The Cowboys have featured one of the worst offenses in the nation so far this season, especially due to the Cowboys’ torrential four game skid to begin the season. In fact, Kent State, a team winless through five games, is the only team averaging less yards offensively than the Cowboys.
The Cowboys running attack had lost all identity through those four straight losses as well, averaging a harrowing 82.5 yards on the ground through those opening four losses.
Then, enter running back Sam Scott. The junior from Omaha, Nebraska was originally recruited to play at the linebacker position back in 2021, where he redshirted his freshman year. However, due to a plethora of injuries in the 2022 season, Scott made the transition to running back in their final game of the season at that year’s Arizona Bowl.
“It’s kind of a thing, here at Wyoming, that all our backs always get hurt. It was at the end of the year, and I was like, ‘I would like to move Sam to running back.’ After that bowl game, where he did play a couple snaps, we made the official move for him,” Gordie Haug, the Cowboys’ running backs coach, said of the decision to convert Scott to a running back.
Playing as a running back wasn’t something that was unfamiliar for Scott, as he rushed for 684 yards his senior year of high school as a running back, while simultaneously playing linebacker for Omaha Skutt Catholic in 2020.
The move to full time running back for Scott wouldn’t necessarily pay off immediately, as he saw himself buried on the depth chart a year ago as more experienced backs such as Harrison Waylee received most of the carries. Scott got most of his touches at the beginning of the season, where he showed flashes of his skill including carrying in the game winning two-point conversion against Texas Tech in an upset thriller that took two overtimes.
Scott has again found himself in a position this season where he has to step up amidst an injury depleted running back room. The aforementioned Waylee hasn’t carried the ball once this season due to injury. Senior running back Dawaiian McNeely, who was sidelined all last season with an injury, suffered a knee injury on just his second carry of this season. Still, Scott didn’t see many touches early on this year as North Carolina transfer DJ Jones was the main back. Scott only saw a combined 10 carries through the first three games of the season.
Finally, in the Cowboys fourth and final non-conference matchup of the year, Scott’s number was called. Though he’d only finish with 39 rushing yards on 11 carries against North Texas, Scott showed a promise that no other back had so far through the 2024 season.
Against Air Force in the Cowboys’ first conference game of the season, however, is where Scott finally saw his breakthrough game. Scott was able to rush for 97 yards and touchdown, but it was the little things such as making blocks for quarterback Evan Svoboda or putting his body on the line to convert a pair of fourth downs that truly made the biggest difference.
“It’s kind of who I am and what I’ve embodied, just putting myself on the line. I just care about each and every one of [my teammates]. Evan, for example, just blocking for him. I take great pride in it, and I’m willing to do that 100 times,” Scott said.
Scott’s performance and effort against Air Force was huge, especially when, as head coach Jay Sawvel noted after his first win of the season, Scott was nowhere near the level he’s at now just two months ago.
“What you’re seeing right now, he didn’t play like that in August, he just all of a sudden hit this upward trajectory, and everything has gotten better. His pass protection has gotten better, his use of hands and blocking has gotten better,” Sawvel said after the win over Air Force.
“The running back position is a reaction position…the whole aspect of just being able to react and play fast and let your vision take you to where you need to go,” Haug added. “…for [Scott] to practice and continue to get the pictures and all those things, he’s becoming faster and understands it’s a reactionary position.”
Scott says that much of his improvement has just come from the game experience he’s garnered over the last few seasons when he’s had the opportunity to carry the ball on the field, as well as trusting his teammates and coaches.
“It’s really just a process of seeing the right picture in film and on the field, and getting more comfortable with and trusting blocks [to] get where they need to be for the run game,” Scott said. “More experience and more confidence come my way when I get more opportunities.”
The team will be relying on Scott more now than ever, as he’s found himself at the top of the depth chart in the running back position as Jones is out for the time being due to personal issues. Scott, alongside his quarterback Svoboda, both recently orchestrated the Cowboys’ greatest offensive performance this season in their first win of the season over Air Force. If Scott can continue to perform in the running game, it will allow the rest of the offense to thrive.
“We’re going to need everybody, you know, Sam’s obviously a huge part of that, but we got to continue to keep that competition in the room and keep on sending out a product that the fans would be proud of,” Haug said.
