Complete Recruiting Class Breakdown/Bios in PDF Format
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Alex Toney,Andy Bickel,Aric Goodman,Billy Vinnedge,Chris Prosinski,Darion Donnelly,Darius Terry,Darryl Gober,Derrick Levy,Eric Kottom,Greg Bolling,Ian-Hetrick,Jack Tennant,Lamonta Ward,Lawrence Alexander,Nick Brousseau,Sam Sterner,Steven Headley,Tyree Carter,Zack Kennedy

Wyoming head football coach Joe Glenn announced the 2006 recruiting class at the University of Wyoming on Wednesday. Included among the 2006 class are: a High School All-America place-kicker from the state of Colorado, the Offensive Player of the Year in the state of Wyoming and a junior-college quarterback who led the No. 1 passing offense in California junior-college ranks this past season.

Aric Goodman, from Cherry Creek High School in Englewood, Colo., was named a high school All-America kicker by Sports Illustrated. He also was selected the First Team All-Colorado place-kicker for all classifications by the Rocky Mountain News and the First Team All-Colorado punter for all classifications by the Denver Post.

Chris Prosinski, from Buffalo High School in Buffalo, Wyo., was named by the Casper Star-Tribune as the Offensive Player of the Year in Wyoming in 2005. Prosinski was also named to the Casper Star-Tribune Super 25 team, as he led Buffalo to back-to-back Wyoming 4A State titles and a 22-game winning streak. Prosinski played quarterback for the Bison, but is projected as a safety for the Cowboys.

Ian Hetrick led Santa Rosa Junior College of Santa Rosa, Calif., to an 8-3 record in 2005 and a bowl victory to conclude his junior-college career. Hetrick guided a no-huddle, spread offense that ranked No. 1 in the state of California in passing yards, averaging 404.1 yards per game, and ranked No. 6 in total offense, averaging 460.7 yards per game.

Glenn said he was excited about the quality of talent and quality of young men that his staff was able to attract this year.

"I credit my coaching staff for working so hard, being so diligent and turning over every stone to find the best young men to bring into our program, and I think we've done that," said Glenn. "We're excited about the impact we believe this recruiting class can make on Wyoming Football over the next five years."

The 2006 class of recruits includes a total of 26 student-athletes. Of those 26 signees, five are junior-college players, 15 are high-school student-athletes, three are grayshirt signees from the spring of 2005 and three are current members of the Cowboy Football team who earned scholarships starting this spring. One of the five junior-college signees, offensive lineman Zack Kennedy is being signed as a grayshirt this year, and so won't join the program or go on scholarship until January of 2007. Kennedy will come to Wyoming in the spring of 2007 from New Mexico Military. He is the only one of the five junior-college players who will have three years of eligibility at Wyoming.

Each Division I-A football program is allowed to sign a maximum of 25 student-athletes to national letters of intent each year. Grayshirts, student-athletes who don't go on scholarship for a year, don't count in that 25 maximum.

"Every year, we try to fill our roster in across the board at every position," said Glenn. "Each year, our quota at a particular position may be a little bit higher than another year. This year it seemed like we had an opportunity to attract a number of talented offensive linemen and defensive backs, so we were able to stock up a little bit at those two positions."

Wyoming signed six offensive linemen and six defensive backs in this year's class.

The Cowboys were also able to fill needs in the special teams' area where Wyoming loses both its starting place-kicker, Deric Yaussi, and starting punter, Adam Brooks, to graduation. UW signed three special teams performers -- junior-college punter Billy Vinnedge; high school place-kicker punter Goodman from Englewood, Colo.; and 2005 walkon place-kicker Jake Scott from Rocklin, Calif., who earned a scholarship this spring.

"Billy Vinnedge is an excellent punter, and he's battle-tested, having punted two years in junior college," commented Glenn. "At the kicking position, we will have some competition between Jake Scott, who walked onto our program a year ago and earned a scholarship this year, and the No. 1 high school kicker we saw this year in Aric Goodman, out of Cherry Creek High School in Denver, so we're real excited about all three of these individuals."

