After Missing 2025, Jake Wilson Emerges as One of Wyoming’s Top Targets

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Wyoming tight end Jake Wilson (#89) looks toward the field during game action at War Memorial Stadium. Photo by Christian Lasher, PokesNews.com.

LARAMIE, Wyo. - A year ago, Jake Wilson wasn't thinking about becoming a leading receiver.

He was trying to get healthy enough to get out of the hospital.

Now, three games into the 2026 season, the Wyoming tight end has gone from missing an entire season to becoming one of the Cowboys' most productive targets.

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Wilson leads Wyoming with nine receptions through three games for 117 yards, averaging 13 yards per catch. His 117 receiving yards rank second on the team behind fellow tight end Kyle Frendt's 128. Wilson has also carried the ball once for 20 yards.

Those numbers carry a little more meaning considering where Wilson was a year ago.

Wilson began experiencing significant knee pain during the summer of 2025. An MRI revealed a cyst, and what was initially expected to be a relatively minor procedure in early August became something much more serious.

"It was tough. Definitely not something you want to hear right before the season," Wilson said. "Originally they were just going to cut tiny holes and kind of suck it out through like a scope type of surgery."

That wasn't how it went.

"The cyst ended up being so big they had to cut straight down my knee, and the surgery ended up taking a toll on my body," Wilson said. "I had so much scar tissue, and then the wound got infected.”

Wilson eventually spent several days in the hospital and missed the entire 2025 season. Wilson appeared in four games in 2024 before sitting out all of last year because of the injury.

Football had suddenly been taken away from him.

"It was unlike anything I've ever experienced," Wilson said. "I'd never been fully taken away from football from something like that, and so it changed my perspective."

During that time, Wilson said his faith became especially important. Football had occupied such a large place in his life that being forced away from it changed how he viewed himself.

"It was a huge part of it," Wilson said of his faith. "It's what I was able to fall back on. Usually, my identity was football, and that changed. I feel like it's what I needed to know: that it's not all about football for me. I hope to just help people, to serve people."

He also learned how much support he had inside Wyoming's program.

Wilson recalled tight ends coach Shannon Moore visiting him with his family before surgery and head coach Jay Sawvel making time to see him in the hospital during the season.

"It meant a lot," Wilson said. "During the season, obviously Coach Sawvel has a ton of stuff going on. He's got to deal with the players, planning, practice, his family, his staff, and he showed up."

Wilson also credited Wyoming's strength, training, and sports medicine staff for helping him through the recovery.

By January, his knee had improved significantly. Wilson returned as a full participant for spring practice and then went through fall camp before earning the starting tight end job.

When Wyoming opened its season Sept. 5 at Colorado State, Wilson finally had the opportunity he had spent the previous year working toward.

"It felt really good. It was just a surreal feeling," Wilson said. "It was really my first college experience where I'm going to play this whole game."

Wilson described it as a blessing.

"Just knowing that I could go out there and I was out there after all of that, I mean, it was a blessing," Wilson said. "I think that's how my perspective changed this year. I'm just happy to be here, and I'm happy to play. I really want to win, but it's such a blessing just to be out there in general."

Wyoming tight end Jake Wilson (#89) reaches for the ball while being tackled by a Central Michigan defender during game action at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. Photo courtesy of UW Athletics.

Wilson isn't just back on the field. He's become an important piece of offensive coordinator Christian Taylor's offense.

Through three games, Wilson and Frendt have combined for 16 catches and 245 yards. Together, the two tight ends account for more than half of Wyoming's 459 passing yards.

Moore envisioned the production before the season.

"Are you going to lean on Jake and Kyle the most? Yeah, you are," Moore told PokesNews.com during fall camp. "But everybody's also going to have their role and certain packages and certain plays that they've got to make sure they go in and execute too."

Taylor's offense has provided opportunities to be much more than a traditional tight end.

"That's really exciting. It's just awesome," Wilson said. "We can do anything with the tight ends. We can do anything with the running backs and the receivers."

"It's a positionless offense, and it's really fun," Wilson said. "I'm excited for the rest of the season."

The 6-foot-5, 242-pound senior from Montgomery, Texas, caught 32 passes for 465 yards and four touchdowns during his senior season at Montgomery High School. He was a three-star prospect who received recruiting interest from Air Force, Army, Navy, Texas Tech, and Ivy League programs. Wyoming was the first FBS program to offer him.

"I think Coach Moore just saw me and kind of took a chance on me," Wilson said.

His official visit came during one of Wyoming’s biggest upsets: Wyoming's 35-33 double-overtime victory over Texas Tech in 2023.

"I was there. That was my official visit," Wilson said. "It was awesome."

Now, Wilson is locked in on contributing to the team.

"I'm just happy to be here, and I'm happy to play," Wilson said.

After what it took to get back, those words carry plenty of weight.