Cheyenne East senior quarterback Graedyn Buell has been chosen the 2020-21 Gatorade Wyoming Football Player of the Year.

In its 36th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company announced the winner on Thursday. Buell is the fifth Gatorade Wyoming Football Player of the Year to be selected from Cheyenne East.

The 6-3, 200-pound Buell led the T-Birds to an 11-1 record and the Class 4A State Championship last fall. The senior threw for 3,065 yards and 38 touchdowns. Buell completed 199 of 293 passes, nearly 68 percent of his passes, with only five interceptions. He added 968 yards rushing and 15 more TDs on 144 carries. Buell is the two-time Class 4A Offensive Player of the Year.

In the release from The Gatorade Company, Rock Springs head coach Mark Lenhardt sang the praises of the Cheyenne East QB.

“Graedyn Buell is probably the most accomplished quarterback to come out of the state of Wyoming in a long time. There’s no one who compares to him in terms of impacting a game.”

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Graedyn Buell, Cheyenne East, football, 2020
Mikaela Settle, WyoPreps.com
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Buell was also a standout on the basketball court during his prep career. He surpassed 1,500 career points in just over three seasons, missing most of his sophomore year due to an injury. Buell averaged 25.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, along with 3.2 assists and 2.3 steals a contest in his senior season. He led the T-Birds to a 17-6 overall record and an appearance at the Class 4A state basketball tournament.

In the classroom, Buell maintains a 3.32 GPA. He has volunteered locally on behalf of Special Olympics, youth sports programs, and a children’s literacy initiative. He remains undecided on a college destination.

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 Buell 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,” Buell has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of their choosing. Buell is also eligible to submit a 30-second video explaining why the organization they 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 $2.7 million across 1,117 organizations.

Buell joins recent Gatorade Wyoming Football Players of the Year 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.

 

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