Another Major Injury Ends Caleb Robinson’s Comeback Bid at Wyoming
- Jeff Bugher
- 3 minutes ago
- 2 min read
LARAMIE, Wyo. - After missing the past two seasons with major injuries, Wyoming defensive tackle Caleb Robinson was on the eve of a comeback this fall.
Another torn ACL will cost him the 2026 season and will end his collegiate career at Wyoming.
“In our last scrimmage, Caleb Robinson tore his other ACL,” Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel said during his game-week Monday press conference with the media. “So he'll miss the season; he'll get surgery on Wednesday.”
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Robinson previously suffered a torn ACL and a torn Achilles, missing the entire 2024 and 2025 seasons.
“So that was difficult from a coaching standpoint for a guy that had torn an ACL, torn an Achilles, comes back, he's excited to play this year,” Sawvel said.
The 6-foot-2, 306-pound graduate who hails from Omaha, Nebraska, had worked his way back into Wyoming’s defensive tackle rotation before suffering the injury after only 15 snaps in the Cowboys’ final scrimmage. He was likely going to back up defensive tackle Dante Drake.
“I think anytime something like that happens as a coach, you're always second-guessing, okay, what could I have done differently?” Sawvel said. “He hadn't played; he played in a scrimmage, played 15 plays. He was turning to retrace on a ball that was thrown. He went down.”
The NCAA’s new “5-in-5” rule, implemented this season, establishes a continuous five-year eligibility period that does not pause due to injuries, redshirting, transfers, or missed seasons. This leaves Robinson without a path to return.
Robinson appeared in 37 games for the Pokes from 2020 through 2023, recording 43 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one pass breakup. 2026 was going to be Caleb’s seventh season with the Cowboys.
Robinson’s last played in a game during the 2023 Barstool Arizona Bowl in Tucson. That was also Craig Bohl’s last game before he retired from coaching.
“You sit there, and your heart breaks for the young man who's put that much effort into it,” Sawvel said. “That's a painful thing as a coach.”
Not only will Robinson miss his final season, but he will also spend that season rehabbing. Something he knows all too well.
“We just support him and wish him the best,” Sawvel said. “That one was one that, because of who he was and how much effort he put into that, of where we were hoping to get him to a point this season…you just feel for him.”
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