LARAMIE — Who won today’s annual Brown and Gold Spring Game inside War Memorial Stadium?
Wyoming did.
That’s not some cheeky dad joke, either.
This coaching staff just sweated out a grueling 10-day spring transfer portal window, mainly unscathed, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
Agents, boosters and other shady characters have filled the inbox of some of the program’s most-recognizable names this offseason, attempting to lure them away in the name of the almighty dollar.
Let’s face it, this was a 3-9 squad with talent to burn. Admittedly, some of the offers were tempting, too.
It all seemed ripe for the picking, right?
Wrong.
“I know everybody sometimes goes into doom and gloom about, how can we keep people? We kept them, all right? That’s the biggest thing,” an impassioned Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel said postgame. “… There’s guys on this team that, all the way up till Friday, are getting dinged on by all these third-party people.”
The 54-year-old wasn’t ready to get off the soapbox quite yet.
Who could blame him?
“This is a really good day for University of Wyoming football, because you have a couple of high-line players that could have went to (teams) that were in the playoff, you know? I mean, you look at it and go, ‘How do you know all this stuff?’ It’s a bunch of b—— when people can reach out to people and go, ‘Hey, you can go here for this much money and this stuff’ — and they stayed.
“Look, we lost one guy during spring practice, and he wasn’t in my Top 25. So we’re good.”
That guy was Keany Parks, a starting cornerback who yesterday inked with the University of Houston.
There have been others, too. Twenty-one of them this offseason, to be exact.
Sawvel said after the season finale at Washington State, he made a list of 10 players this program couldn’t afford to lose.
Tampering and back-channeling be damned, nine of those remain, he added, including arguably the most important piece being quarterback Kaden Anderson.
Make no mistake, that’s the most important position in all of sports. Around these parts, we know all too well what inconsistency at that position can cause.
Anderson, a 6-foot-4, 221-pound sophomore from Southlake, Texas, will likely be handed the keys to Jay Johnson’s offense in 2025. In just three starts last season, he threw for 578 yards and four touchdowns.
More importantly, he connected on nearly 60% of his throws.
“It’s out there. People DM you and stuff and say all this stuff,” the laidback signal caller said with a grin. “You don’t really pay too much attention to it. You know, put trust in God’s plan. You know, He’s got a plan for you. Like I said in a couple interviews during the season, at the end of the day, it’s you and the guys in locker room. Don’t listen to outside noise.”
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* Gary Harrell named running backs coach at Wyoming
John Michael Gyllenborg could’ve played anywhere in the country, according to his head coach. Shannon Moore, his position coach, called him the best tight end in the nation.
Plenty of others obviously believe that to be true.
The 6-foot-5 senior hauled in 30 balls for 425 yards and three scores in 2024. Injuries hampered him throughout, but we’ve all seen the flashes.
It’s not a stretch to think he will hear his name called by an NFL team around this time next season.
How did he handle that outside noise?
“Well, leaving was never really an option for me,” Gyllenborg said, adding it wasn’t a tough decision to cap his college career in Laramie. “I think for most guys, including myself, the real temptations were after the season. I mean, there are just no regulations, so everything was being thrown at a lot of us, including me. That was a time to really reflect and think about what each of us wanted.”
What does he want?
“We’ve got a good core group of guys here that it just wasn’t a hard decision for us,” he continued. “We knew we were going to stay. We want to stay, turn this program around from what it was last year and win. That’s really what it was — win.”
Running back Sam Scott is back in the mix, too. He led the Cowboys with 435 rushing yards and three touchdowns last fall. He will be joined in the backfield by a whole host of youth, including Charlotte transfer Terron Kellman, who proved to be a load this spring.
Jaylen Sargent and Chris Durr Jr., the Cowboys’ Top-2 outside targets last fall will again be relied upon to take the next step. The latter amassed 348 yards through the air. He made the circus catches. He was deadly on the third down.
Sargent, a 6-foot-2 senior, stayed patient throughout his first three years in the program. That ultimately paid off in October when he ran under a 70-yard touchdown pass against San Diego State. Two weeks later, he caught a career-high six balls for 186 yards and a score in a road victory at New Mexico.
It’s not just the skill guys who will suit up for the Cowpokes this fall, either.
Three of the most important pieces to the process, Sawvel said, are back in the saddle: Jack Walsh, Caden Barnett and Wes King. This trio will be lining up at center, right and left guard, respectively.
Rex Johnsen should man the right tackle spot. Nate Geiger, who suffered a torn ACL 11 plays into the 2024 season, could again find himself on the right edge.
Sawvel joked that he told Walsh Friday, “Welp, 12 more hours of this portal stuff.”
His response: “F— it!”
“I always say, you can’t put a price on loyalty,” Walsh added. “I’m very happy and proud of all the guys that decide to stay here, guys going into their fifth year at one place. You know, it’s special here.
“I couldn’t see myself anywhere else.”
We all knew this defense was going to receive a major overhaul this winter.
It has.
Starters Sabastian Harsh, Wrook Brown, Jaden Williams, Tyrecus Davis and Parks all left in free agency. Both safeties — Isaac White and Wyett Ekeler — exhausted their eligibility. So did linebackers Shae Suiaunoa and Connor Shay. Jordan Bertagnole graduated. So did DeVonne Harris.
You might recall, last year’s defense ranked 103rd overall out of 133 FBS teams, allowing nearly 411 yards an outing.
Remember the debacle in Albuquerque?
There are plenty of unknowns on that side of the ball, but there has been a serious upgrade, across the board, if you ask Sawvel.
That portal you loathe so much, believe it or not, works both ways.
Justin Taylor picked off a pass in Saturday’s spring game. So did Brooklyn Cheek. Those are transfer safeties, the first from Wisconsin. The second played at Cal. Gary Rutherford, a redshirt freshman linebacker from Peoria, Ill., also hauled in an interception in this one.
Don’t be surprised if he’s in the starting lineup Aug. 28 at Akron.
Edge rusher Tyce Westland deserves his flowers for loyalty, too. So does tackle Ben Florentine. Both have a number of starts under their collective belt and would be attractive to other programs. You can throw Dante Drake and Jayden Williams’ names in that conversation, too.
This is the squad that will look to bring this state, university and fanbase its first outright conference championship since 1988.
It’s finally official.
“We have the makings of a good football team,” Sawvel said. “… I think we’re a better football team than what we were a year ago at this time, but I think we have a lot of work to do.”
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.
Don’t agree with a selection? Feel free to sound off on our Twitter:
@7220sports – #Top50UWFB
Gallery Credit: 7220Sports.com
– University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players
