Cooper Lawson of Star Valley has been named the Gatorade Football Player of the Year for Wyoming. It’s been an exciting week for Big Country as he signed to play for the Wyoming Cowboys on Wednesday as well. Lawson is a two-team all-state selection and two-time Super 25 selection as he helped lead the Braves to a third straight state championship. Cooper Lawson the Wyoming Gatorade Football Player of the Year. 

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Lawson is the first Star Valley player to be named to the award now in it’s 40th year. He anchored a Braves offensive line that helped score a school record 538 points and ended this past season on a 21-game winning streak. 

The 6-foot-6, 265-pound senior two-way lineman recorded 52 tackles this past season and anchored the front five for an offense that averaged 433 yards per game. Lawson surrendered only one sack and, on defense, he logged eight tackles for a loss, two sacks and 17 quarterback hurries. 

According to information released by Gatorade, “Formerly the Student Body Secretary at his school, Lawson has volunteered locally on behalf of the community – formation and faith-based EBC Youth Group. He has also donated his time to his parish’s children’s church, the Wyoming Hunger Initiative and the Afton Food Bank. An active 4-H participant with skills in raising pigs, sewing, cake decorating, leathercraft, public speaking, leadership, produce judging and meat identification, he achieved the title of Grand Champion in Foods at the Lincoln County Fair.”

“Cooper Lawson has been the most dominant lineman in the 3A classification for the past two years,” said Mark Lenhardt, Riverton High School head coach. “Whenever Star Valley needed tough yards, they were most likely going to run behind him because he was so dominant in the run game. There isn’t one guy who has matched his physicality the past two seasons. For a kid his size, he moves very well and was somebody you had to account for on the defensive side of the ball. In Star Valley’s 3-4 scheme, it was very difficult to generate movement to his side, which allowed their linebackers to stay clean and make plays. He will be a very good player at the next level in my opinion because he has all the tools to continue to develop and be great.”

Lawson has maintained a 3.65 GPA in the classroom. 

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states across 12 different high school sports – football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field – and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.

Lawson joins recent Gatorade Wyoming Football Players of the Year Dane Steel (2023-24, Sheridan High School), Colson Coon (2022-23 & 2021-22, Sheridan High School) and Graedyn Buell (2020-21, Cheyenne East High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.