Pokes Pop Pads Saturday, Approved ‘Violence’ Commences

LARAMIE -- Did you pack a lunch?

For nearly three hours on Saturday, the first day in full pads, this Wyoming football team set the tone of what's to come this spring. Jay Sawvel said last month these Saturday practices would be long and grueling.

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He wasn't kidding.

"We've got to become a far more violent football team," the Cowboys' second-year head coach said on signing day. "We're not anywhere close to where we needed to be with that."

The inside-run period led to some audible reactions from the fans, and more than 60 recruits, inside the team's indoor practice facility. One of those collisions brought together 515 pounds of force, leaving defensive tackle Aneesh Vyas a little woozy.

That came courtesy of 210-pound running back Terron Kellman, who met the senior transfer from Bucknell in the hole.

Another run-heavy stretch capped this intense workout.

"Like I told them, we're going to be a callous football team," Sawvel said Saturday. "We're going to hit. We're going to hit more than what we've ever hit around here, including pre last year or anything. We hit about the same last year as what we've done before.

"It's going to be exponentially different that way."

Why the urgency when it comes to physicality?

On the defensive side, Wyoming allowed nearly 200 yards per game on the ground. That unit was exposed to the tune of 412 rushing yards in a road win over New Mexico. Quarterback Devon Dampier and running back Eli Sanders both eclipsed the 200-yard mark and gashed the visitors for five touchdowns.

They got pushed around, bullied.

Sawvel was blunt in his assessment. "It was an embarrassment.

This program, which has leaned so heavily on its run game over the last decade plus, was a shell of itself for a majority of the 2024 campaign. Injuries and inexperience, like on the other side of the ball, certainly played a part. The Cowboys averaged just 137.8 in the rushing department.

A battered offensive line also allowed 27 sacks and gave up nearly six tackles for loss per outing.

Those statistics, along with a forgettable 3-9 record, has left a lingering stench over this returning roster. Even the new guys have a sense that redemption is a motivating factor.

"Oh yeah. I mean, just coming in for that first team meeting, you can feel the animosity in the room," said senior linebacker Ethan Stuhlsatz, who came to Laramie from Lindenwood, an FCS program in Missouri. "I mean, (Sawvel) shot it straight with us: This team needs to have more violence. Violence breeds violence, and you could definitely feel that, especially on inside run today."

Jack Walsh, who is transitioning from right guard to center this spring, called '24 a "reality check." During his first three seasons on campus, he added, this team found a way to win more times than not.

Not last year.

That bad taste -- along with a new mentality -- was apparent to the senior on Saturday.

"Everybody's a little bit pissed off," Walsh said. "I think the best part of what's going on is we brought in a couple of new guys on offense and defense. So, you know, there's a lot of dudes fighting for jobs. So that's going to create that natural physicality and that competition. That's what you want."

Sawvel said he was pleased with the pad popping. More so that his message is resonating. That's nothing new, he added. The leaders on this team -- Caden Barnett, Kaden Anderson, Evan Svoboda, John Michael Gyllenborg, Jaylen Sargent, Walsh, and many others -- took last season personally.

An empty trophy case inside the Cowboys' weight room set the wheels in motion. That's where the Bronze Boot resided in seven of the previous eight seasons.

Border War rival Colorado State is borrowing it for a full year after manhandling Wyoming in a lopsided 24-10 loss last November inside Canvas Stadium.

The Rams rushed for 248 yards. They finished with three tackles for loss. They also limited the visitors to just 117 yards on the ground.

Why is there an insistence on being tougher this offseason?

Look no further.

"Next week, it needs to be a lot more violent than that," Sawvel added. "But it was good. There was a start of like violence that way, and that's what we wanted."

The Cowboys will return to the practice field next Tuesday in Laramie.

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