Saturday is the start of spring football for the Wyoming football team. So like I do for every football and men’s basketball game I am going to give you my top five things to watch this spring. Many of these coincide with the poll on the home page of this blog.

1. Change in defense: UW is going to a 4-3 from a 3-4. The change is both subtle and dramatic. It will be interesting to see how the move goes in 15 spring practices. It could be a little rough in the middle of the line as no one that will see action has ever played in a college game. I will be anxious to see how junior Gabe Knapton adapts to going from an inside linebacker to a defensive end. Several former linebackers are now defensive ends. Look in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in the coming days for more on this story.

2. The need for speed at receiver: UW supposedly addressed this with the addition of junior-college transfers DeJay Lester (how many times do you thing I will get his name mixed up with UW men’s basketball player JayDee Luster?) and Mazi Ogbonna. How will they do this spring and how will sophomore quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels adapt to their abilities?

3. What do you do for an encore?: Carta-Samuels told me something that nearly had me fall out of my chair a couple of weeks ago. Again, see the WTE in the coming days for what he said and what he would like to work on leading up to the start of this sophomore season.

4. Running back depth: True freshman Alvester Alexander led the team with 640 yards and seven touchdowns. But who will back him up? Brandon Stewart, the second-leading rusher, didn’t return to the team. Senior Darius Terry is back, but he went from the starter at the beginning of the season to barely on the depth chart by mid-season. James Caraway is now at cornerback and James Davis is out with a shoulder injury. True freshman Nehemie Kankolongo, a high school recruit from Canada who is enrolled at UW, could go a long way to seeing the field this fall with a good spring.

5. O-line shuffle: UW must replace three starters on the offensive line (senior Zack Kennedy started near the end of the season). There are guys returning that either started or played so there is some experience. But how does Nick Carlson do a center after playing guard last season? Where does JC transfer Nick Puetz fit in? Any young O-linemen emerge as potential starters?

What do you think of these things and what other areas are you curious about this spring?

Check out this blog on Saturday for a special surprise to kickoff spring drills and the 2010 season. I think you will like it, or at least generate some conversation. And like I said, see the WTE in the coming days on more spring football stories, including one on Saturday that will give you a good general overview.