'Grateful for this place': Former NFL star surprises Pueblo youth at football camp

Colorado State University Pueblo hosted a youth football camp this week at the ThunderBowl, where those who attended were treated to a special surprise.

Philip Vigil, the head coach of the university's football team, and the rest of CSU Pueblo coaching staff were excited to offer the camp to give players of all ages a chance to sharpen their skills while competing against elite talent. PACK Football Camps in general provide teams with an environment to build team chemistry, develop football fundamentals and receive coaching from collegiate coaches.

But not all of the school's camps feature appearances from former NFL Pro Bowlers and Super Bowl champions.

The youth camp that took place July 17-19 was a special one, as the kids who participated not only learned some valuable lessons from college coaches, but also got to meet a very special guest on the final day of the camp — former CSU Pueblo ThunderWolf and recently retired NFL player Ryan Jensen.

Jensen was asked by his nephew who was attending the camp to come down for the final day. Jensen of course agreed and helped kids with drills while having fun giving back to a community he said has given him so much in his life.

"I grabbed my son Wyatt and came on down here and just decided to have a little fun with it," Jensen told the Chieftain. "It's been awesome and fun watching all these kids from different ages come out here and just give a lot of effort.

"That's the biggest thing I always preach when I talk to kids is the amount of effort you give. Coming out here and playing a little bit of Pack football with some of the 14-year-olds, it's awesome seeing how willing they are to give effort and play hard."

Another reason Jensen said he wanted to come out to Friday's camp was to help support CSU Pueblo, the school that helped launch his career in the NFL.

"I owe a lot to Pueblo and Colorado State-Pueblo," Jensen said. "Coming out of high school, I had two offers. I could have gone to Western State or I could have come here and I ended up coming here and falling in love with the place and was able to make a career out of football. I owe a lot to CSU Pueblo and the DeRose's, and everybody. So I am very, very thankful and very grateful for this place."

Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @chowebacca. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com