Casper product making impact at Wyoming football

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - Since Logan Wilson last played linebacker, he's sprouted more than 1 foot and gained 100-plus pounds.

"In midget football, I was a linebacker," the Natrona County product said with a laugh.

But as a two-way star for the Mustangs, Wilson primarily played cornerback on defense.

When he joined Wyoming in June, he made a slight switch to safety.

For this spring, the redshirt freshman's been moved to weak-side linebacker, where Cowboys coach Craig Bohl said he's quickly ascended the depth chart.

"I coached linebackers for a lot of years, and I'm really pleased with his progress," Bohl said. "... He's got really good speed. he covers a lot of ground. I think he's got good instincts. He's a good tackler.

"Putting him closer to the line of scrimmage is a little bit new for him, but I think he's coming around. We see a really bright future for him. Right now, he's our No. 1 Will linebacker."

Wilson redshirted last fall in an effort to allow him to catch up to the speed of the college game.

While he was at it, he added 15 pounds of muscle, allowing UW's coaching staff to follow through with its original plan.

"Well, they talked about (moving me to linebacker) before fall camp last year," the 6-foot-2, 221-pound Wilson said. "They thought about moving me and then they asked me if I wanted to stay at safety and see how well I moved. But I put on some weight during the season and after the end of the season, sometime this semester, they just came and asked me. They said, 'We want you to move to 'backer.'"

Wilson assumed that position change was coming. His experience playing that role on Wyoming's scout team in 2015 helped prepare him for it.

"I knew it was coming just because I was putting on weight and I was moving well, and they wanted a big, fast linebacker to help the defense," he said. "I played scout team linebacker the whole year because we didn't have enough guys. I got used to the physicality part of it, but I was playing the other team's defense, so it was a little different. Now I've got to read the defense and fill gaps."

It's been a mostly smooth transition for Wilson, who won Class 4A state championships in football, basketball and outdoor track in 2014-15 alongside UW sophomore tight end Josh Harshman.

In the eyes of defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Steve Stanard, Wilson is a natural fit at linebacker.

"You know, Logan's got good vision," Stanard said. "He really bends well, has good feet, can really run. I think he's really got the skill set and the tools to be a really good linebacker.

"Now it's just a matter of flattening out his learning curve because it's pretty steep for a young man who's played corner in high school and then we put him at safety for a little while and then he ran a bunch of scout team stuff."

The biggest challenge is learning to think and react like a linebacker.

Much of those traits becomes instinctual through experience - something Wilson hasn't had any of since midget football.

Yet, he tied for third on the team in tackles Saturday in the Cowboys' instrasquad scrimmage, recording four.

"He's working at it, and he's learning," Stanard said. "... He's smart, he's a good student, he's not afraid to study.

"But I think sometimes those younger players, they think, 'Well, I'll just got to meetings, go to practice,' kind of like how they did in high school. And then they find out there's a lot more effort that's got to go into this outside of our structured meetings. And he's doing a good job of that."

So far the extra work and attention to detail is paying off for the former Mustang.

It's still roughly five months from the Cowboys' season opener, but for now, Wilson is Wyoming's front runner to start at weak-side linebacker.

"It's a process," Wilson said. "I just take it day by day. It's a change ... but I think I'm adapting well."

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