Which Wyoming Cowboy wore it best? No. 87

CHEYENNE — Do you ever see a number on a Wyoming football jersey and think of all the great players to wear it? Yeah, me too. In this daily series, I’ll give you my take on which Pokes’ football player was the best ever to don each number. The criteria are simple: How did he perform at UW? What kind of impact did he have on the program?

No. 87 – Tom Frazier

Defensive end, 1964-66, Port Huron, Michigan

Résumé in Laramie
Tom Frazier was one of a number of Michigan Cowboys to play in Laramie in the 60's under head coach Lloyd Eaton. An All-WAC player as a senior, Frazier helped lead Wyoming to the Sun Bowl and a victory over Florida State after a 10-1 season in 1966.

Why Frazier?
The Wyoming teams of the late 60's had some serious Michigan flavor.

Not only on the roster, but on its coaching staff.

Tom Frazier was one of those players from the Great Lakes State, a native of Port Huron who followed then head coach Lloyd Eaton, who also coached at Alma College, Northern Michigan and received a degree from the University of Michigan.

Eight players on the 1966 squad were Michiganders -- four on offense, four on defense. Frazier lined up at defensive end during his career in Laramie, helping lead the Cowboys into the national spotlight.

Oh, and one of his defensive coaches, Fritz Shurmur, a former player at Albion College, had plenty of Michigan ties, too.

Frazier, a co-captain of that '66 team, led a fierce defense that held its opponents scoreless twice and to just seven points or less five times in 11 contests.

Wyoming finished that season 10-1, an infamous "bounce pass" away from being undefeated.

But how good was this Cowboys D? In an early November game at Wichita State, Wyoming held the Shockers to just 25 yards of total offense. That is still the best single-game performance in school history.

The most points the 10th-ranked Cowboys gave up all season was 20 inside Kidd Field in El Paso.

That was a meeting with the mighty Florida State Seminoles in the Sun Bowl.

And the Cowboys, led by running back Jim Kiick, scored 28.

Wyoming's defense may have allowed some points that afternoon in the Texas desert, but the 'Noles rushed for a whopping minus-21 yards.

The co-MVP of that game along with Kiick was Jerry Durling -- you guessed it -- a native of Lansing, Michigan.

You can read more about Wyoming's connections to Michigan right HERE.

Frazier, whose brother Jeff Frazier also played in Laramie, was named first-team All-Western Athletic Conference as a senior.

His 1966 squad will forever be enshrined in the UW Athletics Hall of Fame.

Another 87
Alex English (1999-00) was a dynamic return man for the Cowboys under then head coaches Dana Dimel and Vic Koenning. An opening 88-yard kickoff return against Louisiana-Monroe in 1999 proved that.

However, English was mostly relegated to a role of mentor for guys like Malcom Floyd, Brock Ralph and Ryan McGuffey.

He never won any trophies in Laramie. That came later.

Check out this story about English from last June right HERE.

Who else wore No. 87
Adam Krivoshia (end), Russ Mather (end), Dan Fedore (DE), Bob Leitelt (DE), Greg Brown (WR), Tyrone Williams (DT), Richard Nettles (CB), Kolby Drube (TE), Jarreau Grant (WR), Chris Sundberg (TE), Matt Sebade (TE), Taylor Davis (WR), Colin Gilbert (WR), Conner Cain (DT), Joshua Clausen (WR), Akili Bonner (DT), Chance Hofer (WR), Colin O’Brien (TE),