that did not participate in the scrimmage due to injury include sophomore wide receiver Tanner Gentry, junior linebacker Malkaam Muhammed, junior offensive guard Jake Jones, senior wide receiver Keenan Montgomery, sophomore quarterback Tom Thornton and senior safety Darrenn White.
“I am pleased with our first scrimmage,” said Bohl. “Obviously we are a work in progress.”
The Cowboys continue spring practice this week. Their next scrimmage will be on April 12 and then the team will wrap up spring practice with the annual Spring Game on April 19 at 2 p.m.
