2022 SEASON OUTLOOK P O S I T I O N - B Y- P O S I T I O N
OFFENSE
SEASON OUTLOOK
Quarterbacks When the Cowboys take the field for their Aug. 27 season opener at Illinois, they will have one quarterback on the roster who has seen extensive experience playing at the NCAA FBS level. That QB is junior Andrew Peasley, who transferred to Wyoming in January from Utah State with two years of eligibility remaining. The other quarterbacks that competed in the spring for the starting spot included redshirt freshman Hank Gibbs, redshirt sophomore Jayden Clemons and junior-college transfer Evan Svoboda. True freshman Caden Becker joined the team this summer. The competition for the starting spot will continue in fall camp. Peasley’s best career games at Utah State were at Air Force and at Washington State in 2021 and vs. New Mexico in 2020. Last season with Utah State trailing Air Force 24-20 in the third quarter, Peasley rallied the Aggies to a 49-45 road win. He threw three second-half touchdown passes of 5 yards, 37 yards and 72 yards to three different receivers to fuel the comeback. Peasley completed 10 of 15 passes (.667) on the day for 195 yards. He added 29 rushing yards on five carries to tally 224 yards of total offense. He also scored a two-point conversion, scrambling into the end zone for the successful PAT. In the 2021 seasonopening win at Washington State, Peasley completed 6 of 12 passes (.500) for 76 yards and ran four times for 43 yards to account for 119 yards of total offense in a 26-23 road victory. In 2020, Peasley earned Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week honors with an outstanding performance against New Mexico in a 41-27 home victory. Peasley completed 14 of 21 pass attempts (.667) for 239 yards and threw three TD passes versus the Lobos. He also ran for 118 yards on 11 carries against UNM, including a 62-yard touchdown run, and accounted for 357 yards of total offense. That performance also earned him recognition as a Manning Award Star of the Week. During his college career, Peasley has completed 70 of 127 passes (.551) for 830 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions. He has also rushed for 515 yards on 57 carries, averaging 9.0 yards per carry and scoring three rushing touchdowns. “When you talk about a football team the first position most people want to hear about is quarterback,” said head coach Craig Bohl. “Andrew Peasley really did some good things during the course of spring, and I think he finished off with a good spring game. He really made progress in learning our system. He’s an experienced player, but he’s not played in our system before in a game. It will be important for him to continue to make progress in fall camp. “Hank Gibbs had a good spring, as well. Evan Svoboda has a lot of ability and is still finding his way moving up in competition from junior college after transferring in from Snow College. Jayden Clemons did some good things this spring, and then we have a freshman in Caden Becker, who joined us in the summer.”
B R E A K D O W N
Running Backs Wyoming is fortunate to have an outstanding group of running backs returning for the 2022 season, highlighted by junior Titus Swen. Swen is coming off an extremely productive 2021 season. He earned Second Team All-Mountain West Conference honors from Pro Football Focus last season. He rushed for a career high 785 yards and seven touchdowns while sharing carries with Wyoming’s second all-time leading rusher Xazavian Valladay. Swen averaged 5.95 yards per carry to rank No. 2 in the Mountain West and No. 26 in the nation. He recorded two 100-yard rushing games in ‘21 -- 166 yards in a home win over Colorado State and 169 yards in a road win over Utah State. The 169 yards at Utah State included a 98-yard run for a touchdown that put on display Swen’s explosive running style. Joining Swen in the backfield this season will be sophomore Dawaiian McNeely, who also saw significant game action last season and is as healthy as he has been during his Wyoming career. Sophomore Jeremy Hollingsworth injured a knee in spring and likely will be out for much of the 2022 season. There are a number of young, talented backs vying for playing time in redshirt freshmen Joey Braasch, D.Q. James and Jordon Vaughn and true freshman L.J. Richardson. “Last year, Titus Swen led our football team in yards per carry,” said Bohl. “He’s an explosive runner, capable receiver, and I think he has certainly improved in his pass protection. I really believe Titus is a dynamic running back. He possesses good speed to go with his ability to break a lot of tackles. We’re excited about Titus’ future. “Dawaiian McNeely played some for us a year ago. He had a big-time run for a long touchdown in the spring game. He’s come back in good shape from surgery to his abdominal area. “Along with Titus and Dawaiian, we have D.Q. James, who is an exciting player when he has the ball in his hands. He can make a lot of people miss. “Jeremy Hollingsworth is a veteran who suffered a knee injury in spring and won’t be participating, particularly earlier in the year. “A n d t h e n w e h a v e s o m e y o u n g e r players who we will be taking a look at in the fall. We feel good about the number of players we have at running back and certainly feel good about what Titus showed last year.”
Fullbacks The Cowboys’ fullback position definitely has a Wyoming flavor to it, with three of the four fullbacks coming from the state of Wyoming. Sophomore Parker Christensen from Sheridan, Wyo., is Wyoming’s most versatile offensive performer, playing both fullback and tight end and starting 11 of 13 games last season. In four of those games, he was joined in the starting lineup by Caleb Driskill from Gillette, Wyo. Rounding out the fullback position are redshirt freshmen Kimball Madsen from Mountain View, Wyo., and Dalton Strouss from San Luis Obispo, Calif. “It’s always good to have a couple experienced players there and great to have a couple Wyoming natives there,” commented Bohl. “Parker Christensen,
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PARKER CHRISTENSEN FULLBACK/TIGHT END
from Sheridan, shifts between fullback and H-Back positions for us. He can also line up as a traditional tight end. He’s gained some weight, and he’s a talented player whether he’s running the football, catching it or blocking. Caleb Driskill is from Gillette and is more of a traditional fullback. We are one of the few teams who still features a true fullback in our offense and it’s great to have those two guys there.”
B AC K F I E LD ( 1 6) Quarterbacks 15 Caden Becker 12 Jayden Clemons 13 Hank Gibbs 6 Andrew Peasley 17 Evan Svoboda Running Backs 22 Joey Braasch 21 Jeremy Hollingsworth 7 D.Q. James 30 Dawaiian McNeely 26 L.J. Richardson 2 Titus Swen 28 Jordon Vaughn Fullbacks 80 Parker Christensen 36 Caleb Driskill 35 Kimball Madsen 32 Dalton Strouss
Ht. 6-4 6-1 6-5 6-2 6-5 Ht. 6-1 5-9 5-7 6-2 6-1 5-11 6-2 Ht. 6-2 6-2 6-1 5-8
Wt. 220 208 237 210 240 Wt. 218 212 172 198 215 206 230 Wt. 235 248 226 220
Cl. Fr. RSo. RFr. Jr. So. Cl. RFr. So. RFr. So. Fr. Jr. RFr. Cl. So. So. RFr. RFr.
