Veterans Welch, Driskill lead tight ends and fullbacks

Aug. 28—Stats don't tell the full story for how valuable Treyton Welch is to the University of Wyoming's offense.

Welch, who's going into his fifth and final season at UW, is the clear leader in the Cowboys' tight end room. He's been a staple for the past four years, and his leadership has rubbed off on the younger tight ends behind him.

Welch was UW's second-leading receiver last year, hauling in 22 catches for 308 yards and five touchdowns. He was the best offensive weapon during last year's Arizona Bowl, leading the team with five catches for 91 yards and a touchdown.

Welch was named to the second team All-MW roster by Phil Steele this summer. Coming off his best college season in a UW uniform, he knows there's still plenty of room for him to grow in the offense.

"I'm my biggest critic," Welch said. "I want to look at every area I can that I can possibly get better at. I want to be able to pinpoint every area possible of what I can get better at and go 200 miles per hour toward it and get 2% better at it every day. That's important to me.

"I never want to be satisfied with what I'm doing or what I've done or what I'm going to do. I want to be my biggest critic, and I want to be my biggest challenger."

Welch won't be the only tight end contributing in both the running and passing game. UW has plenty of depth behind Welch, including John Michael Gyllenborg, Colin O'Brien, Nick Miles and Rock Springs product Isaac Schoenfeld.

"It's nice to have so many returning guys," Welch said. "We have (quarterback Andrew Peasley) coming back, we have all of these guys coming back at receiver, and we have tight ends coming back, as well. I think it's awesome that we just have a crew that we're used to that we've already built chemistry with, and now we can just continue to build chemistry with."

UW coach Craig Bohl has plenty of confidence Gyllenborg can take a big step forward this season. While Welch's role will be hefty again, there's room for Gyllenborg to carve out his own path offensively.

"We saw him emerging this last year," Bohl said. "Just the presence of him out there — and that's no knock to Treyton, because Treyton so far has had a really good in (spring) camp — but to have two really explosive tight ends that can stretch the field vertically I think is going to really help us."

Thunder Basin High graduate Caleb Driskill is another veteran piece in the room at fullback. His experience over the past three seasons as a lead blocker in the running game has created plenty of excitement for his return this fall.

"It's kind of fun to see him grow over the last few years," Welch said about Driskill. "In our offseason, we're doing laser sprints, and he's running really fast. People don't think about that if you're a fullback, but he kind of reminds me of (Kyle) Juszczyk for the 49ers a little bit.

"Driskill has been catching the ball this offseason, too. It's fun to see him continue to become more diverse in what he does."

The Cowboys have two fullbacks behind Driskill on the depth chart, including Kimball Madsen and Cooper Mailand, who's listed as both a fullback and a tight end. UW lost veteran tight ends Parker Christensen and Jackson Marcotte this offseason, but having Welch and Driskill's leadership should be plenty for the tight ends and fullbacks this season.

For Driskill, doing the dirty work as a lead blocker outweighs any satisfaction of trying to rack up stats as a fullback.

"I'm not worried about the whole stats thing," Driskill said with a laugh. "That doesn't bother me. I'm more worried about doing what it takes to help the team win.

"I might get the chance to get the ball more this year, and obviously that's exciting because everyone wants the ball, but if I don't, it'll be just like the past, where it doesn't bother me. I'm just happy to do whatever it takes for the team."

Alex Taylor is the assistant editor for WyoSports and covers University of Wyoming athletics. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @alex_m_taylor22.