Wyoming senior receivers back to full strength

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - It's been a while since senior receivers Tanner Gentry and Jake Maulhardt have played a game together.

Oct. 17, to be exact, when Gentry suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in a win against Nevada.

"It's going to be exciting," Maulhardt said. "I always like being out there with him and trying to bully people. It's nice to have someone else out there with me."

Before last Wednesday, it had also been a while since the two had practiced full speed together.

Gentry pulled his left hamstring in the third practice of camp and Maulhardt suffered a soft-tissue injury a week later.

Gentry said he's feeling back to 100 percent.

"I feel the same," he said. "I don't feel anything wrong with it."

Same for Maulhardt.

"It was just something little," he said. "The trainers are doing a really good job and it's all better now."

Head coach Craig Bohl noted upon their return that injuries seem to magically disappear when the games draw nearer.

"They all go see the wizard, and they're all fine," Bohl said with a laugh. "'Put me in, coach.'"

There's a reason for that, Maulhardt said.

"Sometimes when you're in camp, you could take time off for precautionary things," he said. "You're never feeling 100 percent throughout the season, so when you get closer to games, a little nick that you might miss a couple days in camp doesn't matter anymore, because you know you need to be out there for the game."

And boy does Wyoming need them out there for the games.

The two each had more than 600 receiving yards last year, and Gentry was one of the top receivers in the Mountain West when he was injured, averaging 18.3 yards per catch. Maulhardt finished with eight receiving touchdowns, tied for second in the Mountain West.

"Last year, a lot of it was on us," Maulhardt said. "And when Tanner got hurt, a lot of it got put on me. We can't have that. We need to have four guys, five guys that can go in there and make plays."

While they were sidelined, the two got a better chance to see what the other guys can do.

"I think guys improved," Gentry said, "and we built some pretty good depth at receiver, which we didn't have too much of last year."

Maulhardt added: "We have a lot of potential this year."

Sophomore James Price and redshirt freshman C.J. Johnson earned second-string spots headed into the season and redshirt freshman Austin Conway has impressed since transitioning from basketball to football. Plus, sophomore Joseph Parker brings some experience to the slot position.

"They've been doing good," Gentry said. "I think that there can be some good slot receivers that can give us some benefits on offense."

You might think that some time off in camp would actually be a blessing in disguise for two senior receivers.

But Gentry and Maulhardt would've much preferred to be out there.

"I think fall camp is good to just keep working on your game and kind of get better every day," Gentry told the Casper Star-Tribune (http://bit.ly/2c5VIT8).

Plus, it's not like they were sitting around playing video games all camp.

"Even when we're out, we're taking mental reps," Maulhardt said. "We're in the meetings all day. We might not physically be running, but we're still out there taking the same amount of reps just mentally."

As far as the physical side of things, Maulhardt feels like a whole new receiver compared to the one who last played alongside Gentry.

"I'm a lot heavier, and I'm a lot more, I think, faster and explosive," he said. "And that's due to the strength staff."

As for Gentry, while he wasn't ecstatic about having to rehab another injury, there's a major difference about this one.

"This wasn't that big of a deal," he said. "Because I'm not missing games or anything."

If Wyoming's lucky, he won't have to.

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Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com