Pokes Football: The Best of Colorado

LARAMIE — No other state has been such a recruiting hotbed for the University of Wyoming as Colorado.

This list will prove that.

Countless UW Hall of Famers, NFL stars and program record holders began their football journeys on that south square. The Cowboys’ biggest rival, Colorado State, has overlooked many of these guys. CU did that too. The Air Force even smelled a few times.

Some simply chose Laramie over Fort Collins, Boulder and Colorado Springs.

This summer, with the help of some longtime Wyoming football followers, we’ll be counting down the top 25 Colorado products in program history. As always, it doesn’t matter what these guys did in professional football. This is all about production in Laramie.

No. 23 – Keegan Cryder

Center, 2017-2021, Littleton, Colorado

Resume in Laramie

After redshirting during the 2017 season, Keegan Cryder cemented himself as one of the nation’s top offensive linemen, earning Freshman All-American honors from the FWAA. The 6-foot-4, 309-pound center started all 12 games that fell – his first four at guard – paving the way for 1,300-yard rusher Nico Evans. Fellow running backs Xazavian Valladay and Titus Swen would also benefit from Cryder’s blocking skills up front. In 2019, he allowed just one sack in over 800 clicks. Cryder also led the team with 100 “knockdown” blocks. He was part of a Wyoming offensive line unit that was named to the Joe Moore Award Midseason Honor Roll. Only 24 lines earned that recognition nationally. Cryder was named to the All-Mountain West Second Team. He jumped into the first team during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign. He was also on the Rimington Trophy and Outland Trophy Watch Lists. Cryder, after appearing in all 44 games he started at Wyoming, earned a free-agent deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following another all-conference season in 2021. Cryder won three bowl games during his UW career (2017 and ’21 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl and Arizona Bowl 2019).

About Littleton

Littleton, a suburb of Denver, has more than 45,000 residents. Matt Stone, co-creator of the hit television cartoon South Park, is from Littleton. This also applies to actresses Molly Burnett (Days of Our Life) and Melissa Benoist (Glee). Unfortunately, this city is also known for its tragedy. The Columbine High School massacre took place here in 1999. Twelve students and a teacher were murdered in one of the worst school shootings in history.

Pokes Football: Best of Colorado Series:

No. 25

No. 24

Pokes Football: Best of Wyoming Series

(Cody Tucker and Jared Newland both work for Townsquare Media, owner of 7220sports.com. Kevin McKinney has been Cowboy Football’s color commentator for five decades. Ryan Thorburn now works for the University of Wyoming in a sports information role after decades in Cowboy football spent time in the newspaper industry, most recently at the Casper Star-Tribune, the daughter of former UW football coach Fritz Shurmur, is also a veteran of the newspaper industry and has worked as a journalist and columnist at the CST She ​​currently writes for Cowboy State. Daily.)

– Top 50 University of Wyoming Football Players