Theo Dawson update

[LanderPoke]

But to get mad at him for leaving Wyoming is ridiculous.

Think of it in the terms of job opportunities.

"You know, I love Laramie. I think I will stay here and work at Murdoch's for $10 an hour..."

"We would like to offer you a job to leave Murdoch's and come to Microsoft for $80 an hour"

"Hmmm.....I don't know.... I really like the new break room they just built here..."

If the goal's to be the best football player you can be then a 45 million dollar facility is nothing to sneeze at!

[djm19]

I agree, but this argument can go on forever.

There are a lot of schools on that list that aren't slouches, either. With some top notch facilities.

[Coeur d' Alene]

This is why you continue bringing 5-6 or however many good Wyoming "preferred" walk ons a year in. Won't see the effects of that for another several years. But the spot Wyoming could have a leg up are the parts I don't know about his specific situation. Are there a few division 1 potential athletes at Jackson besides him that could walk on. Does he have a best friend that's walk on material?


I'm not saying you take roster spots away for this or any other kid, but building the idea of Wyoming kids being a big part of the team will help if it continues and or builds toward that. So don't kill me for saying jump through all kinds of hoops for this guy- I don't know how good he is, but it sure seems he is in-state priority #1 so that's a pretty big deal.


The western part of Wyoming will always be tougher to get guys than the rest and it's not just blaming religion for Utah's advantages. Its geographical- trips to the city doesn't mean Denver/ftC/Cheyenne/Casper/billings/rapid or whatever destination other Wyoming kids think of as big and shiny. I would imagine to Jackson/star valley/evanston.... Kids that big shiny place is most likely the Salt Lake area


How do you ever get in with western wyo? Get some to start it.

[JimmyDimes]

I can't speak for Star Valley and Afton, but I see a ton of Steamboat decals when I'm in Jackson. Many of the stores around the town square have all kinds of Wyoming gear....not Utah, not BYU, not Stanford, but Wyoming gear. The logo of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is Steamboat. Jackson is a pro Wyoming town.

I think most Jackson athletes would choose Wyoming over the Utah/etc schools if given the choice. However, sometimes there are influences even greater....religion in that part of Wyoming for example.

[djm19]

I am from the sv area. Twenty years ago, I would say BYU was more popular than it is now. It's pretty UW heavy. Lots of UW pride.

[Yabadabadoo]

HOLD ON A SECOND HERE!!!!! Lets put this into another realm that nobody is bringing up.

Others hypothetical's are nice and all, but lets shift gears with a line of thinking that is apparently in short supply on this board. Lemme tell you something, it disturbs me to see what I'm perceiving as a sheepish defense and a less than conviction driven advocacy of our state, and of our football team and program.

Too many here seem to be Wyoming fans, they want to see the program succeed (or so they claim), yet they almost apologize for being Wyoming fans.

No apology here...so let us proceed?

Let's try this hypothetical:

