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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 , 2019 l B9 ROCKET-MINER
WHEATLAND — The Independent Cattlemen of Wyoming conducted the 2019 Ranch Rodeo on July 27 in Wheatland.
Organizers said there was a large turn out to hear 11-year-old Addie Harvey sing the national anthem and watch the exciting action.
Wesley Rosengreen won the bronc riding, out of 15 competitors. The top bucking horse came from Larry Lampert.
The kid’s goat tying ribbon pull for younger contestants, ages 5-8, was won by Kash Keller. In the 9-12 group, Ari-ana Edwards won the event.
With a top score from a combination of mad scram-
ble and trailer loading, the Wyoming Bank and Trust team earned first place. For the mad scramble, team members had to rope a calf and “vaccinate” or mark it with a grease stick, “brand” a yearling steer with paint, and rope a cow to be milked enough that it poured out of the bottle, all done in the fastest time.
For the trailer loading event, team members had to sort out their designated steer from the herd, rope it, and load it into a trailer in the middle of the arena, along with two horses. Finally, two members of the team had to run to the front of the truck and touch the hood before
time was called after the animals were loaded.
ICOW’s next major public events are the national R-CALF meeting in Dead-wood, South Dakota, on Aug. 15-16 and ICOW’s annual
meeting in November in Casper. Top speakers from around the country will be at both meetings. The annual meeting in Casper will in-clude well known Dr. Angus MacIntosh and Jolene Brown.
AAAMEMBERSCAN SAVE UP TO 30%
ONHOME/AUTOINSURANCE!
By ROBERT GAGLIARDI
LARAMIE – Patrick Arnold has trained to be a center for a long time.
When he signed to play football at the University of Wyoming in 2017, he was projected to play center. Arnold started the first four games last season as a redshirt freshman at center before he suffered an ankle injury. Arnold took snaps at center before a knee injury shut him down near the end of spring drills in April.
But when UW released its post-spring depth chart, Arnold was listed as a left guard with sophomore Eric Abojei. That hasn’t changed in the early stages of fall camp.
“That left guard spot is up for com-petition,” first-year UW offensive line coach Bart Miller said. “Nothing is set in stone right now. I have an idea of where I want guys to be, but we have some competition at a couple of spots, and Pat and Eric is definitely one of them. Pat’s versatility to play guard and center really helps us.”
UW likes versatility at the center and guard positions. The projected starter at center, sophomore Keegan Cryder, started the first four games last season at guard (three at left guard, one at right guard), then replaced Arnold at center and earned freshman All-American honors by the Football Writers Associa-tion of America.
Junior Logan Harris of Torrington, the projected starter at right guard, started all 13 games at center as a true freshman in 2017. Harris was moved to guard last season and played in 12 games, including one start.
“Those three inside guys a lot of times are interchangeable,” sixth-year UW
coach Craig Bohl said. “To have more guys to play multiple positions is a big deal for us.”
After three fall camp practices, Ar-nold likes the move to guard.
“There’s a lot less responsibility at guard than at center,” he said. “You don’t have to make line calls or snap the ball, and I’m looking forward to that. But, there is more stuff on my plate. I’m pulling a lot more now and that can be really fun.
“I am an interior guy. I may bounce back to center and I still take reps there. I am fine with the move to guard, and I’m looking forward to seeing myself on film at a different position. I haven’t seen myself play guard since high school.
“It is about however I can help the team. It is always team over self. If they need me to play guard or whereever, I will play it. I just like playing football.”
Arnold looks forward to showing off his athleticism at guard in terms of pulling and executing open-field blocks. In fact, he is confident he is one of the best among his offensive line mates to do those things.
“I pride myself in being the most athletic offensive lineman,” Arnold said with a wry smile. “That may stir some feathers up in the room. It should be a fun move, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.”
PRACTICE REPORTThe Cowboys worked out in shoulder
pads and shorts Monday morning, its third of five acclimatization practices required by the NCAA.
“(Redshirt freshman starting quar-terback) Sean Chambers continues to improve with his accuracy and this throwing motion,” Bohl said. “Our first offensive line group did a nice job in our pass protection. We installed some
more physical run plays, and from that standpoint I thought our defensive line held its own.”
Bohl said there have been no injuries through the first three practices.
PUNTING PROWESSBohl said a good competition is brew-
ing at punter between junior Tim Zales-ki and senior walk-on Ryan Galovich.
Zaleski tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the fifth game last season. He missed all of spring drills, but is cleared for fall camp. Bohl said Zaleski “punted the ball well” Monday.
Galovich specialized in pinning opponents inside their 20-yard line last season, and seven of his 13 punts were downed inside the 20. He averaged 45.6 yards on five punts with a long of 67 and two downed inside the 20 in UW’s spring game.
“We chart and film everything, but Ryan made some great progress over the summer, and that has really shown so far as his hang time and distance have improved,” Bohl said.
NEWCOMER ASSESSMENTBohl was asked if any of the true
freshmen have caught his eye so far in camp.
“Some of them don’t know if they’re on foot or horseback right now,” he said. “Ask me that in probably two more days, but I think we have some guys who have the potential to play.”
SCOUT WATCHAn NFL scout from the Detroit Lions
was at Monday’s practice.Robert Gagliardi is the WyoSports se-
nior editor. He can be reached at [email protected] or 307-755-3325. Follow him on Twitter at @rpgagliardi.
C O L L E G E F O O T B A L L
Arnold welcomes move from center to guard
By ROBERT GAGLIARDI
LARAMIE – Trey Smith liked the culture and fami-ly-like atmosphere of the Uni-versity of Wyoming football program when he visited this spring.
