Abstract‘Plainsmen’ (Reg. no. CV‐288, PI 698191) tall wheatgrass [Thinopyrum ponticum (Podp.) Z.‐W. Liu & R.‐C. Wang], also tested under the experimental designations NFTW6020 and Jose FYLD C1, was developed by the Noble Research Institute and released in 2014. A population was developed from selections from the cultivar ‘Jose’ for persistence under grazing and two cycles of selection for digestibility. The parents of Plainsmen were selected using within‐ and among‐family selection from this population based on autumn forage yield greater than 100% of the nursery mean. The heading date of Plainsmen in Ardmore, OK, is on average 5 d earlier than that of Jose. Seed size, as indicated by 1,000‐seed weight, of Plainsmen (4,724 mg) was greater than that of Jose (4,161 mg) and ‘Platte’ (3,143 mg). Persistence was improved by selection, with stands of Plainsmen ranging from 90 to 294% greater than stands of Jose across three locations. Total autumn forage yields of Plainsmen were greater by 45 and 53% than those of Jose at Iowa Park, TX, and Ardmore, OK, respectively. Crude protein and digestibility of Plainsmen and Jose were similar in both the autumn and spring, despite earlier maturity of Plainsmen. Seedling vigor, using a visual rating scale of 0–5, was greater for Plainsmen (4.3) than Jose (2.7). Plainsmen was released due to its improved autumn forage yield and persistence under grazing relative to Jose.