Wyoming
DJ Jones Feeling Right at Home in Wyoming's Loaded Backfield
LARAMIE — There wasn’t necessarily a need at the running back position, but DJ Jones was just too tempting to pass up.
Jay Sawvel said as much after last Thursday’s annual spring game inside War Memorial Stadium just moments after the North Carolina transfer accounted for 112 yards of total offense — 77 on the ground on a dozen carries and 35 via the pass — and a rushing touchdown in a 17-10 victory for the Brown team.
Not too shabby for a guy who played the safety position in Chapel Hill last fall.
“I had no idea DJ Jones was going to be who he was until after he was here about three weeks,” Wyoming’s rookie head coach said of the graduate transfer. “Then, all of a sudden, you realize this guy’s uber competitive and really mature. We gave him a lot more runs at running back today because we need to see him. He needed to play live, he needed to hit holes and he needed to make cuts … He does it pretty well, I thought so. I’m a big fan of him.”
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So was Mack Brown, who recruited the former three-star prospect out of Fayetteville, N.C. Jones chose the Tar Heels, passing up offers from the likes of Michigan, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Wake Forest.
Though injuries limited him during his first three collegiate seasons, the 5-foot-11, 200-pound speedster still managed to rush for 442 yards and find the end zone twice on just 97 attempts. That’s an average of nearly five yards per carry.
A loaded backfield forced Jones into the secondary during his final season at UNC. He accepted the role. He responded with 15 tackles in six games.
His desire to carry the ball, though, never left.
“It boosts my confidence a little bit,” Jones said with a smile following his spring game performance. “I felt good, especially having gone through a lot of situations like full live (practices), scrimmages and stuff, but today was a good day. It just built my confidence up a little bit more.”
How did Jones get to Laramie?
The story is quite simple.
Former defensive tackles coach Oscar Giles played and coached with Brown at the University of Texas. Before he accepted the same position at Houston this offseason, Giles put in a call to his old boss. He was inquiring about another running back who recently entered the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Brown instead urged Wyoming’s staff to take a look at his safety instead.
The rest is history.
“Honestly, moving out here and coming to Wyoming was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made,” Jones said. “I feel like this is just going to help me grow as a person more than a football player. So, I think it was a great move for me.”
In two open scrimmages and the spring game, Jones has shown speed, elusiveness and even some power, refusing to step out of bounds with a defender bearing down on him. He welcomed the contact. He did so again early in the second quarter last Thursday in Laramie, carrying a handful of teammates into the end zone from seven yards out.
On his longest jaunt of the day — a 13-yard scamper — Jones followed his blockers around the right edge, showing patience and quick feet. He may have even been caught off guard by the convoy leading the way. One cut back toward the middle of the field and it could’ve been a foot race to the paint.
Remember, this is practice. Remember, this guy hasn’t carried the ball of late.
“That’s a good player to go up against,” said linebacker Evan Eller, a fellow graduate transfer. “You know, one-on-one’s when the linebackers and running backs are going up against (one another), going up against him and just meeting him in the hole, he’s got quick feet and he’s a patient guy. So, that’s always good, getting everybody in the linebacker room better, for sure.”
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Sawvel often speaks about his admiration for the players on this roster. He says some guys — most guys — make it fun to come to work in the morning. He raves about their work ethic and attitudes.
It goes even further with Jones.
“I’m really, really happy that he’s here,” he said. “You know, like I said the other day, I tell him that every day.”
It’s true.
“Sawvel is a great dude,” Jones added with a grin. “He does tell me that. He’s not lying about that. He makes sure I know that.”
There’s a good reason for that.
Dare call him an offseason acquisition, Sawvel joked, Jones has proven to be a workhorse since arriving on campus, whether that’s during a sprinting session, team workouts or a mundane mid-week practice.
The running back room already includes presumed starter Harrison Waylee, who is coming off a near 1,000-yard campaign despite missing three full games because of injury. Dawaiian McNeely, who chewed up nearly 400 yards on the ground the year prior, missed all of last season with a torn ACL.
Jamari Ferrell, you might recall, was the lone back on the opening play against Texas Tech last September. Sam Scott also saw time in the Cowboys’ backfield, rushing for 237 yards and a pair of scores.
Those guys are all back in the mix. Jones, Sawvel says, makes this group even more special.
