MW notes: Wyoming steps up Colorado recruiting efforts

LAS VEGAS – New CSU coach Mike Bobo will have his work cut out for him recruiting Colorado.

Craig Bohl, Wyoming’s second-year coach, said his program plans to “double-down” on recruiting the state that produces the players he said are critical to the success of both programs.

“We looked through the years when the Cowboys were really successful, there was a strong presence of Colorado football players on our football team,” Bohl said Wednesday at the Mountain West media days at The Cosmopolitan hotel.

“For long-term, sustained success, you’ve got to recruit your own backyard. If you look at when Sonny Lubick was really successful at Colorado State, I’d venture to say there were a whole lot of Colorado players on that squad. And you look at when Paul Roach and Joe Tiller were successful at Wyoming, there’s players from Colorado, so we’re going to try to develop that 500-mile radius.”

Colorado, he said, has good high school football and a much larger population base, 5.3 million according to the U.S. Census Bureau, than Wyoming’s 584,000 residents.

Five of Wyoming’s projected starters this season, including star defensive end Eddie Yarbrough, are from Colorado high schools. There are 19 players from Colorado on Wyoming’s roster. CSU, for comparison’s sake, has 45 players from Colorado, including seven projected starters.

AGGIES RECOVERING: Senior defensive end John Taylor, one of four Utah State players hospitalized after an automobile accident last month, is recovering from his injuries and should be at full strength when fall practices begin next week, coach Matt Wells said.

Junior Edmund Faimalo and redshirt freshman Adewale Adeoye, both defensive ends, suffered internal injuries that have slowed their recoveries and made it difficult to predict when they might return, Wells said.

Senior Travis Seefeldt, a projected starter at noseguard before the accident, isn’t expected back this season. Wells said the school likely will apply for a hardship waiver from the MW and an extension of eligibility from the NCAA to allow him to play next season.

Damage to the sport-utility vehicle they were in when they were broadsided by a tractor-trailer rig at an intersection near Trenton, Utah, was extensive. None of the football players and a Utah State softball player who also was injured in the crash were wearing seatbelts, and Lt. Lee Perry of the Utah Highway Patrol told Salt Lake City’s Fox 13 TV “they’re just lucky they’re alive.”

TOP BOWLER: CSU safety Trent Matthews was the winner of a bowling competition Tuesday night among the 24 players – two from each conference school – participating in the media days. Matthews said he rolled a score of about 130 in the first game and 170 in the second, topping the field each time. He said he was too busy eating and socializing with the other players between frames to remember his exact scores.

BOWL LINEUP: The MW has contracts to place eligible conference teams in six bowl games this season. The winner of the Dec. 5 conference championship game will play in the Dec. 19 Las Vegas Bowl against a team from the Pacific-12 Conference, unless the MW champion earns a spot in the Fiesta, Sugar, Rose or Peach bowls as the highest-ranked champion from one of the Group of 5 conferences.

MW teams also will play in the Dec. 19 New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque against a Conference USA opponent, the Dec. 22 Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise against a Mid-American Conference team, the Dec. 23 Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego against Army or an at-large opponent, the Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu against an American Athletic Conference team and the Dec. 29 Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas, against a team from the Big Ten.

The MW also is the primary backup for the Jan. 2 Cactus Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, if either the Big 12 or Pac-12 does not have enough eligible teams to fill its slot.

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news