Which Wyoming Cowboy wore it best? No. 18

CHEYENNE -- Do you ever see a number on a Wyoming football jersey and think of all the great players to wear it? Yeah, me too. In this daily series, I’ll give you my take on which Pokes’ football player was the best ever to don each number. The criteria are simple: How did he perform at UW? What kind of impact did he have on the program?

No. 18 – Tom Corontzos

Quarterback, 1988-91, Great Falls, Mont.

Résumé in Laramie
When Tom Corontzos left UW, his 7,945 yards passing was the second-most by any Cowboy quarterback. Now, he sits in third behind Brett Smith (8,834) and Casey Bramlet (9,684). Corontzos is still fourth in completions (579), attempts (1,066) and touchdowns (48). Corontzos also rushed for nine touchdowns. He holds the 9^th and 10^th-place single-season passing records with 2,956 yards in 1990, and 2,868 yards in 1991. He earned three-consecutive Academic All-Western Athletic Conference honors from 1989 to 1991. Corontzos was also named a College Football Association Scholar-Athlete in 1991.

Why Corontzos?
The quarterbacks in the Western Athletic Conference in the late 80’s were some of the best in the nation: Ty Detmer, Dan McGwire, Scott Mitchell, and others.

Wyoming had a good one of its own in Tom Corontzos, who took over for Randy Welniak in 1989.

Corontzos didn’t fair too well against Detmer in the BYU Cougars, but back then, who did? Detmer went on to win the Heisman Trophy. Against McGwire and Mitchell, however, Corontzos may have only sported a 3-3 record, but he had some of his biggest individual games against the Aztecs and Utes.

In a typical WAC shootout in 1990, Corontzos threw for 421 yards and three touchdowns in a thrilling 52-51 win over McGwire and the Aztecs in Laramie. With 6:29 remaining, Corontzos connected with a young Ryan Yarborough on an 80-yard touchdown pass to salt the game away.

Corontzos also scored on a QB keeper and threw a pair of scoring strikes to Shawn Wiggins and Robert Rivers.

Wyoming moved to 6-0 and 3-0 in conference play with that win. It was the Cowboys 15^th straight win at home against a WAC opponent.

That was also the ninth-best single game performance from a Wyoming signal caller in school history.

The following season, the Pokes ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard at Jack Murphy Stadium in sunny San Diego, but Corontzos once again eclipsed the 400-yard mark on just 21 completions.

Here's one of them to Yarborough:

Corontzos finished 2-1 against Utah in his three starts, including a two-touchdown performance in a 28-10 victory in Salt Lake City in 1990.

In his lone bowl appearance, Corontzos completed 20 of 39 passes for 226 yards in a 17-15 loss to Cal in the Copper Bowl. He threw a pair of interceptions. He was sacked on the two-point conversion try with a chance to tie the game after Rivers returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth.

Honorable mention
Wynel Seldon is the program’s fourth-leading rusher with 2,672 yards. He found the end zone 22 times in his four years in Laramie. Seldon shared the load with Devin Moore, who is second all-time in rushing with 2,963 yards. This dynamic duo, nicknamed Thunder and Lightning, represented one of the top backfields in the nation from 2005-2008.

Seldon played the role of "Thunder," standing 5-foot, 11-inches and 220 pounds.

He still had plenty of speed though:

Seldon, who also wore the No. 31 his final two seasons, had plenty of big games, but one that sticks out is his 124-yard performance in a road win over Ole Miss during his freshman season. Seldon also caught four passes from Corey Bramlet for 78 yards and scored a five-yard touchdown to put the Pokes on the board early in the second quarter.

Wyoming went on to beat the Rebels, 24-14. It was the second straight season the Pokes beat the SEC team from Oxford.

Another honorable mention has to go to Kofi Shuck (pictured at right).

Shuck lined up at wide receiver for the Cowboys from 1997 to 1999, hauling in 93 passes for 1,436 yards and eight touchdowns. He was one of Jay Stoner’s top targets, sharing the load with Wendell Montgomery, Brahams Derenoncourt and Willie King, among others.

Shuck played a major role in upset wins over Air Force and BYU in 1999.

Who else wore No. 18
Josh Smith (WR), Matt Eddington (DB), Steve Drace (DB), Tom Drost (DB), Cody Deti (CB), Othello Bland (DB), Leonard Jones (WR/RB), Joe Killpack (S), Chris Stutzriem (QB), David Jones (DB), Dax Crum (QB-also wore No. 9), Brandon Miller (RB- also wore No. 8), Austin Woodward (LB/P), Xavier Lewis (S), Trent Geiser (CB), Nick Szpor (QB), Keyon Blankenbaker (CB), Tyler Vander Waal (QB)