I'm an elite high school football player from Gillette. I was born and raised my entire 18 years up to that point in Wyoming. I can trace my family history in Wyoming back to 6-7 generations. I was raised a Poke, went to games, lived and died with the brown and gold. I have pride in my state, a place where this great land takes in millions of dollars a year from people visiting from all over the world - yet I have lived here - and only here - and have had to pay nothing to do so. I'm blessed, you could say. On the field? I'm good, I'm really good, so much so that there is already talk of me playing in the NFL some day - I have that kind of talent. Additionally with this state being overwhelmingly conservative (thank the good Lord for that) in ideology and political orthodoxy, it matches my world view and my families world view. I've been to 25 Cowboys games over the last 7-8 years and I've dreamed of running out onto that field wearing the bucking steamboat logo on my head. My room is filled with Wyoming memorabilia, and my father and his father have been active in The Cowboy Joe club for as long as I can remember. I am the picture of a Wyomingite through and through...brown and gold run through my veins. I could play at Carnegie-Melon University (or North Dakota) and it would still be crystal clear the kind of talent I have -- and I'd still attract the attention of NFL scouts far and wide. I love my state, I have always loved Wyoming football...and now you want me to consider heading to the bastion of liberal/socialist, Obama-loving, tree-hugging, Rachel Maddow adoring...Stanford? Really? I'll decline. Instead give me that Wyoming uniform, let me have the opportunity to be a part of something significant right in my own back yard. Allow me the chance to help lead a resurgence and a revival of a program that could be headed for a renaissance and a resurrection, that if successful, will be remembered and talked about for years and years to come. At Stanford I'm simply another spoke in the wheel in need of a daily barf-bag to throw up into once I take a good look around me in the land of liberal-utopia. Same thing for mostly every other school out there. But at Wyoming? I have a chance to be a part of one of the biggest college football turnarounds ever - and I get to do it for the University and the school I've pledged my allegiance to since I was 2 years old. That's a statement. That's significant. That's something more than worthwhile. Lastly, I'll kick the ass of anyone who suggests that Wyoming is not one of the best Universities in America for all things related to an advanced education following high school. Screw Ohio State, screw UCLA, screw Florida, hey Tevis Bartlett? Screw Washington and those wine and cheese bastards who arrive on the shores of the stadium in their high falootin' boats. Screw Texas, screw Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and all those disingenuous SEC schools where they think their poop doesn't stink. I'm a Wyoming boy, proud of it. And today I choose to announce that as one of the top rated high school football players in this going to hell in a hand-basket country...that I'm headed to Laramie, Wyoming, to play my collegiate football. Not only that...but I'd have it no other way. Thank you all...see you on the field this fall. One more thing: Go Pokes. Stanford? Really?

[joshvanklomp]

HOLD ON A SECOND HERE!!!!! Lets put this into another realm that nobody is bringing up.

Let's try this hypothetical:

At Stanford I'm simply another spoke in the wheel in need of a daily barf-bag to throw up into once I take a good look around me in the land of liberal-utopia. Same thing for mostly every other school out there.

While that may be the case, that's not what 99.9% of coaches are telling these kids. They're telling them they can be special at the major level. They can play in some of the best venues in the country. They can be seen by more scouts simply because of the program's prestige.

It takes a special type of player to take the first step towards locking down the borders. Some people aren't brave enough to do it.

[ragtimejoe1]

HOLD ON A SECOND HERE!!!!!

And therein with that admittance sums up why you simply cannot wrap your head around what the process of P5 vs G5 is. You want WYO RECRUITS, period. No matter what other offers, no matter the composition of the roster, no matter what reality and common sense oughta tell you. It's either come to WYO - or you are a traitor. If I have summed up your vision correctly then I'l have to counter by acknowledging that based upon your views, if it's Wyoming or nothing else - then I guess you have me, albeit in what I'd consider to be an unrealistic way on all levels. You want all recruits form WYO, and you want them now. Well you can't have them now. And if you can't have them now and if this results in you either doubting the program's direction or feeling as though the program is on a track to nowhere, well then, I guess I'll have to recalibrate my answers to you whenever I'm compelled to follow up on one of your posts knowing how you think...its either come to WYO - or the kid is nothing but poop. You want WYO athletes? Me too. You hungry for WYO blue chips? Me too. The difference? I realistically comprehend that Wyoming is not on the largest stage of college football regardless of our record. That, and I believe I am conscious of the protracted process that anything built to last takes time to complete. So if blue chip WYO athletes are not the overall objective right now, what do I want? I want to see the program establish it's base, build it's culture more thoroughly, establish an immovable identity, and take note of the collective team becoming better, building more depth, confidence, learning how to recruit better, to the point where sometime down the line, someone might choose WYO over what today would be a better option, and the program is measured solely on wins and losses - and nothing else. Right now? We're so far from that moment in time that it's foolish to even think about it. WYO blue chip athletes? All of em'? Not yet. Not for a while in fact, if ever.

[LanderPoke]

HOLD ON A SECOND HERE!!!!! Lets put this into another realm that nobody is bringing up.

Others hypothetical's are nice and all, but lets shift gears with a line of thinking that is apparently in short supply on this board. Lemme tell you something, it disturbs me to see what I'm perceiving as a sheepish defense and a less than conviction driven advocacy of our state, and of our football team and program.

