Wyoming Loses First Presumed Starter to Transfer Portal

LARAMIE -- An obvious strength of Wyoming's football team, Jay Sawvel would say in mid-April after an open practice inside War Memorial Stadium, is in the middle of the defensive front.

"There's a case to be made, he might have been our best defensive tackle last year," the rookie head coach said, referring to senior Gavin Meyer.

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Now the 6-foot-4, 284-pound Wisconsin product is "expected to enter" the NCAA Transfer Portal with one season of eligibility remaining.

Meyer's "NIL agent" Miles Jordan broke the news to On3sports.com Wednesday, just hours after college football's free-agent frenzy officially came to a close at midnight Mountain Time.

Meyer himself liked the post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Jordan shared the announcement.

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Meyer becomes the 15th Cowboy to leave the program this offseason. While that number might look troublesome on the surface, the veteran nose guard is the only presumed starter to bolt since Sawvel took the reins in early January.

Jordan Bertagnole, who announced in the offseason he would return to Laramie for a sixth year, was slated to line up next to Meyer in the trenches, forming one of the top tackle tandems in the Mountain West if not the country. Caleb Robinson was also expected to enter the rotation this fall. He was lost for the season with an unspecified injury midway through spring camp.

Jayden Williams, Ben Florentine, Jaden Williams and Lucas Samsula will likely vault up the depth chart with Meyer's departure.

Meyer tallied 26 tackles last season -- 13 solo stops and the same number of assists -- while helping lead the Cowboys' defense to a Top-50 ranking. The year prior he finished with a career-best 39 tackles and tacked on 3.5 sacks. The former three-star recruit out of Franklin High School also forced a fumble.

His best outing came during a 27-14 road victory over New Mexico back in 2022. Earning the spot start after Cole Godbout was sidelined with an injury, Meyer capped his night with six tackles, including two quarterback sacks. He also partially blocked a 45-yard field-goal attempt as time expired in the first half.

"Well, having a head coach give me props about what I do is awesome," Meyer said in mid-April in response to Sawvel's comments about him arguably being the best player on the defensive front. "I think that's really a testament to our D linemen, as a whole, and having the depth in the room where it's point A to point B -- doesn't matter who's in there, they do their job and they do it well and can make plays.

"You know, to be a leader in that room, I really appreciate (his words), but I think it's the whole room. That's a testament to how we work hard and the leaders of the defense."

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Here are the former Cowboys currently in the NCAA Transfer Portal:

^ DT - Gavin Meyer - Sr. - Franklin, Wisc.

# CB - Chauncey Carter - RFr. - Garland, Texas

^ RB - DQ James - Soph. - Lancaster, Texas