Pokes Football: The Best of Colorado

LARAMIE — No other state is a bigger recruiting hotbed for the University of Wyoming than Colorado.

This list proves it.

Numerous UW Hall of Famers, NFL stars and program record holders began their football journeys in that square in the south. The Cowboys’ biggest rival, Colorado State, overlooked many of these guys. So did CU. Air Force even missed the mark a time or two.

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

This summer, with the help of some loyal Wyoming football followers, we’re counting down the Top 25 Colorado products in the history of the program. As always, it doesn’t matter what these guys have done in professional football. This is all about the production in Laramie.

No. 4 – Brian Lee

Safety, 1994-97, Arvada, Colorado

CV in Laramie

Colorado State quarterback Moses Moreno took a three-step drop, looked to his left and fired a slant pass. Brian Lee was waiting for the throw. He played for Wyoming. After intercepting the pass, the Arvada, Colorado, native fell harmlessly to the ground. The interception capped a 25-24 victory at a freezing Hughes Stadium, giving the Cowpokes a 10-1 regular-season record and sending the visitors into the inaugural WAC Championship game. It was one of Lee’s 17 career interceptions, a school record. He also set the single-season record in 1996 and ’97 with eight interceptions. The ball-hawking safety also holds the single-game record for interceptions, with three against SMU in 1996 and Montana the following season. Lee led the NCAA in interceptions in 1997, averaging 0.73 interceptions per game. He also returned two touchdowns during his four-year stay in Laramie. At the conclusion of the ’97 campaign, Lee was named a consensus All-American by the Football Writers of America, Football News, Walter Camp Football Foundation and the Associated Press. Lee won the Admiral Land Award as UW’s top student-athlete in 1998.

About Arvada

Arvada is a suburb of Denver and the seventh most populous city in Colorado. It is divided into two counties and has a population of over 124,000. Hall of Fame pitcher Roy Halladay is from Arvada.

Pokes Football: Best of Colorado Series:

No. 25

No. 24

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number 6

number 5

Pokes Football: Best of Wyoming Series

(Cody Tucker and Jared Newland both work for Townsquare Media, which owns 7220sports.com. Kevin McKinney has been a color commentator for Cowboy football for five decades. Ryan Thorburn now works for the University of Wyoming in a sports information role after decades in the newspaper industry, most recently at the Casper Star-Tribune. Sally Ann Shurmur, the daughter of former UW football coach Fritz Shurmur, is also a veteran of the newspaper industry, having worked for 43 years as a reporter and columnist at CST. She currently writes for the Cowboy State Daily.)

– The 50 Greatest Football Players from the University of Wyoming