Wyoming QB Andrew Peasley balancing football, family during last ride with Cowboys

Jul 28, 2023 Updated 3 hrs ago
LAS VEGAS – Andrew Peasley binge-watched “Quarterback” as soon as the documentary began streaming on Netflix.
The behind-the-scenes access gives viewers an intimate look at the mental and physical toll a season takes on three quarterbacks – Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs), Kirk Cousins (Minnesota Vikings) and Marcus Mariota (then Atlanta Falcons) – during the 2022 NFL season.
“People watch football, and they see players being players, but they forget that we’re humans, too,” Peasley said during an interview with the Star-Tribune at the Mountain West media day event at Circa Resort & Casino.
“I watch that and Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, Mariota, they all are having kids, and I just had my son. It’s a reality check that there’s more to life than football. I just wish people could see that more with us and understand how hard it can be.
“I’m not in the pros, but we still live that lifestyle a little bit.”
Peasley’s life as Wyoming’s quarterback has been filled with its own drama since he transferred from Utah State.
The super senior formed a tight relationship with his teammates while maintaining a long-distance relationship with his fiancé.
Peasley learned a new offense, deleted his Twitter account after the Illinois loss in his disappointing debut drew online vitriol, experienced the high of upsetting 10-win Air Force, suffered a scary concussion in the Border War win at Colorado State and had agonizing defeats to MW champion Fresno State and in the Arizona Bowl to Ohio to finish the roller coaster ride.
In March, Peasley married Maia Fishwick, a former Utah State gymnast he met in Logan, and on July 6 the couple’s son, Andrew Navy Peasley Jr., was born.
“He’ll go by Navy,” said Peasley, who also sunk Air Force when he was playing for Utah State.
Over the last three weeks, Peasley has been busy changing Pampers and trying to fix the Cowboys’ leaky passing game.
“I think it’s for the better for me,” Peasley said of becoming a family man at the end of his six-year collegiate football journey. “I cannot procrastinate, I’ll tell you that. I’ve got to do this, this, this, and then I’ve got to train. I think it’s been good. I enjoy it. I think being a father is really special.”
The Pokes, who might have the best defense in the MW and are expecting the running and kicking games to be strong again, need Peasley to play better to contend for the conference championship this fall.
After leaving the Aggies for a chance to start at UW, Peasley completed just 52.4% of his passes for 1,574 yards with 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He only averaged 5.7 yards per pass attempt and his passer rating (105.89) ranked eighth out of the nine MW quarterbacks that played on 75% of their team’s games and had a minimum of 15.0 pass attempts per game.
“Our offense is a pretty complex offense, it is not a simplistic one,” UW head coach Craig Bohl said. “He’s going to have another aggressive fall camp. We put the quarterbacks under a lot of pressure. He’s going to need to perform. I think our football team can be staged where he’s not going to have to be making all the plays in third down and long.”
Fans and media often scoff at the notion that UW’s offense is complex. It seems to be pretty simple: Run, run, run … pass only when absolutely necessary.
Peasley tried to pull the curtain back on the challenges for a quarterback making the transition from Utah State’s spread offense and the Pokes’ pro-style philosophy.
“I think I just went from a one-worded offense where they gave me a signal, and it’s a play and that one word tells me the whole thing,” Peasley said. “Now the quarterback, you’ve got motions, formations, the play and any tagged plays. And then you’ve got cans and kills that changes the play based on what you see, one high (safety), two high.
“That’s just a lot if you’ve never been around it before, and me pulling up and getting this book, I’m like, OK.”
Peasley, now more in sync with the playbook and setting the protections at the line of scrimmage in concert with center Nofoafia Tulafono’s calls, enters the 2023 season with more confidence.
The 6-foot-2, 213-pound UW graduate is beloved inside the locker room and is embracing the pressure of being one of the faces of the program.
“His leadership skills have been amazing and just seeing him progress through spring and bringing the other dudes up around him as well, the guys in his room, he’s definitely been working hard, you can tell,” linebacker Easton Gibbs, the preseason MW defensive player of the year, said of Peasley. “He has a lot of stuff going on outside of football. When you see a guy doing that to put in the extra work to progress his game, everybody else is like, ‘Let’s go do the same thing.’”
Peasley said Maia lets him to sleep at night so he can be ready for practices and workouts.
“I do a lot of stuff in the day. We have good teamwork going right now. (The baby) sleeps pretty well, too. We’ll see if that continues,” Peasley said. “I don’t know if you can explain it to someone who doesn’t have a kid. It’s something that happens, and people always say they’re ready, but I don’t think anyone is ever ready. You just kind of go with it and see how it works and continue to try your best.”
When UW opens fall camp on Wednesday, Peasley will be the clear starter with Evan Svoboda penciled in as the backup on the depth chart.
Frank Crum is moving to left tackle to protect Peasley’s blindside. UW has also added transfer receivers Ayir Asante and Devin Boddie to improve the competition and depth for a unit that returns Alex Brown, Will Pelissier and Wyatt Wieland.
Dawaiian McNeely will open the season as the featured back with Harrison Waylee and D.Q. James expected to join a potentially dominant rotation early in the season.
Treyton Welch, Peasley’s security blanket, is also back and fellow tight end John Michael Gyllenborg is expected to be an impact target in the passing game.
Now it’s time for Peasley’s breakout performance in this 2023 reality series as UW continues the search for quality QB play since Josh Allen took his talents to the Buffalo Bills.
“Josh Allen left his marks on Wyoming for sure. He’s arguably the greatest Wyoming player to ever come through and now he’s doing very well in the NFL, so that’s cool to see,” Peasley said. “I always tell people I’m not Josh Allen. He’s 6-6, 240 pounds. I’m faster, I’m smaller, but he has the crazy arm. I think of myself as more crafty, scrambling. He’s very good at that, too.
“I want to leave my mark on Wyoming and that’s my goal this season.”
The drama begins when UW hosts Texas Tech on Sept. 2 at War Memorial Stadium.