Is Mason Drube's Highly-Anticipated Wyoming Debut on Horizon?

LARAMIE -- Could we have a Mason Drube sighting with just three games remaining in the regular season?

The state's most-coveted recruit is at least a step closer to seeing action, according to Jay Sawvel, who said Monday the rookie quarterback will no longer run the scout team during practice.

Why the move?

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Landon Sims, Wyoming's second-year head coach announced just moments after last Saturday's 24-7 setback at San Diego State, will miss the rest of the season with a left leg injury, feared to be the sophomore's third torn ACL -- all in the same knee -- of his young career.

Sims has been inserted into the lineup over the last two weeks by newly-installed offensive coordinator Jovon Bouknight, mostly serving as the Cowboys' running quarterback. He also spelled a turnover-prone Kaden Anderson for an entire second-quarter series inside Snapdragon Stadium. That's when the Alabama native was planted on an incomplete pass, courtesy of 255-pound junior edge rusher Brady Nassar.

The QB pecking order was once led by Anderson, followed by Sims, Gage Brook and Drube.

Sawvel Monday wouldn't commit to that order with a bye week ahead and a road tilt with Fresno State on tap.

"I mean, Kaden will still be the starter, but where we go to a No. 2, No. 3 -- and how that order is -- we'll kind of make that determination based on what we do over the next 10 days here, leading up to when we play again," he added.

Is Drube even ready to play?

Sawvel smiled, adding, there's a reason playing the position is arguably the hardest in all of sports. In other words, it's a work in progress.

"When you're running plays off of cards (on scout team), now he gets into meetings and -- he knows the foundation of what we're doing, offensively -- but you've also not been in situations where you're extensively doing all these run checks and in different things of that nature, at times," he continued. "So, there's certain things that, it's just not as easy as we'll just put him in.

"Now, what we've got to do, though, we've got to now work him because of where we're at. We have three quarterbacks in the program."

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Drube, a Gillette native, fielded offers from Michigan State, Boston College, Oregon State, Washington State and many others after capping his senior season at Campbell County High School with 2,434 passing yards and 23 touchdowns. The three-star recruit chose Wyoming, a program that his late father, Kirby Drube, once called his own.

What has it been like to face Drube in practice while he's busy mimicking the likes of Utah's Devon Dampier, Colorado's Kaden Salters, UNLV's Anthony Colandrea and others?

"I'm very excited about the future with him in the program," defensive coordinator Aaron Bohl said on Monday. "He's tough and has a very good arm. You know, there's a lot that goes into playing quarterback that I know nothing about, but I know that a lot of the guys on team like him, he's athletic, he's a good competitor and can make some really, really good throws that make you scratch head on defense about how we're going to stop it."

Experience and execution will determine how the remainder of this season plays out under center in Laramie. That goes for Anderson, Brook and Drube.

The latter can also appear in up to four games without losing a year of eligibility.

"When you just say, 'OK, run a whole offense and do it against defenders that are, you know, scheming this up and doing the whole thing,' you just got to be mindful of it," Sawvel said. "That does not mean you will not see (Drube), but just don't automatically jump to a conclusion that you're automatically going to see him."