Too many here seem to be Wyoming fans, they want to see the program succeed (or so they claim), yet they almost apologize for being Wyoming fans.

This. Fake it til you make it

[Douglaspoke]

DINO:

Don't forget to insert into your text, "all those young men whose parents grew up in Wyoming and went to UW, but now live in some outside state. Coloprado is full of those type of kids and kids that have yes gone to 20 to 30 games in Larmaie as kids driving over from Denver, Scottsbluff, Kansas, etc., those families need to be identified as well. " These are Cowboys living in another state and there are many, many of them!!!

[Slow Hand]

You are missing a couple of big influencing factors for Theo....first off his father played at BYU. Secondly, a big factor in where he may choose to attend is his religion. I believe he is an LDS kid and he may have allegiance to the church. Therefore, I believe he will lean heavily to BYU. Not to mention ....dare I say..... that BYU beat Neb week one for a huge victory as compared to Wyo loosing to a 1aa school. oops!

[ragtimejoe1]

Teasing DINO aside, here is reality:

If you have the talent to get on the field at a P5 school, you go to a P5 school and choose the best P5 school for you.

If you likely do not have NFL talent, then you weigh P5 or best academic option. You can certainly be successful at UW and UW is a fine program. However, to believe that other high profile schools (like Dartmouth) have the same networking and career opportunities as WYO is a little homerish. Not a bash on our fine institution at all, but it is entirely possible that there are better Universities for what a recruit wants to do.

Then you have the specialty options which include religion and military. I would think that in most cases they are secondary to P5 but not always.

I'm sorry. Reality is what reality is. Would you really expect a kid to pass up playing in front of 100K people week in and week out while frequently being on national TV and constantly on a scouts' radar for playing in front of 12K-22K people in the Brown and Gold with an obvious ceiling of the New Mexico Bowl or perhaps Vegas Bowl? You guys are smoking crack and living in the pre-BCS era. It is odd how many here can understand why kids choose Laramie over FCS offers but fail to recognize the exact same reasons are why they choose P5 over UW.

[PokeOLoco]

I'm not going to argue about why your hypothetical student shouldn't go to UW because I think he should and I would love it if he did... It's amazing that he has developed so much self awareness at the age of 18.. I would contend if one does come to that conclusion of "this is who I am" it is often developed after exposing yourself to different world views and different ways of life and thinking.. that liberal bastion has produced 21 nobel prize winners, 4 pulitzer prize winners, 3 presidential medal of freedom recipients, etc...you can sniffle at those "liberal awards" all you want, they also include some of the founders and CEO's of America and the world's most powerful and profitable corporations (very socialist)sooo yeah, Stanford... and Go Pokes... if the kid is that self aware, great... I want him to be a poke... I'm very wary of kids that have no respect for where they came from, but outside that extreme, sometimes you need to leave to understand what you really left behind.

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

Teasing DINO aside, here is reality:

If you have the talent to get on the field at a P5 school, you go to a P5 school and choose the best P5 school for you.

If you likely do not have NFL talent, then you weigh P5 or best academic option. You can certainly be successful at UW and UW is a fine program. However, to believe that other high profile schools (like Dartmouth) have the same networking and career opportunities as WYO is a little homerish. Not a bash on our fine institution at all, but it is entirely possible that there are better Universities for what a recruit wants to do.

Then you have the specialty options which include religion and military. I would think that in most cases they are secondary to P5 but not always.

I'm sorry. Reality is what reality is. Would you really expect a kid to pass up playing in front of 100K people week in and week out while frequently being on national TV and constantly on a scouts' radar for playing in front of 12K-22K people in the Brown and Gold with an obvious ceiling of the New Mexico Bowl or perhaps Vegas Bowl? You guys are smoking crack and living in the pre-BCS era. It is odd how many here can understand why kids choose Laramie over FCS offers but fail to recognize the exact same reasons are why they choose P5 over UW.

This is a slightly slanted view. Theres more to the argument than just 100K vs 12K. Absolutely, I agree, if a kid has the skill to be a starter in front of 100K than by all means, take that opportunity and run with it. But how many kids have that skill? Now, if it comes down to riding pine for 3 years in front of 100K or playing immediately in front of 12K, then the story changes a little. Look at the kid we just snagged from UCLA...Theres a reason for that...

