When Will We See Dawaiian McNeely Back on the Field?

LARAMIE -- When will Dawaiian McNeely line up again in the Cowboys backfield?

Three letters tell the tale: TBD.

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"I think he's come along to a good place right now," Jay Sawvel said, referring to the senior running back after Wyoming's first practice of the fall.

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That doesn't mean good enough to play yet, though, according to the first-year head coach.

McNeely suffered a torn ACL in camp a year ago, forcing the projected starter to miss the entire 2023 campaign. He was coming off an injury-plagued campaign the year prior, forced to sit out four games with an assortment of ailments, including nerve damage in his right hand.

Still, the California product managed to rush for 356 yards on just 63 attempts. That's better than 5.7 yards per carry. He also added a 61-yard touchdown jaunt in a 27-20 road win at Hawaii.

Jamari Ferrell was the Cowboys opening-day starter last September and Harrison Waylee, a transfer from Northern Illinois, slid into that role in a Week 3 meeting with No. 4 Texas.

Sam Scott carried the ball. So did DQ James and Jeremy Hollingsworth. The latter two are no longer on the roster.

Sawvel thinks this room got even stronger this offseason with the addition of DJ Jones, who spent three of the previous four years as a running back at North Carolina.

In other words, McNeely doesn't need to be in any hurry, Sawvel said.

"I've talked to Dawaiian, and I appreciate this, I've told him, you're not going to be out there until I know that you are 100% and that you're really, really ready to go," he added. "If he's at 90%, then he's still not going to play ... I don't want to run him out there when he's not ready to go."

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McNeely, who switched his jersey number from 30 to 3, spent last Wednesday's practice running through all the drills with his teammates. He now sports a bulky brace on that surgically-repaired left knee, but more importantly, Sawvel said, he's wearing a smile, too.

"I know he's a really good football player," he said. "I know he's a guy that can help us."

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