With his future in mind, Wyoming offensive lineman Eric Abojei sheds significant weight | Football
Wyoming offensive lineman Eric Abojei goes through a drill during spring practice Thursday at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie. The Cowboys’ junior guard has lost approximately 50 pounds during the offseason.
LARAMIE — Big E isn’t quite as big anymore.
Eric Abojei, who’s earned the affectionate nickname from his Wyoming coaches and teammates over the years, has been a key cog on the Cowboys’ offensive line, but he’s never been this small. Of course, small is a relative term when talking about one of UW’s more imposing figures up front.
Abojei stands 6-foot-5 and, listed at 328 pounds on UW’s updated roster, is still the heaviest lineman on the team. Yet it’s one of the lightest weights Abojei has been during his college career, and he got there by dropping approximately 50 pounds since last season ended.
Abojei said he’s gotten as low as 321 pounds this offseason, a far cry from where he’s been much of the last four years. Abojei reported to UW at 320 pounds as a true freshman in 2017. After a redshirt year, he was listed at 351 pounds. Last season, as a fourth-year junior, Abojei said he ballooned north of 360 pounds.
“My body just felt really down and just not really feeling where I want to be at,” Abojei said.
So Abojei got serious about shedding the pounds. He said he committed more time to his offseason workout routine, but losing that much weight in a four-month span doesn’t happen without incorporating a strict diet, which Abojei said he had to overhaul.
