Things are coming together for Wyoming football as they completed their second spring scrimmage on Saturday afternoon in War Memorial Stadium.
“I thought it was a really good effort,” said head coach Craig Bohl. “We made progress from the first scrimmage to the second.”
The quarterbacks stood out again as they combined 22/39 for 268 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. The quarterbacking crew, consisting of redshirt senior Colby Kirkegaard, sophomore Aaron Young, senior Sam Stratton, and sophomore Tom Thornton, have not thrown a pick yet this spring.
The QBs were also not wearing blue, meaning they could be hit for the first time this spring.
“We are in the middle of a competitive quarterback competition,” said Bohl. “It is a work in progress. We will still be evaluating during the course of spring.”
The running backs combined for 113 yards on 40 carries and five TDs. Redshirt freshman Joshua Tapscott led all rushers with 38 yards on five carries, accounting for one of the TDs. Redshirt sophomore DJ May had 22 yards on four carries and a TD. Sophomore Oscar Nevermann rushed the ball four times for 11 yards.
Sophomore Omar Stover contributed six yards on seven carries and sophomore Shaun Wick had two yards on five carries. Thornton and senior wide receiver Jalen Claiborne had the other two TDs.
“DJ did a great job running the football,” sad Bohl. “He did make a couple guys miss.”
Thirteen different Wyoming receivers caught at least one pass. Sophomore Jake Maulhardt led the group with four catches for 51 yards and a TD. Senior Keenan Montgomery reeled in three catches for 57 yards and a TD. Sophomore Nico Brown and Stover also caught TD passes.
Senior linebacker Mark Nzeocha led the Pokes’ defensive effort with six tackles, two for a loss, and a forced fumble. The defense as a whole recorded 12 tackles for loss and six sacks.
“Patrick Mertens had some strong presence on our defensive front,” said Bohl. “Blair Burns did some great things at the corner position not only in coverage but also made some really crisp tackles.”
In kicking game, senior placekicker Stuart Williams went 2/3 on field goals making two from 40 and 49 respectively. Sophomore punter Ethan Wood booted it five times for an average of 42.2 yards/punt with a long of 50.
Wyoming will finish up spring practice with the annual spring game this coming Saturday at 2 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium.
“Good progress,” said Bohl. “But still some more room to go.”