[ragtimejoe1]

Now, if it comes down to riding pine for 3 years in front of 100K or playing immediately in front of 12K, then the story changes a little. Look at the kid we just snagged from UCLA...Theres a reason for that...

Usually, stress usually, you have to go to campus, redshirt a year, and then hope to hit the field in the next 2 years. If not, transfer. Very few individuals or coaches know what a the kid will be like 2-3 years in the system.

You obviously have some situations where there is a standout freshmen ahead of you or something, but largely, you can't base your future chances on your talent today.

If you go to WYO you know you won't play in the P5. Much better choice to try it and then transfer if it doesn't work.

[Cheywypoke]

HOLD ON A SECOND HERE!!!!! Lets put this into another realm that nobody is bringing up.

Others hypothetical's are nice and all, but lets shift gears with a line of thinking that is apparently in short supply on this board. Lemme tell you something, it disturbs me to see what I'm perceiving as a sheepish defense and a less than conviction driven advocacy of our state, and of our football team and program.

Too many here seem to be Wyoming fans, they want to see the program succeed (or so they claim), yet they almost apologize for being Wyoming fans.

No apology here...so let us proceed?

Let's try this hypothetical:

I'm an elite high school football player from Gillette. I was born and raised my entire 18 years up to that point in Wyoming. I can trace my family history in Wyoming back to 6-7 generations. I was raised a Poke, went to games, lived and died with the brown and gold. I have pride in my state, a place where this great land takes in millions of dollars a year from people visiting from all over the world - yet I have lived here - and only here - and have had to pay nothing to do so. I'm blessed, you could say. On the field? I'm good, I'm really good, so much so that there is already talk of me playing in the NFL some day - I have that kind of talent. Additionally with this state being overwhelmingly conservative (thank the good Lord for that) in ideology and political orthodoxy, it matches my world view and my families world view. I've been to 25 Cowboys games over the last 7-8 years and I've dreamed of running out onto that field wearing the bucking steamboat logo on my head. My room is filled with Wyoming memorabilia, and my father and his father have been active in The Cowboy Joe club for as long as I can remember. I am the picture of a Wyomingite through and through...brown and gold run through my veins. I could play at Carnegie-Melon University (or North Dakota) and it would still be crystal clear the kind of talent I have -- and I'd still attract the attention of NFL scouts far and wide. I love my state, I have always loved Wyoming football...and now you want me to consider heading to the bastion of liberal/socialist, Obama-loving, tree-hugging, Rachel Maddow adoring...Stanford? Really? I'll decline. Instead give me that Wyoming uniform, let me have the opportunity to be a part of something significant right in my own back yard. Allow me the chance to help lead a resurgence and a revival of a program that could be headed for a renaissance and a resurrection, that if successful, will be remembered and talked about for years and years to come. At Stanford I'm simply another spoke in the wheel in need of a daily barf-bag to throw up into once I take a good look around me in the land of liberal-utopia. Same thing for mostly every other school out there. But at Wyoming? I have a chance to be a part of one of the biggest college football turnarounds ever - and I get to do it for the University and the school I've pledged my allegiance to since I was 2 years old. That's a statement. That's significant. That's something more than worthwhile. Lastly, I'll kick the ass of anyone who suggests that Wyoming is not one of the best Universities in America for all things related to an advanced education following high school. Screw Ohio State, screw UCLA, screw Florida, hey Tevis Bartlett? Screw Washington and those wine and cheese bastards who arrive on the shores of the stadium in their high falootin' boats. Screw Texas, screw Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and all those disingenuous SEC schools where they think their poop doesn't stink. I'm a Wyoming boy, proud of it. And today I choose to announce that as one of the top rated high school football players in this going to hell in a hand-basket country...that I'm headed to Laramie, Wyoming, to play my collegiate football. Not only that...but I'd have it no other way. Thank you all...see you on the field this fall. One more thing: Go Pokes. Stanford? Really?

