Pokes Football: Best of Colorado

LARAMIE -- No other state has been more of a recruiting hotbed for the University of Wyoming than Colorado.

This list will prove that.

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Numerous UW Hall of Famers, NFL stars and program record holders began their football journey in that square to the south. The Cowboys' top rival, Colorado State, overlooked plenty of these guys. So did CU. Air Force even whiffed a time or two.

Some just flat out picked Laramie over Fort Collins, Boulder and Colorado Springs.

This summer, with the help of some longtime Wyoming football followers, we will count down the Top 25 Colorado products in program history. As always, what these guys did in professional football doesn't matter. This is all about production in Laramie.

Brian Hendricks capped his college career in Laramie with 309 tackles and three sacks from the linebacker spot./ UW courtesy photo

No. 22 - Brian Hendricks

Linebacker, 2008-11, Burlington, Colorado

Résumé in Laramie

Brian Hendricks had a major decision to make: Go to Colorado State and play where his grandfather and father did before him, or make the trek up to Laramie and play for the hated Border War rival Cowboys? The Burlington, Colo., product slept on it. The rest is history. Hendricks capped his career in Laramie with a 3-1 record versus the Rams, including a 44-0 blanking in 2010. Hendricks earned a pair of second-team All-Mountain West selections during his sophomore and senior seasons. He also led the Cowboys in tackles both years with 116 and 105, respectively. Hendricks was a team captain during his final two seasons in Laramie. He was also named MWC Player of the Week twice. He is the 12^th leading tackler in Wyoming history. His 23 stops against Air Force in 2009 is still the most in team history. He added 18 stops against Colorado that same season. That's No. 7 all-time. After signing a free-agent deal with the Washington Redskins, Hendricks got into the coaching ranks. He became a defensive graduate assistant at, of all places, CSU, prior to the 2013 season. After stops at Colorado School of Mines, Montana, and Illinois State (his Redbird squad knocked off the Rams 35-19 in Fort Collins in 2018), Hendricks returned to UW in 2023, becoming the defensive ends coach.

About Burlington

A stone's throw from the Kansas border -- 12 miles to be exact -- Burlington is home to more than 3,000 residents. German immigrants settled this town, which is the county seat of Kit Carson County.

Pokes Football: Best of Colorado series:

No. 25

No. 24

No. 23

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 of Cowboy football for five decades. Ryan Thorburn now works for the University of Wyoming in a sports information role after spending 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, working as a journalist, columnist at the CST for 43 years. She currently writes for Cowboy State Daily.)

University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players

During the summer of 2021, 7220Sports.com counted down the Top 50 football players in University of Wyoming history, presented by Premier Bone & Joint Centers, Worthy of Wyoming.

The rules are simple: What was the player's impact while in Laramie? That means NFL stats, draft status or any other accolade earned outside of UW is irrelevant when it comes to this list.

This isn't a one-man job. This task called for a panel of experts. Joining 7220's Cody Tucker are Robert Gagliardi, Jared Newland, Ryan Thorburn, and Kevin McKinney.

We all compiled our own list of 50 and let computer averages do the work. Think BCS -- only we hope this catalog is fairer.

Don't agree with a selection? Feel free to sound off on our Twitter: @7220sports - #Top50UWFB

Gallery Credit: 7220Sports.com

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players