Nation's Sack, Tackles-For-loss Leader Has Pokes Full Attention

LARAMIE -- Jake Davies, good luck. Caden Barnett, best wishes.

Wyoming's tackles, young and old, will have their hands full with San Diego State edge rusher Trey White Saturday afternoon inside War Memorial Stadium.

How good has the homegrown sophomore been?

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White sacked Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager three times in last Saturday's 27-24 victory over the visiting Rainbow Warriors. He tacked on a tackle for loss and broke up a pass. That effort earned him Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week honors.

He has Jay Sawvel's undivided attention.

"He's a really good player," Wyoming's rookie head coach said Monday at his weekly press conference. "He's a good pass rusher. I mean, first of all, he's really disruptive. He's got good size. He's quick and he plays with a motor."

This wasn't a one-off performance for the 6-foot-2, 245-pound end, either.

He tallied three sacks the week prior in a one-point loss at Central Michigan. White added 2.5 more QB takedowns against Cal. The San Diego product also collected half-a-sack in the season opener.

“We’ve been talking about him and buzzing about him ever since we got here,” SDSU's first-year head coach Sean Lewis, who moved White from linebacker to edge before the season, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “It’s a testament to the belief our staff had in him to bring him closer to the ball. With his skill set, with his ability, we knew that he was going to be a great fit in what we were building.

"He’s the standard for what it looks like in terms of the approach and the discipline and the character and the conviction that’s required to show up and produce on a weekly basis the way that he does."

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If you're keeping track at home, that's nine in five games. That's tied with Boston College's Donovan Ezeiruaku for the most in the nation. White is all alone atop the tackle-for-loss standings with a dozen.

Want some more perspective? Wyoming has five sacks, as a team.

"Obviously, when you put all the things that he has together, you know, all of that in one spot, then you're going to have a guy that's probably really productive," Sawvel added. "And he has been."

The Cowboys' offensive front, which is missing two starters -- Wes King and Jack Walsh -- this Saturday against the Aztecs, has allowed nine sacks through five games. Three of those came in the season opener at Arizona State. The following Saturday, Idaho got to Evan Svoboda four times. Keyshawn James-Newby, who was lined up across from Barnett at right tackle, was responsible for three of those.

That unit has shown marked improvement in this category over the previous three weeks, giving up just two sacks, one against BYU and the other versus North Texas.

Svoboda remained clean in a 31-19 victory over Air Force. In fact, the Falcons weren't even given a "QB hurry" on the final stat sheet.

It will be a tall task to mimic that performance this Saturday, especially with No. 47 flying off the edge.

"He's got to be a big focus of our attention, offensively, of how to deal with him and not let him kind of take over the game a little bit," Sawvel said of White. "So, we have to make sure we do a great job with that."

May the odds be in your favor, coach.

The Pokes (1-4, 1-0) and Aztecs (2-3, 1-0) are slated to kickoff at 1:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.