The Cowboys had their first full scrimmage of spring drills Saturday inside the school’s Indoor Practice Facility.
The offense beat the defense 57-49 in the elaborate and unique scoring system UW uses.
“It’s nice to come out here and have a practice and look like a real football team,” second-year coach Dave Christensen said. “I was very pleased with the No. 1 offense that scored on every possession, and the No. 1 defense stopped the twos on every possession except for one.”
The Cowboys’ first units were impressive.
Sophomore quarterback Austyn-Carta Samuels was 13 of 17 for 209 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He also led the offense with 80 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown.
Senior receiver Zach Bolger caught six passes for 74 yards, and clearly has been Carta-Samuels’ favorite target so far this spring.
Junior linebacker Brian Hendricks returned a Dax Crum interception 64 yards and a touchdown.
And in his first extensive scrimmage as a defensive end, junior Gabe Knapton had a team-best 10 tackles, which included 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack.
Other things that stood out to me from the scrimmage:
–True freshman running back Nehemie Kankalongo suffered an MCL injury to his knee Thursday in practice. He won’t require surgery but will be out the rest of spring. Sophomore Alvester Alexander and senior Darius Terry are the only two running backs on scholarship on the team right now. From now on, this will be a huge opportunity for Terry, who was the starter at the beginning of last season but fell to third and even lower on the depth chart by season’s end. Alexander had 59 yards on 14 carries and three TDs in the scrimmage. Terry had 32 yards on 12 carries.
–Junior-college transfer Nick Puetz started at left guard in place of senior Jack Tennant. Puetz may be there for a while.
–Carta-Samuels looks more comfortable and confident. I like what’ I’m seeing from him.
–While the interior of UW’s defensive line remains uncertain due to injuries and guys who have yet to arrive, I really like what I’m seeing from the defensive ends in Knapton and junior Josh Biezuns, and the back seven guys at linebacker and the secondary. The defense seems to have more speed and is playing a lot more physical so far this spring.
–A minor confrontation between redshirt freshman linebacker Devyn Harris and junior center Brandon Self broke out. No punches were thrown, but it took a few players to separate them from the pile of humanity.
–Sophomore kicker Ian Watts has some competition this spring in Casper walk-on Kevin Bell, but Watts remains the clear-cut starter.
–UW’s third quarterback on the roster right now is redshirt freshman walk-on Eli Zent from Shoshoni.
–Still haven’t seen much from UW’s two junior-college receivers — Mazi Ogbonna and DeJay Lester — but give it some time. They are still getting used to their new surroundings and expectations.
See Sunday’s Wyoming Tribune Eagle for more on the scrimmage. Also see my column on how the experimentation continues along the offensive line, which is fine, but how key it will be for UW to find more consistency from that unit once the regular season starts.
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