Wyoming Cowboys sign 6-9 power forward Cameron Manyawu

Cameron Manyawu, a three-star prospect Williams helped recruit to Indiana State before leaving to join Jeff Linder’s staff last month, signed with Wyoming on Tuesday.

The 6-foot-9 power forward from Kansas City, Missouri, is the eighth new player the Cowboys have added for the 2023-24 season.

Manyawu, who de-committed from the Sycamores on March 30, announced his decision on social media 10 days after making a visit to Laramie. He led Staley High School to a state title last season with an impressive 30-2 record.

In addition to Indiana State and UW, Manyawu was also recruited by Oral Roberts and South Dakota.

“Cam has unbelievable upside and is just scratching the surface of his potential,” Linder said in a statement. “He can be a special player in the brown and gold.”

Manyawu is the third high school recruit Linder and his staff have landed during the spring signing period, joining Kael Combs and Nigle Cook.

Combs, a 6-4 guard from Nixa, Missouri, averaged 23.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists to earn all-state honors in high school and was recruited by a list of FBS programs for football.

Cook, a 6-6 wing from DeLand, Florida, averaged 10.2 points last season at DME Academy in Dayton Beach, Florida, one of the nation’s top prep programs, and also had an offer from Villanova.

UW announced Monday night the signing of Tulsa transfer Sam Griffin, a fifth-year senior guard who has scored 1,497 points and made 244 3-pointers in 115 games during his career.

The 6-3 Griffin averaged a team-high 15.2 points for the Golden Hurricane with 63 made 3s last season. During the 2021-22 season, he averaged 14.6 points with 67 made 3s.

Griffin, who is from Miami, started his collegiate career at UT Arlington where he averaged 9.4 points as a freshman and 13.3 points as a sophomore. He is the third player the Cowboys have signed with only one year of eligibility remaining.

Akuel Kot, who averaged 24.3 points last season at Division II Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, signed with the Pokes last Tuesday. The 6-2 senior guard scored 1,712 points during a prolific career for the Skyhawks in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Kot set the Fort Lewis single-game record with 45 points against Texas Permian Basin and was named the most valuable player of the RMAC Tournament. He shot 51.7% from the field, 39.3% on 3-pointers and 84.6% from the free throw line while averaging 3.2 rebounds with 42 assists, 39 steals and 12 blocks as a junior.

Also making the jump to Division I will be Jamestown transfer Mason Walters, a 6-9 senior forward who was named the NAIA player of the year after averaging 26.6 points and 9.6 rebounds last season.

Griffin is the second Division I transfer UW has landed this spring.

Oleg Kojenet, a 7-foot, 232-pound sophomore, transferred from Nebraska to UW last Monday. During two seasons with the Cornhuskers in the Big Ten, the incoming sophomore from Kaunas, Lithuania, averaged 0.6 points and 0.7 rebounds per game.

The Pokes will also welcome two true freshmen to the revamped roster.

Fullerton College transfer Kobe Newton was the first player from the group to commit to UW. The 6-2 junior from Portland, Oregon, averaged 13.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals last season.

The eight newcomers join returners Kenny Foster, Caden Powell and Brendan Wenzel on the Cowboys’ updated roster, which also includes walk-on Cort Roberson.

Linder still has two available scholarships with eight members from UW’s 9-22 team having entered the portal and Hunter Maldonado and Hunter Thompson exhausting their eligibility.

Former UW guard Noah Reynolds, who recently de-committed from Wisconsin, announced Tuesday he will play for former Linder assistant Sundance Wicks at Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Other former Pokes to find landing spots are Graham Ike (Gonzaga), Xavier DuSell (Fresno State), Jeremiah Oden (DePaul), Ethan Anderson (Pepperdine) and Nate Barnhart (South Dakota State).

The spring signing period runs through May 17.