In 2026, Durango High School will have another Division I college football player.
Durango’s Owen Cheatham committed to play Division I college football at the University of Wyoming on Oct. 14. Cheatham becomes the first Durango High School football player to commit to a Division I school with a scholarship out of high school since Joshua Bates committed to the University of Oklahoma in 2021.
“It was really the people there that drew me in the most,” Cheatham said. “I've talked to a lot of college coaches, I’ve been on a few visits, and I'd say the people of Laramie, Wyoming, they weren't as much telling me why I should go there, they were showing me. I just felt a connection with them. The morals of that town and that team align a lot with what I believe.”
Wyoming plays in the Mountain West Conference. Coached by Jay Sawvel since 2024, the Cowboys finished 3-9 overall last season and, as of Saturday morning, are 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the Mountain West in 2025.
At 6-foot-6-inches and 265 pounds, Cheatham plays on the offensive line and the defensive line for the Demons, but will be going to Wyoming to play on the offensive line. He likes that the Wyoming offensive line shifts around a lot. Players can play tackle and guard on either side.
It’s been quite the journey recently for Cheatham. He only started playing on the offensive line last season. Back in January, Cheatham only weighed 205 pounds. But, with the help of Durango’s renowned offensive line coach Mike Sutter, Cheatham learned the techniques and Sutter made Cheatham feels at home on the offensive line. Durango head coach Hunter Holmes helped Cheatham get connected with college coaches.
Sutter has been coaching Durango offensive linemen for the past 12 years. He’s helped players like Carver Willis and Joshua Bates play high-level Division I football (Willis plays at Washington in the Big 12 Conference and Bates plays at SMU in the Atlantic Coast Conference.) Sutter remembered telling Cheatham after his freshman year that if he switched to offensive line, he thought he could get Cheatham into college football.
“Most of it comes from mom and dad, obviously, since it starts with size,” Sutter said. “What I teach are biomechanics and body movement. He’s kind of naturally gifted at those. But I’ve been teaching him how to move and move efficiently. His heart is in the right spot and he has a lot of passion.”
Cheatham had interest from a lot of Division I schools all over the country. Other than Wyoming, he was offered by Air Force, Colorado State, Coastal Carolina and Yale. But, in addition to the connection Cheatham felt with Laramie, he met a lot of players there who are passionate about their faith, like Cheatham is. Cheatham plans to study criminal psychology so he can work in the FBI or CIA.
With his commitment to Wyoming, Cheatham joins Bates, Willis, Ben Finneseth at Colorado and Zach Haber at Arkansas as scholarship players at the Division I level from Durango in the last two years.
“Going into high school, I heard those names and I saw those guys play and they were an inspiration,” Cheatham said. “To be in their position right now is kind of unreal.”
Cheatham has already begun learning the Wyoming offense, getting to the scheme and the coaches. Before he gets to Laramie, Cheatham still has a senior season to finish. If all goes well, he’ll finish his high school career as a state champion like Bates, Finneseth and Haber before him.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