I am everything you described. Been going to Wyoming games all my life. Belong to the Cowboy Joe Club. Have had season tickets, etc. My kids are swimmers. If Stanford came knocking on the door with a sholly, I'd tell my kids take it and don't look back. They're not good enough for that to happen, but if the opportunity arose, I'd chose Stanford over Wyoming in a heart beat. Doesn't make me any less a Wyoming fan. I just want what's best for my kids. BTW, that is not an indictment of Wyoming Coach Tom Johnson in any way. I'm a huge fan of TJ and admire what he's done at UW.

[Yabadabadoo]

HOLD ON A SECOND HERE!!!!!

And therein with that admittance sums up why you simply cannot wrap your head around what the process of P5 vs G5 is. You want WYO RECRUITS, period. No matter what other offers, no matter the composition of the roster, no matter what reality and common sense oughta tell you. It's either come to WYO - or you are a traitor. If I have summed up your vision correctly then I'l have to counter by acknowledging that based upon your views, if it's Wyoming or nothing else - then I guess you have me, albeit in what I'd consider to be an unrealistic way on all levels. You want all recruits form WYO, and you want them now. Well you can't have them now. And if you can't have them now and if this results in you either doubting the program's direction or feeling as though the program is on a track to nowhere, well then, I guess I'll have to recalibrate my answers to you whenever I'm compelled to follow up on one of your posts knowing how you think...its either come to WYO - or the kid is nothing but poop. You want WYO athletes? Me too. You hungry for WYO blue chips? Me too. The difference? I realistically comprehend that Wyoming is not on the largest stage of college football regardless of our record. That, and I believe I am conscious of the protracted process that anything built to last takes time to complete. So if blue chip WYO athletes are not the overall objective right now, what do I want? I want to see the program establish it's base, build it's culture more thoroughly, establish an immovable identity, and take note of the collective team becoming better, building more depth, confidence, learning how to recruit better, to the point where sometime down the line, someone might choose WYO over what today would be a better option, and the program is measured solely on wins and losses - and nothing else. Right now? We're so far from that moment in time that it's foolish to even think about it. WYO blue chip athletes? All of em'? Not yet. Not for a while in fact, if ever.

Very...creative

[Yabadabadoo]

HOLD ON A SECOND HERE!!!!! Lets put this into another realm that nobody is bringing up.

Others hypothetical's are nice and all, but lets shift gears with a line of thinking that is apparently in short supply on this board. Lemme tell you something, it disturbs me to see what I'm perceiving as a sheepish defense and a less than conviction driven advocacy of our state, and of our football team and program.

Too many here seem to be Wyoming fans, they want to see the program succeed (or so they claim), yet they almost apologize for being Wyoming fans.

No apology here...so let us proceed?

Let's try this hypothetical:

I'm an elite high school football player from Gillette. I was born and raised my entire 18 years up to that point in Wyoming. I can trace my family history in Wyoming back to 6-7 generations. I was raised a Poke, went to games, lived and died with the brown and gold. I have pride in my state, a place where this great land takes in millions of dollars a year from people visiting from all over the world - yet I have lived here - and only here - and have had to pay nothing to do so. I'm blessed, you could say. On the field? I'm good, I'm really good, so much so that there is already talk of me playing in the NFL some day - I have that kind of talent. Additionally with this state being overwhelmingly conservative (thank the good Lord for that) in ideology and political orthodoxy, it matches my world view and my families world view. I've been to 25 Cowboys games over the last 7-8 years and I've dreamed of running out onto that field wearing the bucking steamboat logo on my head. My room is filled with Wyoming memorabilia, and my father and his father have been active in The Cowboy Joe club for as long as I can remember. I am the picture of a Wyomingite through and through...brown and gold run through my veins. I could play at Carnegie-Melon University (or North Dakota) and it would still be crystal clear the kind of talent I have -- and I'd still attract the attention of NFL scouts far and wide. I love my state, I have always loved Wyoming football...and now you want me to consider heading to the bastion of liberal/socialist, Obama-loving, tree-hugging, Rachel Maddow adoring...Stanford? Really? I'll decline. Instead give me that Wyoming uniform, let me have the opportunity to be a part of something significant right in my own back yard. Allow me the chance to help lead a resurgence and a revival of a program that could be headed for a renaissance and a resurrection, that if successful, will be remembered and talked about for years and years to come. At Stanford I'm simply another spoke in the wheel in need of a daily barf-bag to throw up into once I take a good look around me in the land of liberal-utopia. Same thing for mostly every other school out there. But at Wyoming? I have a chance to be a part of one of the biggest college football turnarounds ever - and I get to do it for the University and the school I've pledged my allegiance to since I was 2 years old. That's a statement. That's significant. That's something more than worthwhile. Lastly, I'll kick the ass of anyone who suggests that Wyoming is not one of the best Universities in America for all things related to an advanced education following high school. Screw Ohio State, screw UCLA, screw Florida, hey Tevis Bartlett? Screw Washington and those wine and cheese bastards who arrive on the shores of the stadium in their high falootin' boats. Screw Texas, screw Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and all those disingenuous SEC schools where they think their poop doesn't stink. I'm a Wyoming boy, proud of it. And today I choose to announce that as one of the top rated high school football players in this going to hell in a hand-basket country...that I'm headed to Laramie, Wyoming, to play my collegiate football. Not only that...but I'd have it no other way. Thank you all...see you on the field this fall. One more thing: Go Pokes. Stanford? Really?

