Wyoming Gatorade Football Player of the Year Chooses Mission First

The 2016 Wyoming Cowboy Football recruiting class was announced Wednesday, with 23 recruits from 11 states joining the program.

The class was very balanced with 11 offensive players, 11 defensive players and one kicker joining the Cowboy program.

Among the players who became Wyoming Cowboys on Wednesday were: running back Theo Dawson the 2015 Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Wyoming from Jackson; fullback Zach Taylor from Gillette, Wyo., who was a two-time All-State selection and led Campbell County High School to consecutive 4A State Championship games; offensive lineman Dustin Weeks the No. 1 ranked recruit from North Dakota; quarterback Chandler Garrett the No. 8 ranked player from Oklahoma; offensive lineman Gavin Rush the No. 9 rated recruit from Nebraska; and three of the Top 15 ranked recruits from the state of Colorado.

Offensively, the 2016 class features three offensive linemen, three running backs/fullbacks, two wide receivers, two tight ends and one quarterback. On defense, five linebackers and five defensive backs were joined by one defensive lineman. The Cowboys also signed the All-Colorado place-kicker Cooper Rothe, who was ranked as the No. 15 best recruit at all positions in the state of Colorado.

This year’s class breakdown includes one junior-college signee and 22 high school seniors. The eleven different states represented in this year’s Cowboy recruiting class included: Wyoming, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington.

“We’re extremely pleased with this year’s class, and have a high number in this class with 23 signees,” said Bohl. “We are particularly pleased that we were able to sign two players from the state of Wyoming in Theo Dawson of Jackson and Zach Taylor of Gillette. Theo is going to go on an LDS mission, which we are fully supportive of. We feel it is important to identify the top players in our state and be able to sign them. We’ve also done well in Colorado again, signing four players.