Head Wyoming football coach Jay Sawvel and his squad recently opened the first week of spring practices a few days ago, in which they will practice for five weeks, culminating in a spring game towards the end of April.
Back to Basics
Sawvel stressed that, especially in the opening week or two of spring practice, that himself and his staff have been stressing the importance of some of the basics–to footwork, and down to some of the nitty gritty in their playbook.
“Our biggest focus of what we talk about right now is how we start plays,” Sawvel said after the Cowboys’ first day of spring practice. “You know, alignment, assignment, where our eyes go, footwork, hand placements, things like that.”
These basic, but vital components of the game were some of the main reasons for a substandard 3-9 season a year ago. Missed tackles, poor blocking and mental mistakes were the name of the game during a disappointing season a year ago, and Sawvel and his team are set on not letting that become the standard of the program.
“We’ve made a big emphasis on just becoming a better football team, and what I mean by that is the basics of football, about hitting people, about using your hands, about getting off blocks, Aaron Bohl, defensive coordinator, said.
Sawvel has also made a serious point about his team being more violent this season–meaning he wants his team hitting harder, faster and playing with more intensity than they had last season.
And through these first three opening practices, culminating in an intense two-plus hour session in pads on Saturday, his team has looked the part.
“We’re going to be a callous football team. We’re gonna hit more than what we’ve ever hit around here,” Sawvel said after Saturday’s practice.
“And next week, it needs to be a lot more violent than that, but it was good,” he added of the practice.
Sudden Change in Coaches
Sawvel also announced after the Cowboys’ initial spring practice that their running backs coach, Donnell Kirkwood Jr.–who had played under Sawvel at Minnesota from 2010-2014–had unexpectedly left the program with little warning to supposedly take a similar job at Washington State.
“It’s unfortunate timing, disappointing thing. It wasn’t a major difference in finances involved in this type of situation, even though I guess he’ll get a little bit of a raise where he goes and he can enjoy that,” Sawvel said.
Kirkwood was announced as the Cowboys’ running backs coach on January 2nd and had worked alongside the team for just around two months before his departure.
As of the moment, his replacement has not been announced as Sawvel has diligently been working to find a solid coach to take over an undoubtedly talented running back room that will integral towards the Cowboys’ offense this upcoming season.
Redemption Begins
Before last season, the Cowboys had gone to three straight bowl games under the direction of Craigh Bohl from 2021 to 2023. Despite hefty expectations last season, the Cowboys were anything but what was expected of the program over the last decade under Bohl and extremely underachieved.
The clearest storyline from the first week of spring practice was that the Cowboys were practicing angry–angry of how last season transpired. It was clear that only one thing was on the mind of every player on the team as they battled one another through drills and situations–and that’s redemption.
“Everybody’s a little pissed off,” senior center Jack Walsh said.
“I just have a really bad taste in my mouth and understand that we have to start from level zero and work our way up. You have to have the mindset that I’m not a good football player now, and then you got to work your way up,” he added.
With four more weeks left in their spring practice schedule, the Cowboys will have their work cut out for them as they look towards their first game of the 2025 schedule at Akron on August 28, where they will hopefully finally work towards ridding that sour taste of a year ago from their mouths.
