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UW This Season: Karsten Sween enters his junior season having started 18 of the last 19 games for the Wyoming Cowboys. Sween worked extremely hard during this past winter-conditioning period, setting a new UW school record for quarterbacks by bench pressing 350 pounds. He also added 15 pounds of muscle to his frame, going from 207 pounds to 222. He will enter the 2008 season in a three-way battle for the starting quarterback spot with senior Ian Hetrick and junior-college transfer Dax Crum. 2007: Sween completed 215 of 359 pass attempts (59.9 percent) for 2,028 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also threw 17 interceptions as a sophomore. He completed an average of 17.9 passes per game to rank No. 53 in the NCAA, and he averaged 169.0 yards passing per game to rank No. 6 in the Mountain West Conference and No. 84 in the nation. Sween's best game of the year was in the season opener versus Virginia as he threw for a career high 253 yards, completing 25 of 34 pass attempts (73.5 percent), including one touchdown in Wyoming's 23-3 home victory. He accounted for 242 yards of total offense versus UVa., which was also a career best. He started 11 of 12 games in `07. The only game he did not start was versus UNLV in week eight. His combined record as a starter through his sophomore season is 9-9. 2006: Sween entered his redshirt freshman season of 2006 as the backup to junior Jacob Doss. In the fifth game of the season at Syracuse, he took over as the Cowboys' quarterback and went on to post a 5-2 record as a starter in the last seven games of the season. The California native concluded his redshirt freshman season earning Honorable Mention Freshman All-America honors from the Sporting News. In the second half of the game at Syracuse, Sween was inserted into the Cowboy offense, and he never relinquished that role for the remainder of the season. Sween took over in the Syracuse game with the score tied at 10-10. He led UW into the Orange redzone on his first possession, but UW missed a field goal. On his second possession, he threw his first TD pass to give Wyoming a 17-10 lead. Late in the fourth quarter the Cowboys found themselves trailing 20-27 with only 6:09 remaining in regulation and the ball on their own eight-yard line. Sween proceeded to lead the Pokes on a 14-play, 92-yard drive culminating with a 15-yard TD pass to Hoost Marsh to tie the game with only five seconds remaining on the clock. Although the Cowboys would eventually lose, 34-40, in double overtime to the Orange, Sween's legacy of being able to perform under pressure was born. He would start his first game the following week at New Mexico, and guided UW to its first win in Albuquerque since 1991. He then followed up that victory with two home wins over Utah and archrival Colorado State. Sween would go on to post a 5-2 record as a starting quarterback, and would lead UW to a 6-6 overall record and bowl eligibility. His only two losses as a redshirt freshman came on the road at Top 25 teams TCU and BYU. Sween threw for 1,304 yards on the season, ranking him No. 6 in the Mountain West Conference and No. 80 in the nation as only a redshirt freshman. He also averaged 135.1 yards of total offense in `06 -- good enough to place him seventh in the MWC. 2005: Redshirted. Sween was ranked as the No. 28 best freshman quarterback in the nation by Phil Steele's College Football Preview 2005. Athlon Sports 2005 Preview ranked him as the No. 10 best overall recruit in the Mountain West Conference in '05. High School: Sween had an outstanding high school career at Burroughs High School in Ridgecrest, Calif.. At the conclusion of his senior season, Rivals.com ranked him as the No. 23 Best Pro-Style quarterback in the nation. PrepStar magazine named him to its All-America team. He was also ranked No. 78 in the Top 100 players in the state of California in postseason rankings. As a senior in 2004, He was named the Los Angeles Times All-Desert/Mountain Region quarterback and was named the Desert/Mountain Region Back of the Year. The Bakersfield Californian named him its All-Area Player of the Year. He was named All-Southern Section by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). Sween was also selected to play in the 54th Annual Shriners All-Star Game in southern California. He led the state of California in passing his senior season with 4,367 yards, and he ranked second in the state in touchdown passes (46), while throwing only seven interceptions. He was elected a team captain his senior season. Sween was a 2004 Wendy's High School Heisman Nominee. He was also one of only 50 players nationally to be named a 2004 Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year. The Inland Empire California Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame named him a 2004 Scholar Athlete, and he earned Burroughs High School Principal's Scholar Athlete recognition as a senior. In the 2004 year-end issue of Sports Illustrated, Sween was highlighted in the magazine's "Faces in the Crowd" section. As a junior, he earned All-CIF Southern Section, First Team All-State underclassmen, Los Angeles Times All-Area, Student Sports All-America accolades and Prep Star All-America honors. He ranked No. 2 in the state of California in passing yards with 3,762 as a junior. He completed 244 of 401 passes (.608) for 40 touchdowns and only nine interceptions in 2003. He set school career records for passing yards (8,129) and passing TDs (86). His senior season, Burroughs posted an 8-5 record and advanced to the semifinals of the state playoffs. He led Burroughs to a 12-2 record as a junior and the CIF Southern Section Championship Game. He is a left-handed thrower, and was coached in high school by Jeff Steinberg. Sween was also recruited by Arizona, Colorado State, Oregon and UCLA. Personal: Born July 11, 1987, he is the eldest of three children of Teresa and Charles Sween. He and his wife Alexandria were married on May 13, 2006. He is majoring in physical and health education-teaching at Wyoming. |
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