UNLV Notebook: Sawvel Looking For ‘Growth’ in League Play
LARAMIE -- Did Jay Sawvel escape the non-conference slate full of pessimism?
Hardly.
Wyoming's second-year head coach said Monday he is looking for "growth" out of players like quarterback Kaden Anderson, tight end Evan Svoboda and newly inserted starting left tackle Jake Davies, for example.
Sawvel is also looking for an emergence from the likes of wideouts Jaylen Sargent, Eric Richardson and Jaylan Bean. You can add names like tight end John Michael Gyllenborg to that list, also.
How about Jackson Holman? Clay Nanke? Bricen Brantley?
Noticing a trend? These guys all play on offense.
"We've got some players that are new to us that will continue to get better. You know, just foundationally continue to get better," Sawvel said. "And then we also have some young guys playing that will continue to develop like Tyrese Boss. He hasn't hit his ceiling. He's a redshirt freshman right now, you know? He's going to continue to get better."
Aside from a few spurts on offense, the Cowboys will enter conference play Saturday night against unbeaten UNLV with the 100th-ranked offense in the country, averaging just 345.2 yards per game.
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Wyoming, who is coming off back-to-back losses to Big-XII opponents Utah and Colorado, scores 16.8 points per game. That equates to eight offensive touchdowns. Only Nevada has been worse in the Mountain West with four.
Anderson, who will be starting just his seventh-career game, is completing only 55.1% of his passes and has been picked off twice. Sargent, last year's leading receiver in terms of yardage, has only three grabs for 33 yards. Gyllenborg has 83 yards and a score through the air, but has missed the previous seven quarters with a nagging thigh injury.
"You know, some experienced guys still can step forward and emerge and be the type of players that we expect them to be anyway," Sawvel said. "So, no, I'm optimistic, coming out of where we were at. I think that's something that the team shares, as well."
Here are some other news and notes from Sawvel's presser:
* Nate Geiger, for the second-consecutive season, is sidelined with a torn ACL in his left knee. The injury happened early in the second quarter of that 37-20 loss in Boulder. You can read all about that -- and who will replace the sophomore left tackle -- right HERE.
* Cornerback Markie Grant is going to play through a broken finger and Gyllenborg should be ready to go this Saturday, per Sawvel. He said the bye week came at a "great time" for healing and recalibrating.
* Safeties Brooklyn Cheek and Justin Taylor, offseason acquisitions from Cal and Wisconsin, respectively, will be receiving additional reps in practice, according to Sawvel. Are these moves in response to Jones Thomas giving up a pair of touchdowns in that loss to CU? "I'd say it's more about depth, for sure," safeties coach Jason Petrino said on Monday. "A year ago, it was really one of those things where we didn't have the depth in August that we needed to in case something happened. Well, all those things happened (Wyett Ekeler suffered a pair of broken thumbs and Isaac White dealt with an ankle injury). So now we do feel we have six or seven guys here within the roster that could give us game reps." You can read about the rough night at the office for Jones -- and a majority of the UW secondary -- right HERE.
* UNLV's defense is allowing nearly 430 yards of total offense per game. That's come against the likes of Idaho State, Sam Houston State, UCLA and Miami (Ohio). That foursome has a combined record of 3-14. How can Wyoming exploit that unit? "I don't know if I look at it as much as about them as it is about us just needing to involve more people," Sawvel said. "I think that there's certain things that we've got to do -- from a structure standpoint -- our players need to be more productive and then I think we also will look at some things from a play-call standpoint, too. How do we get more people involved, maybe earlier?"
* Sawvel was asked about one of his latest verbal commitments in the 2026 recruiting class, Cheyenne Central lineman Jackson Garrett, and, of course, he is not allowed to comment until there's a signature on the dotted line. That led to a humorous exchange about why that's even a rule anymore, considering nearly everything else is on the table. "I could give a guy an Aston Martin, in theory, right?" he said with a smile. "But I can't comment on whether a guy's coming here. Is that one of the stupidest things that you've ever heard of?" Sure is. If you want to read about the big man from Cheyenne, you can do that right HERE.
* Interested in how former Wyoming football players are producing at their new homes? You can find all of that info right HERE.
* Wyoming and UNLV will meet Saturday night for the 27th time, with the Cowboys holding a slight 14-12 edge in the overall series. The red-hot Rebels haven't won a game in Laramie since 2003. That's a losing skid of six straight, the last a 53-17 beatdown back in 2019.
* kickoff is slated for 5 p.m. and the game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
* The Roaring Repeater Podcast will air again this Tuesday with Cody Tucker and Jared Newland behind the mic inside our Cheyenne studios. Make sure to watch our social media feed, where we'll be asking you, the fans, for any questions you may have before the home opener. Here is last week's episode.
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