I am everything you described. Been going to Wyoming games all my life. Belong to the Cowboy Joe Club. Have had season tickets, etc. My kids are swimmers. If Stanford came knocking on the door with a sholly, I'd tell my kids take it and don't look back. They're not good enough for that to happen, but if the opportunity arose, I'd chose Stanford over Wyoming in a heart beat. Doesn't make me any less a Wyoming fan. I just want what's best for my kids. BTW, that is not an indictment of Wyoming Coach Tom Johnson in any way. I'm a huge fan of TJ and admire what he's done at UW.

Screw Stanford.

[kansasCowboy]

Teasing DINO aside, here is reality:

If you have the talent to get on the field at a P5 school, you go to a P5 school and choose the best P5 school for you.

If you likely do not have NFL talent, then you weigh P5 or best academic option. You can certainly be successful at UW and UW is a fine program. However, to believe that other high profile schools (like Dartmouth) have the same networking and career opportunities as WYO is a little homerish. Not a bash on our fine institution at all, but it is entirely possible that there are better Universities for what a recruit wants to do.

Then you have the specialty options which include religion and military. I would think that in most cases they are secondary to P5 but not always.

I'm sorry. Reality is what reality is. Would you really expect a kid to pass up playing in front of 100K people week in and week out while frequently being on national TV and constantly on a scouts' radar for playing in front of 12K-22K people in the Brown and Gold with an obvious ceiling of the New Mexico Bowl or perhaps Vegas Bowl? You guys are smoking crack and living in the pre-BCS era. It is odd how many here can understand why kids choose Laramie over FCS offers but fail to recognize the exact same reasons are why they choose P5 over UW.

Dino is also right in his hypothetical:

John Wendling was recruited by Stanford, but grew up a Cowboy and stayed a Cowboy. Thankfully.

Chris Prosinski was recruited by Georgia Tech, also grew up a Cowboy and stayed a Cowboy. Again, thankfully.

But many others grow up in WYO and don't give a crap for the four year institution in their own state. They would prefer try their luck elsewhere. Hence, Tevis Bartlett and this guy.
We have A Lot of HS football players that aren't good enough for the college level that would love the opportunity. And the few who are good enough, generally don't care to stay.
I really wish our JUCOs in WYO would have a football league. It would give several Wy HS players the opportunity to grow and potentially have that chance at getting to WYO. Most of your Big 12 schools hit up the Jayhawk league down here in Kansas. Guys who never had a chance to be recruited out of HS got a few years of JUCO FB under their belt and went on to be great Dl FBS players. You would see a vast amount more instate athletes playing and succeeding at WYO if they would do this.

[LanderPoke]

It's all you guys that talk out of both sides of your mouths. Wyo needs better players and better recruits blah, blah, blah, but you would not even send your own kids here! This is why we have the problem we do. Where's the pride and loyalty?We need to act and believe that we are the best - that's the first step.