Pokes Practice Report: Peasley beginning to emerge

LARAMIE -- Andrew Peasley went through five different quarterback coaches during his four-year college career at Utah State.

Tim Polasek is No. 6.

Mastering the west coast offense the Cowboys run, Craig Bohl said, can be like learning a new language. Something tells me the junior quarterback is a quick learner.

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Wyoming's head coach is starting to see that, too.

"Andrew Peasley is really beginning to execute our offense better," Bohl said after Thursday's practice in Laramie. "... Just the terminology and some of the ideas with what we do -- and the pro-style offense is really quite different than what Utah State did -- so there's a curve there and he's really embraced it."

Peasley, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound LaGrande, Ore., product, appeared in 18 games at the FBS level. He has thrown for 830 yards and completed 70 of his 130 pass attempts. He has also added seven touchdown tosses. On the ground, Peasley has gashed defenses to the tune of 503 yards on just 57 carries. That's an average of nearly nine yards per rush. He's also found the end zone three times.

The only other signal caller on the roster who has seen any playing time is Gavin Beerup. He has just two completions on 13 attempts to go along with two interceptions in mop-up duty.

MORE UW FOOTBALL COVERAGE:

* Pokes Practice Report: Things are getting physical

* Hank Gibbs in the hint for starting QB spot in Laramie

* Wyoming's DQ James ready to break ankles on Saturdays

* Peasley looking to bring confidence to young Wyoming roster

While Bohl reiterated he won't be releasing a depth chart or publicly naming any starters this spring, he did say the junior had his most productive outing in a Wyoming uniform Thursday afternoon.

That's good news for UW fans. These drills mostly revolved around third-down conversions.

"I thought he had probably his best day as far as decisions and where the ball was going," Bohl continued.

Here are some other news and notes from this week at camp:

* Running back Jeremy Hollingsworth suffered a torn ACL this week, according to Bohl. The sophomore from Longmont, Colo., carried the ball just once last fall. He amassed two yards in Wyoming's 45-12 thumping of Ball State in Week 3. Bohl said the team is dealing with plenty of "bumps and bruises" during camp. He also said this might be the most physical spring he's seen since arriving on campus nine years ago.

* Bohl said tight end Treyton Welch made a couple of nice grabs on Thursday and Easton Gibbs' transition to middle linebacker is going  to plan. Another player that has caught the head man's attention this spring is offensive lineman Jack Walsh. The 6-foot-3, 302-pound redshirt freshman from Palatine, Ill., is a legacy player at UW. His father, John Walsh, also played on the line and won a pair of WAC titles in Laramie in 1987 and '88. "He's playing a couple different positions, but he's got a really good football IQ, particularly for a freshman," Bohl said. "His body is in the right place and he takes coaching well. Some guys have natural movements that would indicate that they don't have to exactly be perfect. The body is able to kind of move and their leverage is such and he's one of those guys. We are encouraged about that."

* Speaking of the big guys up front. Bohl said he likes to go into a season with at least eight guys who can rotate in and out of the lineup. Right now, the Cowboys have seven, according to the head coach. "It's going to take more than five. Typically, at that position, there's some injuries that occur during the course of the year," he said. "... The eighth guy, right now, is out there in the abyss. He's out there, I just don't know where he is. I hope he comes pretty soon, but right now, he ain't here yet." Wyoming will add four more lineman in June when the true freshmen arrive in Laramie. That's when Jagger Filippone, Mykel Janise, Wes King and four-star recruit, Deshawn Woods, will join the offensive line group.

* Yes, Bohl said he knows the Cowboys' passing attack needs some serious improvement this fall, but once again, he doubled down on the need to have a power running game. "I know there were a lot of questions concerning our passing game, which statistically we need to improve on," he said. "But I think we have a really good stable of running backs. The guys who are into analytics, if you look and study FBS football last year, the team that rushed for one more yard, won the game 74% of the time. So, there's still some merit to that and we're excited about the group that we have."

* Don't expect to see much of junior running back Titus Swen at Wyoming's annual Brown and Gold game on Saturday, April 30. What you should see, though, is plenty of 5-foot-7, 172-pound speedster DQ James. Bohl also said Dawaiian McNeely, who had been dealing with a hip issue, is back on the field.

* Just how important is that spring game? Well, not nearly as impactful as the 77-play scrimmage coming up this Saturday, according to Bohl. The game itself -- which is open to the public -- is more about just that -- fans. "There's some evaluation to it but a lot of it is just to give our players an opportunity to play in a game-like situation where there are fans in the stands, with officials, no coaches on the field and have somewhat of a buzz," he said. "That has an impact, really for a young guy."

* Bohl said he purposely moved the game back a week this year. Not only for weather purposes, but to give players an extra week with the strength staff.

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* The Cowboys annual spring game is scheduled for April 30 at 2 p.m. inside War Memorial Stadium.