Breaking Down Why Sawvel and Co. Waited to Make Move at QB

LARAMIE -- Regrets? Jay Sawvel, admittedly, has a few.

Anytime a decision doesn't go as planned, Wyoming's rookie head coach added, second-guessing comes into play. He said there could be "10,000" of those moments alone this fall.

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Is one not sitting a struggling Evan Svoboda earlier in the season and replacing him under center with Kaden Anderson?

The short answer is, yes.

There are reasons, though, he stuck with the junior through the first eight games of the season.

"You go into the spring and you've got a guy that's uniquely talented, and you got a guy that's got all this skill set and tools, and you try to ride that as much as you can," Sawvel said postgame in Albuquerque, referring to the 6-foot-5, 245-pound signal caller. "There were moments that were really good, and when the moments were good, you kept hoping that they would come."

Those moments were fleeting.

Svoboda completed three straight passes against San Jose State midway through the third quarter of a 24-14 loss just three weeks ago. He connected with wideout TK King for 16. He followed that up with a 22-yard strike to tight end John Michael Gyllenborg.

The next toss was a missile into the arms of Justin Stevenson, who snagged the 18-yard touchdown pass, finally getting the visitors on the board.

That's the good.

Before that drive, Svoboda led the Cowboys' offense to a turnover-on-downs, followed by five consecutive punts. After that hookup with Stevenson, there came two straight three-and-outs. Then came the badly overthrown screen pass that turned into a red-zone interception.

That was the final straw.

There were other flashes, too, but inconsistencies from the most important position on the field remained.

Svoboda, statistically, is the least-efficient quarterback in college football, completing just under 47% of his passes. He's thrown just four touchdowns compared to seven interceptions. The Arizona product averages 144 yards per game through the air, not including a 2-for-7 performance against Utah State that featured just 12 yards passing and a pick that led to seven quick points just before the half.

Despite all of that, Sawvel said he kept a few things in perspective when it came to sticking by his QB.

"He debuted this year against a highly upgraded Arizona State team, without (starting running back) Harrison Waylee and without John Michael Gyllenborg," he said, adding that former head coach Craig Bohl told him the first guy in the program he needed to "recruit"  was Svoboda. "I mean, I'm not going to just sit there and shovel dirt on a guy just because of certain things."

Svoboda's first attempt of the season was picked off by ASU linebacker Zyrus Fiaseu and returned 29 yards for a touchdown. He threw for just 42 yards in his starting debut that night in Tempe, just seven miles west of his hometown. The Sun Devils rolled to an easy 48-7 victory.

Idaho, at the time, featured one of the best scoring defenses in the nation, allowing just 18.5 points per game.

BYU's unit was even better.

Before their trip to Laramie, the Cougars limited SMU to just five field goals in an 18-15 win in Dallas. That same Mustangs team now averages 446 yards per game and ranks No. 7 in the nation, scoring 40.1 points an outing.

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Jay Johnson, who is in his first season as the offensive coordinator at Wyoming, said he doesn't feel like the offense should've made the switch from Svoboda to Anderson earlier in the season.

"We felt like we did what was best for the team, just because there's so many other variables involved, you know, with different things and different position groups and what was going on with all those," he said, essentially reiterating Sawvel's message. "...The timing was when it was."

Anderson completed 20-of-29 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns against New Mexico. The redshirt freshman also added a seven-yard score on the ground in last Saturday's 49-45 road victory over the Lobos.

He made all the throws in Albuquerque, connecting with Jaylen Sargent on a 68-yard long ball and firing a 27-yard post pattern into Stevenson for the game-winner late in the fourth quarter.

That performance in the Duke City landed Anderson Mountain West Freshman of the Week honors. He was also named to the Manning Award Stars of the Week list.

He looks the part.

Johnson does agree with that.

"Kaden did a nice job," he said. "He managed the game well and I think put the offense in positive situations. (New Mexico's defense) did a lot of stuff. They tried to get after us from different pressures and blitz perspectives. He did a nice job handling that, and I just thought he showed good poise in the throw game. Some of the pressures and things there were -- guys on the edge -- he hung in there and he was able to keep his vision where it needed to be and deliver some good balls with accuracy."

Sawvel said aside from a third-quarter interception, thrown into double coverage, Anderson's starting debut was solid.

"I think that he did a really good job of keeping us in plays," he said. "Obviously, he was accurate on some key throws to Sargent, which I thought was great. I think he was accurate on a couple third-down balls to Chris Durr in critical situations. You know, his command of things was really, really good.

"... There's so much to build on with that guy, so we're excited."

There were other reasons, Sawvel added, why Anderson didn't get the nod earlier. One of those factors was his injury history.

The Texas product suffered two ACL tears during his prep career at Southlake Carroll. Wyoming was one of the only FBS programs to stick with him through those season-ending knee injuries. He arrived on campus in the spring of 2023 and wasn't cleared until after the season began.

Bohl vowed to exercise caution with the rookie. There was no hurry to get him up to speed with starter Andrew Peasley fully entrenched, backed up by Jayden Clemons and Svoboda.

In other words, this staff didn't quite know what they had in Anderson. The flashed were there, according to Johnson, but he was a work in progress.

That ascent is still taking place, his head coach added.

"Kaden has continued to be on the rise," Sawvel said Monday during his weekly press conference. "You know, look, the way he played the other day, this wasn't exactly every day in August camp, either, you know? I mean, he played well in August camp, I'm not saying that he didn't, but I mean, he's continued to get better. It wasn't like he did this in April, you know, type of thing. He's continued to progress.

"I think there became a point in time where it was like, we needed to make that change and we made that change. That's the change that we're going to stick with going forward."

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players