Kimball Madsen concluded his prep career at Mountain View High College as one particular of the state’s most prolific offensive gamers. The 2020 graduate performed quarterback and jogging back again for the Buffalos as a sophomore and junior just before shifting just about completely to functioning again as a senior.
The 3-yr starter accounted for nearly 5,500 all-purpose yards and 52 touchdowns in encouraging guide Mountain Look at perform to 3 consecutive Course 2A condition championship sport appearances and titles in 2017 and ’19. Madsen was also a standout linebacker for the Buffalos.
Now the 6-foot-1, 210-pound multi-sport athlete — he was all-condition in basketball and served the Buffalos win the 2019 Course 3A observe and discipline championship — is completely ready for his next problem on the gridiron.
“I’m heading to walk on at Wyoming,” Madsen explained in a phone job interview past thirty day period. “I was going to serve a mission and I went to the (Missionary Schooling Heart), but I felt there was one thing else I required to be undertaking right now.”
After returning from the MTC, Madsen reached out to UW tight finishes and fullbacks coach Shannon Moore, who experienced very first contacted Madsen through his senior year.
“I called up Coach Moore and I instructed him I was heading to be attending UW in the fall,” Madsen recalled. “They had recruited me when I was in higher faculty so there was now interest there and I realized the coaches.”
Madsen informed Moore that he was fascinated in actively playing for the residence-state Cowboys. With no roster spots readily available, even though, the plan was to have Madsen be an gear supervisor this season and then be a part of the group upcoming spring.
Everything appeared in spot until Madsen obtained a connect with from Moore.
“He known as me out of nowhere and said they experienced a place open mainly because they were being slender at fullback,” Madsen mentioned. “And he advised the other coaches that he would decide me above most people else that was on the walk-on board.
“He asked me if I preferred to enjoy and I claimed, ‘Absolutely!’ There was no hesitation on my aspect.”
Madsen had been given curiosity from nearby universities like Rocky Mountain School, Colorado University of Mines and Dickinson Condition, among other individuals, but none of them experienced the pull, or the status, of playing for the Cowboys.
“I’ve generally wanted to go to Wyoming,” he mentioned. “And the coaches have finished a good occupation stressing how critical it is for me to get an training and how a great deal they’ll assistance me. Due to the fact I know that no matter if it’s appropriate right after significant university or in 20 decades, football ends but getting an schooling doesn’t.
“But I also know if there is an chance to engage in I’ll leap all more than it.”
Even if it suggests enjoying a place he’s under no circumstances performed just before.
“I believed I was likely to be able to perform linebacker mainly because that is the place they ended up recruiting me when I was in large college,” Madsen stated. “I imagined at least it was going to be a defensive place, but when Mentor Moore stated fullback I jumped all around that.
“I’ve in no way played fullback right before,” he extra, “but I’m up for the problem and I’m completely ready to go. I’m open to any possibility I have to play football and I’ll do no matter what I have to do to engage in at UW. I’ll perform on the line if that is what they need to have.”
Madsen will join a fullback space that characteristics two other in-state players in Parker Christensen (6-2,229), a redshirt freshman from Sheridan, and Caleb Driskill (6-2, 235), a freshman from Thunder Basin. Christensen, who performed limited conclusion previous year for UW, enters slide camp atop the depth chart at the place, although Driskill is mentioned as the backup.
Madsen expects to be in Laramie by the stop of the month in get to get acclimated prior to the start off of drop camp in August. With the belief that he’s undertaking what he needs to at a position he loves, Madsen is all set for whichever arrives following.
“Looking back again there is no way I could have noticed this taking place,” he said. “But the way that everything has worked out is type of neat.”
Stick to sports activities editor Jack Nowlin on Twitter @CASJackN