Greeley – Wednesday was no ordinary first day of preseason football practice for Northern Colorado.
For one, the season’s first drills began at dusk. Second, the Bears enter the season eligible to win the Big Sky Conference for the first time.
And the most poignant: Television crews running live feeds beside the practice fields weren’t just talking about football.
The Bears got underway the same day a Greeley jury was summoned to decide the fate of former UNC backup punter Mitch Cozad, who is charged with attempted first-degree murder.
Cozad allegedly stabbed first-string punter Rafael Mendoza, now a senior, in his kicking leg last Sept. 11, just after coach Scott Downing began his first year with the Bears.
Mendoza and Downing testified at the trial last week. Downing, whose team finished 1-10, 0-8 in UNC’s first year in the Big Sky, said he and his punter are eager to hear the Cozad verdict and move on.
“It’s been a long year for him, and I think the team will be happy for him when all this is over and he can put it behind him and just concentrate on football and school,” Downing said.
“The other kids don’t talk about it very much. It’s something that’s in their past. They’re young. It happened. It was an unfortunate incident, but they’ve already moved on.”
Mendoza was perhaps the happiest Bear to get drills underway.
“I’ve been saying since last September, since I got stabbed, that being on the field is the place I feel the safest,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of teammates around here that have a lot of support for me.”
UNC’s new practice facilities are impressive. There are two artificial-turf fields with spectator seating, plus another full-length, natural field, and all are equipped with lighting. A full-length scoreboard sits beside one of the fields used for scrimmages.
“This place makes us play better,” senior linebacker Asa Matthews said. “You want to have a good environment. It helps make you feel better about yourself.”
Downing is optimistic about his second UNC squad.
“Last year everything was new to everybody,” he said. “The practice tempo. The game travel. Everything. Now, I’ve got veterans who can take the younger guys under their wing and say, ‘Hey, this is not the way we do it here.’ Or, ‘This is the way we do it here.”‘
Staff writer Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
