Who Will Rise to the Top in Wyoming’s Running Back Room?

LARAMIE -- "It looks different, right?"

Jay Sawvel interrupted mid-question when asked about the running back room, one that last fall was decimated by injury and, in some cases, ineffectiveness. Wyoming's second-year head coach said in the winter he was doing a major overhaul at that position and wanted to carry at least eight guys on the roster.

Mission accomplished.

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The team's most-productive back, Sam Scott, is the lone contributor from last year's mostly forgettable 3-9 campaign that saw the Cowboys average under four yards per carry and land eighth in the Mountain West, netting 137.8 yards per game.

Sawvel and Co. inked first inked Charlotte transfer Terron Kellman. Then came Damashja Harris (North Texas) and Max White (Iowa). The recruiting class also featured Samuel "Tote" Harris, Jaden Lawrence and Patrick Broadway II.

Nico Hamilton, Dontae Burch and Nikos Varelas also remain on the roster.

Quality and quantity was the goal.

"It helps us, because then we become maybe a little bit injury resistant at some point in time," Sawvel said last Friday following a physical two-plus hour workout inside War Memorial Stadium. "You get a running back, he gets banged up, and the next thing you know, I'm sitting in here telling you guys on a Monday that this guy's out, and we got to run the quarterback all the time because we didn't have any running backs.

"That's not going to be the case, so I'm excited about that."

That was the case far too often in 2024.

Presumed starter Harrison Waylee, for the second consecutive year, suffered a leg injury in fall camp. The latest lingered, landing him in street clothes until at least October. Instead of coming back midseason, though, the senior decided to redshirt so he could get a fresh start and play a full final season in '25.

That will now take place at the University of Virginia.

Waylee appeared in the Cowboys' final four games, rushing for 323 yards and a touchdown on 63 attempts.

Dawaiian McNeely, the longest-tenured back on the roster, capped his final season in Laramie with two attempts out of the backfield. The senior was injured after both handoffs and entered the NCAA Transfer Portal in the offseason. He's now at North Dakota.

Remember DJ Jones?

The senior packed his bags after a lopsided loss at North Texas to cap an 0-4 non-conference slate. The North Carolina transfer left the program for unspecified reasons after amassing just 162 yards on 57 carries.

Jamari Ferrell is still on the open market after rolling up 318 yards and a score. Mitchell Anderson, Hamilton and Burch never saw the field. Varelas, a sophomore from San Antonio, was at the safety spot.

Scott and Ferrell were the only backs over 200 pounds that saw significant minutes last fall.

That shouldn't be an issue this fall.

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Scott, despite missing the spring with a nagging knee contusion, remains at 230 pounds. Damashja Harris, who also stands 6-foot-2, tips the scales at 224. Kellman is 210 and White sits at 207. Broadway, a rookie from Houston, is just five pounds away.

Sawvel wanted to add size. Mainly because he wants to see more broken tackles, an aspect of his backfield in 2024 that he called "awful."

"I did something this summer and looked at every game that we played," he said, adding that he spent plenty of time on the stat website Pro Football Focus. "... The number of missed tackles that teams had against us as compared to their opponents, there were several teams that had their season low missed tackles against us, offensively, last year. When you block a play that gains four yards, you have to gain eight."

Idaho, Sawvel continued, missed just eight tackles in a Week-2 upset in Laramie. Wyoming averaged just 3.3 yards per carry that afternoon. The Vandals whiffed on 16 tackles the following week against fellow FCS opponent Albany.

That's where the evaluation begins.

"There's going to be a lot of live situations in fall camp where it's, who's going to run through somebody's face? Who can make somebody miss? Who can get four yards and turn it into eight? That's why we have to rep all these guys so they know what they're doing," he added.

White, who was mainly a special teams standout during his four seasons in Iowa City, knows he walked into a heated battle. Though he wants to be the back that receives "18-to-22 carries" per game, White knows he has his work cut out.

"It's a big room, it's a full room, it's a very talented room," he said. "I think 'coach Flea' (running backs coach Gary Harrell) has a really good problem on his hands, with a lot of talent. It's going to be a great competition and everybody's going to be at their best. So, you know, whoever comes out on top is going to be the best for Wyoming football."

Damashja Harris agrees wholeheartedly.

"We have a bunch of guys who want to compete," he added. "Some other guys want to play, so I just feel like it's us, getting better every day, competing with each other and going at it head to head. It's friendly competition, but good competition. Anybody can play in this room."

Will Scott get the nod because of his experience and the fact the Omaha product led the team last fall with 435 yards on the ground? Not necessarily.

And that's fine with him.

"It should never be something that is making me feel apprehensive or threatened," Scott said, admitting it was shocking to see so many new faces in the meeting room on Day 1. "It should be just a challenge, competition and really just giving me the opportunity to step into more of a leadership role. Because we have so many backs, I'm willing to do that. I'm excited to do that.

"I'm excited to see what we're able to do this fall camp, and just the camaraderie and the competition that we're going to have."

During Wednesday's workout on the North 40 practice fields, Sawvel watched his new stable of running backs run through a set of drills. They high-stepped over pads, glided under a red bar and exploded into a teammate holding a tackling dummy.

He turned to the local media nearby, smiled and winked.

"We should be able to find a guy."

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players