There was a big turnout of Wyoming fans for the Cowboys first spring scrimmage in Casper, Wyoming on Saturday afternoon.
The Cowboys scrimmaged for 70 plays at Cheney Alumni Field at Natrona County High School.
“It was great for us to be here in Casper, and I know it was a special homecoming for a couple of our players,” head coach Craig Bohl said. “As far as the scrimmage, it was a 70-play scrimmage. Obviously there were some good things and some things we need to work on.”
The scrimmage began with the Cowboy offense scoring on its first three possessions. Junior quarterback Josh Allen led the Pokes on an opening drive that covered 65 yards in 11 plays capped off by a 40-yard field goal from sophomore place-kicker Cooper Rothe. Then the next possession, they marched down the field in 8 plays, covering 60 yards, which was capped off by a 17-yard touchdown pass from Allen to junior wide receiver James Price. Then on the third possession of the scrimmage, Allen connected with Price once again for another touchdown.
“I thought Josh (Allen) came out initially and started the scrimmage well – threw the ball well. We had some good plays on offense,” Bohl said. “I thought there were some good things by our younger running backs. Milo Hall did a couple good things, as did Kellen Overstreet and Nico Evans, and we were pleased with the tight ends. I thought Josh Harshman had a good day today.”
The Cowboy defenders came back to assert themselves on the next three possessions. The UW defense limited the offense to only 22 yards on a series that ended on downs and forced a three-and-out and the following series. Redshirt freshman safety Josh Boyd led the Cowboy defense in tackles, with six. Sophomore safety Alijah Halliburton, sophomore linebacker Ben Wisdorf and junior linebacker Adam Pilapil each were credited with five tackles each.
“Defensively, we rallied to the ball well, challenged the receivers and knocked down some passes,” Bohl said. “And we did some good things in the kicking game. We’re making progress as a football team.”
Overstreet led the Cowboys in rushing, gaining 49 yards on 11 carries. Hall had 37 yards rushing on six carries, and Evans ran for 30 yards on 10 carries. Harshman, who was one of those Casper natives that Bohl mentioned in one of this comments, caught two passes for 33 yards.
Coach Bohl mentioned to the media at the end of the scrimmage that he was pleased that his team was able to get in 70 plays despite the fact that the team was short on depth at several positions due to illness and injuries it has been dealing with this past week. The center spot was so thin on Saturday that junior Cole Turner was the only one available to snap.
“Cole (Turner) took every snap today,” Bohl said. “To do that for 70 plays is a great effort on his part. We tried to sprinkle in some kicking plays to slow the scrimmage down and give players a breather. But that kind of effort reflects the positive attitude of our football team, as opposed to making excuses and feeling sorry for themselves.”
There were only two turnovers on the day, both fumbles recovered by the defense, and there were only two penalties the entire scrimmage, one holding penalty on the offense and one offside on the defense.
“I thought it was a clean scrimmage,” Bohl said. “I think we had one fumble that was unforced, which was disappointing. The limited number of penalties I thought was encouraging for our first scrimmage, so I was pleased about that.”
When asked about how Josh and his receivers are jelling this spring, coach Bohl had this to say.
“I think Josh is doing a good job of building chemistry with his receivers,” Bohl said. “The things you do as a quarterback can have an uplifting effect on everybody around you. Josh has one of the strongest arms in America, but his play as far as rallying those guys around him come this next fall is really going to be important.”
Saturday’s practice was the ninth of 15 spring practices. The next open scrimmage scheduled for Cowboy fans will be the Spring Game on Saturday, April 22 at 2 p.m. in War Memorial Stadium.