That led the Louisville graduate transfer running back to choose UW to play his final year of college football. The 6-foot, 218-pound Smith arrived in Laramie in late May, went through summer work-outs and had his first practice of fall camp Friday.
Smith said he didn’t know a lot about UW or the state of Wyoming prior to coming here. But things have gone well during just over two months in Laramie.
“All of my expectations have been met. It is time to work. It is time to give the coaches everything I got and give the city everything I got,” Smith said during UW’s fall sports media day Friday.
“I’ve really been enjoying it. I’m a big scenery guy. I love waking up looking at the mountains every morning, or the fog rolling up on the hills.”
But as Smith said, it is time to work as UW gets ready for the upcoming season, and he figures to play a big role. He and sophomore Xazavian Valladay are the only scholar-ship running backs on UW’s roster who have played in a Division I game.
Last season, at Louisville, Smith had 50 carries for 263 yards – both third-best on the team – and four touchdowns, including a long of 52 yards. He also caught 10 passes for 74 yards. Smith missed some games due to injury. His best game was against Wake Forest on Sept. 27, where he had 13 carries for 98 yards and three touchdowns.
Smith ran for 124 yards on 21 carries for the Cardinals in 2017, and had 11 carries for 28 yards in 2016.
Valladay is UW’s leading returning rusher with 71 carries for 396 yards and three touchdowns. Smith has the edge on Valladay in experi-ence, but Valladay knows the offense better.
This is Smith’s last chance to play college football, but he doesn’t feel entitled based on his past, and has gladly accepted Valladay’s help in learning the offense.
“(Valladay) and I pretty much jelled from the first day we met,” Smith said. “He’s been teaching me pretty much all the technical details I need to know.”
UW coaches are excited about what Smith can do on the field, but that’s not the only thing.
“Recruiting isn’t an exact science, but we work hard at trying to evaluate charac-ter,” sixth-year coach Craig Bohl said. “Any time you are looking at a young man that is transferring, we have to really vet that. Is he going to fit in the locker room? Is he going to fit into our culture? That culture is really important to us.
“We had some real frank discussions with Trey, and told him what we were looking for and what we saw in him.”
Added UW running backs coach Gordie Haug: “He’s meshed in with the guys, and that’s really important to us. I think he’s a really good team-mate. For him to be the oldest guy in the room, but also a new guy, he understands he still has to learn a bunch of stuff, and take that coaching at times from somebody that may be younger than him like (Valladay).”
While Smith may have some things to learn, he hopes he can help his teammates with what he’s learned as a college football player, which has seen its share of ups and downs.
Smith was teammates at Louisville with quarterback Lamar Jackson, the 2016 Heisman Trophy winner and a finalist for the award in 2017. Louisville was among the nation’s top teams with Jackson, who was a rookie with the Baltimore Ravens in 2018. Last season, the Cardinals went winless in the Atlantic Coast Conference and finished 2-10.
“I want to try and give the young guys and anyone else the right information about what it is like to be a Division I football player,” Smith said. “I’ve seen a lot, and learned a lot from my experiences.
“But one thing I’ve learned about this team is the guys want to win. They’re not going to let anything slide. There are guys that will call you out, if necessary, if you let things slide. Everybody is on the same page, and I like that.”
PRACTICE REPORTThe Cowboys held their
first practice of fall camp Friday morning. It also was the first of five consecutive acclimatization practices man-dated by the NCAA.
“I was encouraged,” Bohl said. “I think we have a little more athleticism. I thought our quarterback position looked better (Friday). I thought (redshirt freshman starter Sean Chambers) threw the ball with much more con-fidence, and fundamentally looked sharper. I thought our receivers caught the ball well.”
Bohl said there were no in-juries during the first practice. UW returns to the practice field at 8:45 a.m. today. That practice is closed to the public and media.
SEASON TICKETS UPDATEUW athletics director Tom
Burman said season ticket sales for football were at 7,985 as of Friday. Burman also said the person who buys No. 8,000 will get a VIP experience for the home game with Idaho on Sept. 14. That experience includes pregame functions, sideline passes for the game, a private tour of the High Altitude Performance Center and some UW Adidas gear.
Burman said the person that gets UW to 8,500 in sea-son tickets sold will also get a VIP game experience later in the season.
As for ticket sales for the season-opener Aug. 31 against Missouri, Burman said: “Mis-souri fans are buying tickets. Our fans need to make sure we have as good of a home-field advantage as we can.”
C O L L E G E F O O T B A L L
Ready to work, willing to learn
BEST HORSESHOE PITCHERS AT THE FAIR
PHOTO COURTESTY OF JENNIFER RUNDELL
ROCK SPRINGS — Winners of the doubles horseshoe pitching tournament at the
Sweetwater County Fair include, from left, Jake Allgier and Jeff Gomez, third
place; John Rundell and Mel Banks, second place; and Liza Nussbaum and Wade
Bloedow, first place.
PHOTO COURTESTY OF JENNIFER RUNDELL
Winners of the single horseshoe pitching tourna-
ment at the fair include, from left, Jeff Driggs, sec-
ond place; Nathàn Gomez, first place; and John
Rundell, third place.
Independent Cattlemen of Wyoming hosts Ranch Rodeo
The arena crew stands by on July 27 at the Ranch Rodeo in Wheatland.
A bronc rider hangs on at the 2019 Ranch Rodeo hosted by the
Independent Cattlemen of Wyoming. Out of the 15 riders, Wesley
Rosengreen took first in the event.
