California safety Jimmel Champion commits to Wyoming football

Jimmel Champion committed to the University of Wyoming football program on June 25 after an official visit to Laramie, giving the Cowboys another California prospect as they keep building outside their home state. The Huntington Beach High School safety said conversations with Wyoming coaches and the chance to call Laramie home helped shape his decision.

Champion is listed by 247Sports as a 2027 recruit from Huntington Beach, California, measuring 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds with a 0.8600 composite rating. The recruiting service lists him as a safety, but he has lined up at receiver, H-back, cornerback, safety and on coverage units, a sign of the versatility Wyoming often values in players who can fill multiple roles on special teams and defense.

Champion’s path to Wyoming included several stops on the Mountain West circuit. He visited Boise State on June 5, Colorado State on June 12 and then Wyoming on June 19. Wyoming first offered him a scholarship on March 23, and Boise State, Nevada, Montana and New Mexico were among the other schools that had offered him.

The commitment fits into a broader push by Jay Sawvel’s staff to keep the roster moving in the new revenue-sharing era of college athletics. Wyoming said in April that its Step Forward for Football campaign had cleared its initial $500,000 goal, with Sawvel contributing $125,000 of his salary and an anonymous donor matching that amount. University of Wyoming Athletics says the money is aimed at recruiting, retention and development, exactly the areas that matter most as the program tries to keep pace in a changing market.

That effort comes alongside a roster that already has a base of experience. Wyoming said in March that it returned eight total starters and 32 total letterwinners for the 2026 season, and the Cowboys announced 20 commitments in their 2026 early signing class on Dec. 3, 2025. Champion adds to that mix as another long-range piece for a program trying to blend proven veterans with incoming talent.

For Albany County football fans, the interest is more than a name on a recruiting list. A California safety choosing Wyoming after multiple regional visits gives the Cowboys another sign of traction beyond the state line, and that kind of momentum can help keep Laramie louder once fall Saturdays arrive.