Wyoming’s Waylee Plans to Redshirt, Play in Four Games This Fall

LARAMIE -- Harrison Waylee has no interest in playing a six-game senior season and riding off into the unknown.

That's what his head coach said Monday when discussing the running back's current status.

"That's not what he's looking for," Jay Sawvel said, adding his team's 0-4 start to the campaign has nothing to do with this decision. "He wants a full year and I stand behind that, because I couldn't sign off on that being in his best interest, either"

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Waylee suffered a right knee injury during an August scrimmage that required surgery. There has been no definite timetable for his return. The bulky black brace on this leg remains.

Now the picture is a little more clear.

"He has a redshirt season," Sawvel said during his weekly press conference. "This is something that we talked about three weeks ago: We can play him four games. We will play him four games this year, once he's ready to go. If we were fortunate enough to get to a bowl, he could play in the bowl and play in a fifth."

Waylee's return isn't "imminent," per Sawvel. It won't come this week against Front Range rival Air Force. It might not even happen after the Cowboys' open date the following week.

"That's where we're at," he added. "He's in very good spirits about it. He's got an academic component (Waylee is scheduled to graduate in the spring). He was forthright and completely into it."

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The 5-foot-10, 212-pound Iowa product averaged nearly six yards per carry during his first season at Wyoming, amassing 947 yards on just 164 attempts. Waylee missed the first two games of the 2023 campaign, recovering from offseason surgery on his left knee. During his debut, he gashed No. 4 Texas for 110 yards on 18 carries, including a 62-yard touchdown jaunt.

Waylee, who transferred to UW after two seasons at Northern Illinois, sparked a 22-19 comeback win over Appalachian State with a 75-yard dash to the end zone early in the fourth quarter.

He again was forced out of the lineup with a leg injury in a critical meeting with Air Force. Wyoming fell to the Falcons 34-27 and managed just 109 total yards on the ground.

The run game has struggles thus far this season without Waylee in the backfield. The Cowboys have averaged just 82.5 yards per game on the ground during this winless streak.

Fellow running back Dawaiian McNeely will miss the remainder of the year with a knee injury, according to Sawvel. The senior was injured on his lone carry against BYU. He is expected to return to the lineup next fall.

Will Waylee?

He said during Mountain West Media Days last July he had no temptations to leave the program. The main reason for that? Sawvel.

"That's my guy," Waylee said that day in Las Vegas. "I'm not going to leave somebody that I have a really good connection with. He's built a connection with me and I'm going to be loyal to him because, you know, who wants to go and start over with somebody new? You never know what's going to happen.

"I already understand his dynamic of his organization and how he coaches everything. That's something that I really want to be a part of."

Waylee's cousin, Axel Ramazani, has also verbally committed to Wyoming and expected to sign his letter of intent in December. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound edge rusher from Urbandale, Iowa, was also recruited by Cincinnati, Illinois State, North Dakota and North Dakota State.

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