3 UW football players won't return in 2016
Walk-on linebacker Will Tutein not happy about how his situation unfolded
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CHEYENNE – The University of Wyoming announced Thursday that three football players won’t return next season: junior defensive tackle Uso Olive, junior walk-on linebacker Will Tutein – a Cheyenne Central graduate – and true freshman walk-on kicker Tristan Bailey.
A release from UW stated all three won’t return for “personal reasons.” The release also said coach Craig Bohl and UW’s athletics department would have no further comment.
However, Tutein had a different story to tell about why he won’t be back.
“It was not my decision to not come back. It was actually coach Bohl’s decision, and I guess the rest of the coaching staff’s decision to release me from the team,” Tutein said during a phone interview Thursday afternoon.
“It wasn’t for personal reasons, because I love the game of football and I don’t have the guts to quit on my teammates. They’re putting me out to be something I’m not.”
Tutein said he talked with Bohl on Sunday, Nov. 29 – a day after UW’s 35-28 win over UNLV to end the season.
“(Bohl) told me he was sorry that (UW was) not going to be able to put me on scholarship,” Tutein said. “After he said that, I was kind of mind-blown of the whole situation. He said he knew of my financial difficulties, that I worked hard, went to class and all that stuff, but that (the program) sees me as being counterproductive toward the team.’”
Tutein said he got a job this fall to help pay for rent and other expenses, since he wasn’t receiving financial aid from being on scholarship. Tutein said he worked from 8 to 11 a.m. every morning, then went to class and then to football practice. Tutein said he was “tired all the time.”
“I told (Bohl) that I let my emotions get the best of me because I was always tired, but if they gave me a chance in the spring to show I can change, I guaranteed I could do that,” Tutein said. “(Bohl) said that ‘we don’t see your situation changing’ because they couldn’t give me a scholarship.”
Tutein found that explanation to be, in his words, “extremely hilarious,” because he said he earned a varsity letter in 2014 and a letterman’s jacket.
Tutein (6-foot-2, 212 pounds) played in 11 of 12 games this season – with two starts – and had eight tackles. In 2014, as a safety, Tutein had 35 tackles, including 24 solo stops, two tackles for loss and one forced fumble in 12 games.
On Dec. 3, Tutein posted this to his Twitter account: “I played enough to earn a letterman’s jacket, but not enough for a scholarship … am I missing something?”
Tutein is from St. Croix, Virgin Islands. He moved to Cheyenne as a senior and graduated from Central in 2012. Tutein played one season at Division II Chadron State before walking on at UW prior to the 2014 season.
When asked if he was welcome to come back to the team as a walk-on or if Bohl told him he didn’t want him back, Tutein said: “They pretty much told me they didn’t want me to come back. I told them I could change, but (Bohl) said he didn’t see it happening.”
Tim Harkins, UW associate athletics director for media relations, said late Thursday afternoon that Bohl nor UW athletics would comment on Tutein’s comments.
Tutein said he is on schedule to earn a psychology degree at UW next year, and he plans to stay in school. He also said he may try to play baseball for UW’s club team.
Olive made his announcement that he was leaving UW through his Instagram account.
“As I walk on this campus today, I take in a deep breath of the fresh air in the state of Wyoming,” he said. “However, I am in realization with the fact this will be my last breath taken in Wyoming. It is hard for me, but today I have announced my official release from the University of Wyoming.
“Just want to thank the football staff, my family and especially my brothers on the team for making this an experience I will cherish forever. Do not sleep on these boys, they are on the rise. As for me? God will be the judge and answer to that. Again, thank you for everything to the state of Wyoming for blessing me with such an opportunity.”
Efforts by WyoSports to reach Olive for additional comment were unsuccessful Thursday.
Olive, a 6-foot-1, 305-pounder from Federal Way, Washington, started in all 12 games in 2015. He recorded 17 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and blocked one kick.
In his three-year career with UW, Olive played in 35 games, had 62 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss.
Players who receive their degrees from a school but have another year of eligibility left are allowed to transfer to another school without sitting out a year to satisfy NCAA transfer rules. However, Harkins said Olive is not scheduled to graduate this month.
Bailey made 2 of 8 field goals and 28 of 31 extra points last season.
UW has a verbal commitment from kicker Cooper Rothe from Longmont High in Longmont, Colorado, for its 2016 recruiting class. The Cowboys plan to put him on scholarship.
