Wyoming Linebacker Ethan Stuhlsatz’s ‘Grace Period’ is Over

LAS VEGAS, Nev., -- Ethan Stuhlsatz compared the 2025 football season to a "grace period."

He needed it.

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While he patiently waited his turn at the middle linebacker spot, Evan Eller turned in a career year, tallying 74 tackles on one of the nation's top defensive units. Stuhlsatz, who arrived in Laramie after a two-year stint at Lindenwood, an FCS program in Missouri, never played more than 22 snaps on defense in any of the Cowboys' four non-conference tilts.

"You don't have the pressure of starting, but you still have to stay ready at all times as a second-string guy," Stuhlsatz said on Wednesday at Mountain West Media Days in Las Vegas. "Being behind Evan and working with coach (Aaron) Bohl, it's helped tremendously from moving up levels. I wouldn't trade that for anything."

Not only was the 6-foot-4, 239-pound Wichita, Kan., product learning a new system, he had a long gap between snaps thanks to a torn hamstring in Week 2 that sidelined him for the remainder of the 2024 campaign.

Stuhlsatz's workload increased as the season trudged on. After an eventful off week in late October, one in which offensive coordinator Jay Johnson was relieved of his duties, the entire operation went under the microscope with the team dropping four of its last five contests.

That included inserting Stuhlsatz in the lineup.

He responded with four tackles in a 28-0 blanking of Border War rival Colorado State. The following Saturday in sunny San Diego, the then-junior saw his snap count raise to a season-high 48.

Stuhlsatz registered a team-best 10 tackles and broke up a pass.

"I feel like after the non-conference games, I just felt more relaxed," he said. "That's all it came down to, and just the communication for me, helping other people, along with just getting my assignment in my head right. That just allows me to play faster, more confidently."

Throughout 2025, Stuhlsatz was quiet, shy and unassuming, outside of his massive frame. Jay Sawvel often raved about that size, and the work ethic that came with it. Eller was a vocal leader, riding out his final collegiate season. Wyoming's head coach had a good problem on his hands with a logjam at a position that has always seemed to be a strength at this school.

"Ethan Stuhlsatz is a very good person to have back in this program," Sawvel said during the spring. "But the biggest thing about Ethan is, he's like a model of what development looked like, coming from where he did to where he's at now in Year 2 here."

He's finding his voice, too. Not to mention a big -- even humorous -- personality that is starting to publicly emerge.

Stuhlsatz, who capped his first season on the high plains with 41 total tackles, recently took part in an advertising campaign for local real estate agent Mikey Welper at Mountain Valley Properties in Laramie. In the commercial, the lumbering linebacker bricks shot after shot inside an empty Arena-Auditorium.

Welper, realizing he isn't dealing with a basketball player, instead takes Stuhlsatz to his natural habitat at War Memorial Stadium, where he slips his No. 42 jersey over his shoulder pads and flies down the middle of the field.

"No, trust me, I'm not that bad," he said jokingly, referring to his display of dysfunction with an orange ball in his hands. "I was a starter in high school. I loved rebounding and slashing. That's how I got most of my points.

"... I was trying to miss one of the shots and I made it. It was a great time."

There were no stars next to Stuhlsatz's name after a standout career at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School. His college list on 247sports.com says "No interest." He instead attended Butler Community College in tiny El Dorado, Kan.

Now, he's representing Wyoming in front of the conference's media, cameras in his face, microphones under his nose.

"I never imagined it, but I always dreamed about it," he said with a smile. "I always wanted to play at the FBS level and that was a chip on my shoulder. Once I reached this level, I was like, 'All right, I like it. I love this place and I want to play hard for them.'"

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