In terms of the five junior-college signees, Glenn and his staff expect four of those individuals to compete for playing time immediately at the positions of quarterback, wide receiver, safety and punter. All four of those positions were impacted by graduation of key players from a year ago.

"In Darryl Gober, you get a 25-year old, military veteran who is also a classy guy," said Glenn. "I think he will bring leadership to our program on and off the field. He's a tough kid, and he earned Academic All-America honors this past year. We also know his family well, having coached his younger brother David at Montana.

"Of all the film we looked at this year, Darion (Donnelly) was one of the best wide receivers we saw. He's tall, he can get up field, and he has great hands. He put up good numbers in junior college. We feel he has a chance to really impact our passing game.

"Although we lose Corey Bramlet to graduation, we feel like we have quarterbacks in spades in our program right now. There will be great competition for that position this coming spring and fall. We are excited about the three young men we currently have in our program in Jake (Doss), Stinson (Dean) and Karsten (Sween). Our two new signees, Ian Hetrick (a junior-college quarterback from California) and Steven Headley (a high-school quarterback from Texas) will both come in and make that position even more competitive."

This year's recruiting class includes players from 10 different states, including two student-athletes from the state of Wyoming.

"Joe Evers, from Sheridan, Wyo., is now on campus," said Glenn. "He signed with us a year ago as a grayshirt, and joined our program this semester. He is intriguing. He is a big, strong, all-around athlete. He was an outstanding basketball player in high school. He played quarterback and safety at Sheridan, but continues to grow. I think he's about 6-5 and around 240 pounds right now. There are a number of positions we could use him at, but right now we have him at tight end.

"Chris Prosinski is far and away the best athlete we saw in the state this year. He will remind people a lot of John Wendling (Wyoming's returning starter at free safety from Rock Springs, Wyo.) in that he's a great multi-sport athlete. Chris is an outstanding track athlete and basketball player. We're real excited about Chris and his chances to be a key contributor for us in years to come. Being from the state of Wyoming, both of these two young men are great catches for us."

Glenn also thanked all of the people who assisted in this year's recruiting process.

"The first-line in recruiting is definitely your coaching staff as they go out in high schools and homes to contact these young men," Glenn said. "Our coaches do a great job of representing Wyoming Football and the University of Wyoming. But with that being said, when kids come on our campus and meet our administrators, our faculty, our athletic department staff, our current players and the people of Wyoming that is what sells these kids on coming to the University of Wyoming. It's the people that makes us strong, and I'm talking about all the people around the state who support our athletic program."

The national letter-of-intent signing period began today, Feb. 1 and ends April 1, 2005.

University of Wyoming Cowboys 2006 Football Signings
(Alphabetical, As of Feb. 1, 2006)

Breakdown:
Junior-College Signees Already Enrolled at UW (1)
Junior-College Signees Who Will Enroll at UW in the Fall of 2005(4)
Grayshirt Signees From 2005(3)
High-School Signees(15)
Current Cowboy Walkons Awarded Scholarships (3)
Totals(26)

Junior-College Signees Already Enrolled at UW (1)

Junior-College Signees Who Will Enroll at UW Next Academic Year (4)

Grayshirt Signees From 2005 (3)

High-School Signees (15)

2005 Cowboy Walkons Awarded Scholarships in 2006 (3)

* - Enrolled at the University of Wyoming and on scholarship starting January of 2006.
# - Grayshirts who went on scholarship in January of 2006. Grayshirts were originally signed in February of 2005, but count against the 2006 recruiting class total.
^ - 2005 Wyoming walkons who were awarded scholarships starting in January of 2006 and who count toward this year's recruiting class.
% - First-time Grayshirt signee, who won't go on scholarship until January of 2007. This Grayshirt doesn't count against the 2006 recruiting class total.