“He’s just a good football player,” the head coach added. “To be playing in the ACC and playing running back and doing things and then to get moved over and have starts as a defensive back, that just shows you he’s a pretty well-rounded football player. I think he’s happy, he wants to be a running back and he wants that transition. He wants that position. Like I said, he looks good.”
That’s not all Jones wants.
“I’m here to play for the state, I’m here to help us win and to get to where we want to be, in the championship,” he said. “Sawvel told us not to say that word anymore, but I’m trying to help lead this team and help get us to where we want to be — get back on top of the Mountain West.”
University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players
The rules are simple: What was the player’s impact while in Laramie? That means NFL stats, draft status or any other accolade earned outside of UW is irrelevant when it comes to this list.
This isn’t a one-man job. This task called for a panel of experts. Joining 7220’s Cody Tucker are Robert Gagliardi, Jared Newland, Ryan Thorburn, and Kevin McKinney.
We all compiled our own list of 50 and let computer averages do the work. Think BCS — only we hope this catalog is fairer.
Gallery Credit: 7220Sports.com
– University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players
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Wyoming
Rivalries and Playoff Positioning Highlight Week 11 Wyoming Girls Basketball Slate
It’s Week 11 in the 2026 Wyoming prep girls’ basketball season. That means it’s the end of the regular season. 3A and 4A schools have their final game or games to determine seeding before the regional tournament, or if a team is locked into a position, one last chance to fine-tune before the postseason. Games are spread across four days.
WYOPREPS WEEK 11 GIRLS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE 2026
Every game on the slate is a conference matchup. Several rivalry contests are part of this week’s schedule, such as East against Central, Cody at Powell, Lyman hosting Mountain View, and Rock Springs at Green River, just to name a few. Here is the Week 11 schedule of varsity games WyoPreps has. All schedules are subject to change. If you see a game missing, please email david@wyopreps.com.
CLASS 4A
Final Score: Laramie 68 Cheyenne South 27 (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Final Score: Lyman 40 Mountain View 26 (conference game)
CLASS 4A
Final Score: Evanston 41 Riverton 39 (conference game)
Final Score: Natrona County 42 Kelly Walsh 38 (conference game) – Peach Basket Classic
Final Score: #4 Thunder Basin 64 Campbell County 32 (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Final Score: #1 Cody 77 Worland 33 (conference game) – 5 different Fillies with a 3, and Hays led the way with 34 points.
Final Score: #2 Lander 49 Lyman 34 (conference game)
Final Score: #4 Wheatland 51 Douglas 40 (conference game)
Final Score: #5 Powell 48 Lovell 42 (conference game)
Final Score: Burns 56 Torrington 43 (conference game)
Final Score: Glenrock 78 Newcastle 30 (conference game)
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CLASS 4A
Rock Springs at #2 Green River, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
#4 Thunder Basin at #5 Sheridan, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
#1 Cheyenne East at #3 Cheyenne Central, 6 p.m. (conference game)
Jackson at Star Valley, 6 p.m. (conference game)
CLASS 3A
#3 Pinedale at Mountain View, 4 p.m. (conference game)
#1 Cody at #5 Powell, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
Buffalo at Glenrock, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Newcastle at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m. (conference game)
Glenrock at Rawlins, 3 p.m. (conference game)
Torrington at #4 Wheatland, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
Wyoming Boys 4A Swimming & Diving State Championships 2026
4A Boys State Swim Meet for 2026 in Cheyenne
Gallery Credit: David Settle, WyoPreps.com
Wyoming
Political storm in Wyoming as far-right activist caught handing checks to lawmakers
Controversy has engulfed Wyoming’s state legislature after a conservative activist was photographed handing checks to Republican lawmakers on the state house floor, in an incident that has highlighted intra-conservative divisions and the role of money in the Cowboy state’s politics.
The political storm started on 9 February, when Karlee Provenza, a Democratic lawmaker, took a photo showing Rebecca Bextel, a conservative activist and committeewoman for the Teton county Republican party, handing a check to Darin McCann, a Republican representative, on the legislative floor. Marlene Brady, another Republican representative, stands in the photo’s background, a similar piece of paper pinched between her fingers.
“You have a person from the richest county in the country coming down to Cheyenne to hand out checks on the house floor,” Provenza said. “I have never seen something so egregious.”
Questions around the checks were soon swirling, and answers weren’t forthcoming. When asked what Bextel gave to her, Brady told a reporter for local outlet WyoFile: “I can’t remember.”
