Cowboy Football To Begin Spring Practices

The Wyoming Cowboys will begin 2012 Spring Football drills on Wednesday, March 21 with the first of 15 practices. During 2012 spring ball, the Cowboys will conduct three scrimmages on Wednesday, April 4 at 3:30 p.m.; Wednesday, April 11 at 3:30 p.m.; and the Spring Game on Saturday, April 21 at 2:00 p.m.

All three of those scrimmages will be open to media and the public. All other spring practices will be closed to the media and the public.

The Cowboys will welcome back six individuals who earned All-Conference honors a year ago, including: Mountain West Freshman of the Year Brett Smith at quarterback; Second Team All-Conference performers Nick Carlson at center, Chris McNeill at wide receiver and Luke Ruff at strong safety; as well as Honorable Mention All-Mountain West performers Blair Burns at one cornerback spot and Tyler Strong at offensive guard.

Smith and Burns also earned multiple Freshman All-America honors in 2011. Smith was named First Team Freshman All-American by CollegeFootballNews.com, and was a Second Team Freshman All-America choice by Yahoo! Sports. Burns was named a First Team Freshman All-American by CBSSports.com and by the Football Writers Associaton of America (FWAA). He also was an Honorable Mention Freshman All-America honoree of CollegeFootballNews.com.

Head coach Dave Christensen enters his fourth season as head coach of the Cowboys. Christensen was named Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year in 2011.

The Cowboys are coming off a 2011 campaign that saw them post an 8-5 record and a third-place finish in the Mountain West. The eight wins by the Cowboys were the most for Wyoming since 1998, and the third-place finish was UW's highest since 2006.

Wyoming's appearance in the 2011 Gildan New Mexico Bowl was the second bowl appearance in three seasons under Christensen.

2012 UW Football Spring Practice Schedule

Wednesday, March 21: 3:30 p.m. (Non-contact, Practice #1)

Friday, March 23: 3:30 p.m. (Non-contact, Practice #2)

Monday, March 26: 3:30 p.m. (Shoulder Pads, Practice #3)

Wednesday, March 28: 3:30 p.m. (Pads, Practice #4)

Friday, March 30: 3:30 p.m. (Pads, Practice #5)

Monday, April 2: 3:30 p.m. (Pads, Practice #6)

Wednesday, April 4: 3:30 p.m. (Scrimmage #1, Practice #7)

Thursday, April 5: 3:30 p.m. (Non-contact, Practice #8)

EASTER BREAK: Friday, April 6 Through Sunday, April 8

Monday, April 9: 3:30 p.m. (Pads, Practice #9)

Wednesday, April 11: 3:30 p.m. (Scrimmage #2, Practice #10)

Friday, April 13: 3:30 p.m. (Pads, Practice #11)

Monday, April 16: 3:30 p.m. (Pads, Practice #12)

Wednesday, April 18: 3:30 p.m. (Shoulder Pads, Practice #13)

Friday, April 20: 3:30 p.m. (Non-contact, Practice #14)

Saturday, April 21: 2:00 p.m. (Scrimmage #3, Practice, #15)

Click Here to view this Link.