In this day in college athletics, it’s extremely rare for an athlete to stay at the same school for six seasons, but Durango’s Ben Finneseth isn’t like his peers.
After starring at Durango High School, Finneseth went to the University of Colorado Buffaloes football team as a walk-on in 2021.
Fast forward to the 2025 season, Finneseth has fought through multiple injuries and taken the old-school approach of working hard at the same school until he earns his spot. His work allowed him to become a scholarship player and become one of the most important special teams players for the Buffaloes. Despite missing the final two games due to injury, Finneseth still finished third on the team in special teams snaps.
With one season of eligibility remaining, Finneseth will return to play for the Buffaloes in 2026 and make his last dance a good one.
“It definitely wasn't an easy decision,” Finneseth said. “I had to weigh some things and make some pros and cons lists to determine what was most important to me. When I told Coach Prime, he was ecstatic. He was so excited. He gave me a hug, and he was super happy. My dad got to be there for that. He thought it was super cool.”
Finneseth’s initial hesitation about returning to Colorado isn’t surprising when looking at the Buffaloes’ 2025 season. Led by head coach Deion “Prime” Sanders, Colorado went 3-9 overall and finished second-to-last in the Big 12 Conference with a 1-8 conference record.
It was a disappointing step back for the program in Sanders’ third season. In 2024, Colorado finished 9-4 overall and 7-2 in the Big 12, albeit against a weaker schedule in a worse Big 12. The Buffaloes had the tall task of replacing Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and quarterback Shedeur Sanders in 2025 and didn’t have much success. Colorado started three different quarterbacks and lost its final five games and seven of its last eight.
After the season was over, Finneseth reflected and realized how much older and more experienced he is at Colorado than almost all of his teammates.
At 23 years old, Finneseth definitely has “Unc” (Uncle) status on the team, and he knows he needs to carry himself the right way every day with everything he does. His younger and newer teammates will follow the example he puts forth. Finneseth feels like the Lord created him to be a leader and place him in a leadership role in the 2026 season.
“It was a big learning year for me,” Finneseth said. “It was filled with a lot of ups and downs … I had my first start, and I ended up starting a good number of games … One of the biggest things that I learned from last season, was I didn't speak up enough when things weren't going the right way, when cancers started growing in the locker room, I didn't put my foot down and put a stop to it.”
One of the downs last season for Finneseth was his injury in Colorado’s game at West Virginia. He suffered a Grade 3 tear of his adductor longus, the triangular muscle in the thigh that acts as a primary hip adductor. He tore it right off the bone when he tried to avoid an offensive lineman’s block. Despite a limp, Finneseth finished the drive and tried to continue playing, but he was so limited that he couldn’t help the team, and he was pulled out of the game.
It was a familiar feeling for Finneseth since it was the second season-ending injury of his career at Colorado, which is a reason why he has another year of eligibility. Despite another injury setback, Finneseth took it as a blessing because it made him realize he needed to be a leader after the season, when he was reflecting. However, he didn’t feel comfortable late in the season being a leader since he wasn’t playing and he felt he wasn’t consistent enough.
Since Finneseth has been at Colorado so long, he has developed quite a social media following. Colorado has been one of the most followed and covered college football teams by the media since Sanders has taken over as head coach. Finneseth has 18,000 Instagram followers and over 7,000 subscribers on YouTube, where Finneseth posts game-day vlogs, day-in-the-life vlogs and more, with his most popular video having nearly 100,000 views.
The former Durango High star said he had maybe 800 or 900 followers on Instagram when he first got to Colorado, and he credited Sanders’ promotion of him as the main reason he’s been able to grow his following. A viral moment or two, like when he got the nickname YC (Young Cracker, Young Caucasian) after a viral video of him trash-talking from the sideline, or when he dressed up as coach Sanders, hasn’t hurt.
Finneseth’s marketing of himself on social media even led to a try out with the WWE. A recruiter for the world-famous wrestling company reached out after she liked his YouTube channel, and he was flown down to Orlando, Florida, for a five-day tryout.
There were 25-30 people trying out with Finneseth in Orlando, including former athletes, current college athletes, actors and amateur wrestlers. The process was different for everyone, but Finneseth was there from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., practicing the moves and doing practice promos in front of the whole organization.
Finneseth was worried that if he got accepted into the WWE, he’d have to forgo his final year of college football. But he was reassured at the tryout that he could be brought into the WWE after he’s done playing football. Finneseth is still waiting to see if he gets signed to the WWE.
Regardless of all the opportunities that have come from social media, Finneseth still has one final season for the Buffaloes. He’s been working on his short-area quickness and opening up his hips. If all goes well, it won’t be Finneseth’s final season playing football, with the NFL being his next goal.
Finneseth had questions about whether he could make it to the next level. But after a great game against Iowa State, he got a text from coach Sanders, telling Finneseth he was proud of him and that a string of good games can turn him into a pro.
“I proved to myself that I can play at this level,” Finneseth said. “That was the biggest mental aspect that I had to overcome … I played against some of the best players in the country, and in some of the biggest games, the moment was never too big for me … I've accomplished almost everything I've set my heart out to do so far … It's another goal that I'm going to accomplish, and I know I'm going to get it done.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