Then Bextel herself addressed the incident. “I raised $400,000 in the last election cycle for conservative candidates, and I will be doubling that amount this year,” Bextel wrote on Facebook on 11 February. “There’s nothing wrong with delivering lawful campaign checks from Teton county donors when I am in Cheyenne.”
Since then, it has emerged that the checks came from Don Grasso, a wealthy Teton county donor, who told the Jackson Hole News and Guide that he wrote the checks for Bextel to deliver to 10 Freedom caucus-aligned politicians. Grasso said the checks were intended as campaign contributions, and were not tied to specific legislation. It is unclear how many checks were ultimately delivered, but two of four confirmed recipients include the speaker of the house, Chip Neiman, and John Bear, the former head of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.
The Wyoming house has formed a legislative investigative committee, and the Laramie county sheriff’s office said they’d open a criminal investigation.
Bextel declined to answer questions from the Guardian. Brady, McCann and Bear did not respond to requests for comment.
Neiman said he considered the criticism a “wraparound smear campaign”. He said: “It never once crossed my mind that this was bribery.
“These legislators, myself included, are now guilty until we can prove that we’re innocent. How is that right in this country? Isn’t that a little bit backwards?”
The scandal has highlighted long-standing divisions in Wyoming’s Republican party, which in recent years has seen a growing divide between old school, more moderate conservatives and a harder-right Freedom Caucus.
Several former Republican lawmakers forcefully condemned their colleagues for accepting the checks, and a local Republican party branch called for the lawmakers’ resignations.
Ogden Driskill, a Wyoming Republican senator, told the Guardian he does not consider Bextel’s actions to be illegal, but that “just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should”.
Bextel has spent years pushing against housing mitigation fees in Wyoming, and Driskill noted that she distributed the house floor checks just days before a bill she had publicly supported was set to be heard. Bextel was registered as a member of the press, not as a lobbyist when she delivered the checks.
“Ethically and morally, it’s bankrupt to a massive degree,” Driskill said.
Neiman said that he and other legislators who received checks have supported similar bills in the past: “Bribery is paying somebody to do something they would not otherwise do.”
Nationally, the 2024 election cycle saw record-spending from the mega-wealthy, as well as dark money groups. Wyoming followed the trend, in a tense red-on-red primary season.
For those gearing up to campaign this year, Teton county, the richest in the US, and Bextel’s picturesque home turf, is an essential stop. Its extreme wealth gives it a foothold on the national level as well. Palantir chief executive Alex Karp and Donald Trump attended an annual Republican leadership fundraiser at Jackson Hole in 2024, and JD Vance attended the same one in 2025.
Bextel pulls dollars from Teton county into the Freedom Caucus side of Wyoming’s conservative split. She hosted no-press-allowed meet and greets earlier this year benefitting leading candidates for Wyoming’s governor and open US House seat.
In an interview with the Open Range Record, a media network she co-founded, Bextel said controversy around the checks was solely because she was making “even playing field” in Wyoming against the state’s more moderate Republicans, who she calls “George Soros” candidates. She said that she will be sure to keep raising money – just away from the legislative floor.
“I guess I’m gonna ask all the gentlemen and gentleladies to step outside the Capitol while I hand them a check,” Bextel said. “Let me be clear: I’m doubling down.”
But it’s not just wealthy local donors putting their weight behind the factions. Last election cycle, out of state groups spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on anonymous and often inaccurate mailers.
“These actors, especially from the far right, they like to push the bounds of the norms,” said Rosa Reyna Pugh, an organizing and advocacy consultant at Western States Center, an Oregon-based non-profit focused on democracy in the western United States. “They like to see what policies they can kind of push, and see where they can play a piece,” Reyna Pugh said.
While Neiman and Driskill fight politically, they do agree on one thing: summer will bring an expensive and brutal campaign season.
“You’re going to see more dark money than you’ve ever seen. We’ve done absolutely nothing to enforce it. Our secretary of state has not even made a slight attempt to deal with it,” Driskill said. “You’re going to see lots and lots of outside money and I think you’re seeing it on both sides.”
As national questions swirl around pay-to-play politics and profiteering in the Trump administration, Provenza wants better for the Cowboy State.
“We should not be aligning ourselves with how the federal government is conducting itself or how federal elections conduct themselves,” Provenza said. “We owe something far better and more honest to the people of Wyoming than that.”
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