No Concern in Wyoming’s Receivers Room Heading Into Spring

LARAMIE -- "None."

That's the level of concern Jay Sawvel says he has in the wide receiver room after losing TK King and Justin Stevenson to the NCAA Transfer Portal. Senior Devin Boddie Jr. also left the team before a Week-6 meeting with San Diego State.

Get our free mobile app

Wyoming's head coach said he knew after the home opener he had major issues with that unit.

"After the Idaho game last year, I thought I was a T-Ball coach that didn't take them to get ice cream," he said bluntly. "I was like, we're going to revamp the receiver room at the end of this year. The people we've got are the people we need, and the people we still need to add, you know, we're going to do that. There's no regrets about that. That room needed a revamp and that's it.

"... I've never seen more people that were kind of selfish about their opportunity than what I saw during that game that day."

King, Wyoming's lone First Team All-Mountain West selection (returner), was on the open market less than 24 hours after the season finale at Washington State. Sources familiar with the situation said that wasn't his decision and he was told to look elsewhere. Stevenson hung around for nearly three weeks before announcing his intention to leave the program.

King is now at New Mexico State. Stevenson landed at Utah.

Alex Brown and Will Pelissier also exhausted their eligibility in 2024.

Sawvel also parted ways with wide receivers coach Mike Grant, who joined Craig Bohl's staff back in 2017. He has since been replaced by Jovon Bouknight, who last season was an offensive analyst.

The Cowboys again featured one of the worst passing attacks in the Mountain West under first year offensive coordinator Jay Johnson, landing 10th in the 12-team league, averaging just 189.4 yards per game.

The insertion of Kaden Anderson under center late in the year inflated those numbers. The then-redshirt freshman threw for a season-high 342 yards in a 49-45 road victory over New Mexico.

Evan Svoboda, Wyoming's starting quarterback through the first eight games, failed to eclipse the 200-yard mark through the air one time until the final game of the season. He threw for 206 yards and a touchdown in a 15-14 upset in Pullman.

How bad has this passing game been?

Wyoming has finished 10th or lower in six of the last seven seasons.

In 2020, playing a six-game slate due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Cowboys finished ninth in the conference, averaging 153.3 yards per outing. Signal caller Levi Williams threw for 321 yards in a road loss at Colorado State that year or that ranking would've reached double-figures, too.

MORE UW FOOTBALL NEWS VIA 7220SPORTS:

* Wyoming overhauling defense with 'winnable players'

* Jay Sawvel: 'We will never vote for captains again'

* Are Wyoming players being tampered with? You bet, says Sawvel

* Wyoming Football: News and Notes From Traditional Signing Day

* Wyoming football puts a bow on '25 recruiting class

* Wyoming receives commitment from 2,000-yard rusher

* Defensive tackle Gabriel Ikechukwu commits to Cowboys

* Wyoming set to ink another defensive end in 2025 class

* New Wyoming linebacker eager to 'level up' to FBS

* Cowboys sign JUCO defensive end with 23 career sacks

* Jovon Bouknight named new wide receivers coach at Wyoming

* PODCAST: Breaking down offseason for Wyoming football

Sawvel said he thinks there has already been improvement in the room, adding not one player has been in his office in three weeks for "ticky tack stuff." That, in itself, he joked, is a dramatic development.

The team's leading receiver, Jaylen Sargent, is returning for his senior season. The 6-foot-2 Logan, Utah product finally flashed last fall, hauling in 480 yards worth of passes and finding the end zone twice. He lit up the Lobos in November, capping his afternoon with a career-best 186 yards and a score on just six grabs.

Then-true freshman Chris Durr Jr. is also back. The Chicago product finished his first season in Laramie with 348 receiving yards and 31 catches. Durr, who proved to be electric in the open field, also scored a touchdown in the season opener at Arizona State.

Wyoming also added Arizona transfer Jackson Holman and Eric Richardson, who spent the previous two years at Northwest Missouri State.

"The one thing that stuck out to me the most on film was, he's got that big body size," Bouknight said, referring to the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Holman, who has three seasons of eligibility remaining. "He reminded me of another receiver I had that was at Oregon, Juwan Johnson, who's now a tight end for the Saints."

Like Holman, Bouknight added Richardson has a "chip on his shoulder" after playing at the Division-II level.

Arguably the biggest offseason acquisition is freshman Deion DeBlanc, a three-star recruit out of North Shore High School in the Greater Houston Area. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound speedster fielded offers from Oregon, Arkansas, Arizona State and many others. Texas and Texas A&M kicked the tires, too.

That will happen when you run a 4.4 in the 40-yard dash and 10.59 in the 100-yard dash and 22.96 in the 200. DeBlanc, who is already on campus and rooming with rookie quarterback Mason Drube, caught 40 balls for 576 yards and five touchdowns last fall. He added 131 yards and two scores on the ground on just eight attempts.

"He's a guy with speed, and he's got grit and toughness," Bouknight said. "He comes in already kind of polished a little bit. I mean, the kid's benching something crazy right now. So, his strength numbers are out of this world. For him to come in at an early time like this, get him in spring, and start that developmental process, like I said, the way he attacks it and approaches it right now, he's already a professional."

Sawvel said the plan, like with Durr, is to have DeBlanc play early and often in 2025.

"He's certainly talented enough to," he added. "He's played at a high level in high school. So, it's not like he's going to be scared of a lot of stuff or anything like that."

Along with returners like Jaylan Bean, Tyler Nystrom, Charlie Coenen, Bricen Brantley, Wyoming also added prep players Pierre "PJ" Jackson (Chicago) and Ke'lyn Washom (Houston).

Sawvel said he would like to add another pass catcher during the spring transfer portal window, which is open from April 16-25.

"We've got some pieces and players," he added. "We're in a much better spot."

Spring practice is scheduled to begin March 25 in Laramie.

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players