Sheridan’s Colson Coon is the Gatorade Wyoming Football Player of the Year in 2021

Sheridan junior Colson Coon has been selected the 2021-22 Gatorade Wyoming Football Player of the Year.

In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company announced the winner on Tuesday. Coon is the ninth Gatorade Wyoming Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Sheridan High School. He’s also the second member of his family to win this award, joining his older brother Garrett, who won it in 2019.

The 5-10, 180-pound Coon led the Broncs to an 11-1 record and the Class 4A State Championship this fall. The junior running back and linebacker ran for 1,648 yards and 22 touchdowns on 215 carries. Coon caught 18 passes for 305 yards and four more TDs. On defense, the junior had 69 tackles, three sacks, and two interceptions. He was the Class 4A Offensive Player of the Year in 2021. Coon was an all-state selection and is a two-time all-conference choice.

In the release from The Gatorade Company, Cheyenne East head coach Chad Goff had nothing but praise for Coon.

“Colson Coon is an all-around unreal player. The stuff he can do with the ball in his hands is incredible. He can run up the middle, he can beat you to the outside, and he does a lot of good things on defense too.”

Coon is also a standout wrestler and soccer player at Sheridan High School. He finished second in the Class 4A 160-pound weight class at the state wrestling championships as a sophomore in February 2021. His record last season was 26-7. On the soccer field, Coon scored a team-high 16 goals and had ten assists for the Broncs. He led Sheridan to an overall record of 15-5. The Broncs went 10-2 in conference matches and won the 4A East Regional Soccer Championship. They qualified for the state tournament.

In the classroom, Coon maintains a 3.64 GPA. He has assisted with special needs students in his school and has volunteered locally on behalf of the Broncs Builders service programs.

This award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field. It distinguishes Coon as Wyoming’s best high school football player. He is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award, which will be announced later this month.

Through Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Coon has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of their choosing. Coon is also eligible to submit a short video explaining why the organization he chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants has totaled more than $3.5 million across 1,300 organizations.

Coon joins recent Gatorade Wyoming Football Players of the Year Graedyn Buell (2020-21) from Cheyenne East, Garrett Coon (2019-20) of Sheridan, Parker Christensen (2018-19) from Sheridan, and Natrona County’s Brett Brenton (2017-18).

Information from a press release from The Gatorade Company was used in this story.