Junior walk-on Skyler Miller impressing coaches this spring

But there was a concern.

“I was only 210 to 215 pounds at the time they approached me about changing positions,” said Miller, who added the coaches first talked to him about that near the end of last season.

The 5-foot-11 Miller said he’s now about 230 pounds, and credits UW’s strength and conditioning staff for doing a good job of gradually adding muscle during winter workouts.

Senior Jaylon Watson is UW’s most experienced fullback with 39 games played. Junior Jahmari Moore, walk-on junior Jeff Burroughs and redshirt freshman walk-on Tristan Dietz are competing for practice reps this spring. Watson and Moore also were former linebackers who moved to fullback.

But with four spring practices left, sixth-year UW coach Craig Bohl said Miller has been a pleasant surprise.

“What he’s able to do is adjust on the run,” Bohl said. “He’s strong, and he’s able to block the right guy. If a guy moves and you have to take the next guy, he’s really good at that.

“He’s got a shot to help us (at fullback) this year. We had hoped he’d be this good, but he’s maybe a little further along than we expected.”

Learning the offense, particularly the terminology and alignments, is one of Miller’s biggest challenges right now. He said he’s grasped all of that, “fairly decently, but there’s room for improvement.”

But if he gets confused or is uncertain about something, he falls back on one thing.

“I’ve tried to have no fear of failure,” he said. “There’s going to be plays where you mess up or don’t do exactly what you’re supposed to do. I just try to play fast every single play.”

Miller said he had a “basic knowledge” of UW’s offense playing on the defensive scout team the last three years. And even though fullbacks don’t generally carry the ball in UW’s offense, he was a running back in high school, and rushed for 3,152 yards over his final two seasons.

First-year UW fullbacks/tight ends coach Shannon Moore said he’s still in the evaluation period for all of his fullbacks. But like Bohl, Moore has liked what he’s seen from Miller.

“He has grown a lot, and he brings a physical presence I really like,” Moore said.

Injury report

Bohl said sophomore center Patrick Arnold will have surgery on his left knee for an injury to his lateral collateral ligament, and redshirt freshman guard Zach Watts also will undergo knee surgery. Both are out for rest of spring.

Redshirt freshman tight end Jackson Marcotte (knee) returned to practice Thursday on a limited basis. However, sophomore tight end Nate Weinmann is out with broken ribs.

Bohl said sophomore nickel Keyon Blakenbaker aggravated a hamstring injury Thursday, but was hopeful Blankenbaker wouldn’t miss a lot of time.

Saturday scrimmage

UW will have its second scrimmage of spring drills Saturday, which is closed to the public and media.

Bohl is hopeful to run 77 plays. UW ran 83 plays last Saturday in Casper.

Despite the number of injuries this spring, Bohl said it is important to have a scrimmage Saturday.

“We have to keep pushing forward. There will be enough guys to scrimmage,” Bohl said. “We’ve installed most everything we have. We’ve got some evaluations to do, and we need to develop more toughness.”

Bohl said quarterback, the guard spots along the offensive line, defensive end, linebacker and safety are positions he will be especially interested in Saturday.

Extra points

UW practiced in its indoor practice facility Thursday because of windy conditions outside. The team worked out in helmets and shorts. … UW did some red zone work and Bohl said redshirt freshman quarterback Sean Chambers “threw the ball exceptionally well.” … Bohl said junior offensive guard Logan Harris of Torrington “is playing as good as he has since he’s been here.” … High school coaching staffs from Star Valley and Lovell were at practice.