Sports
Colorado kicker Alejandro Mata follows in Deion Sanders’ footsteps and gets the opportunity of a lifetime

One of the most underrated features of Deion Sanders’ Colorado experience was the journey Alejandro Matahis 20-year-old junior, a kicker. Mata followed Coach Prime from Jackson State to the University of Colorado, but that was only part of his story.
His journey to Boulder, Colorado, took him through Jackson, Mississippi, and San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where he was born. His father was the CEO of a world company, and there have been more stops along the way: Mexico, Brazil, and finally Buford, Georgia, where his family moved when he was 16.
Of all the changes, the most difficult was adjusting from highschool in Georgia to the historically black college culture in Mississippi.
“It was definitely more of a drastic transition from Buford to Jackson,” Mata said by phone Wednesday after practice. “I really had no expectations. I didn’t know what to expect. And just getting there and seeing the culture that Jackson State had was amazing.”
But whether it was at Jackson State or now Colorado, Mata has develop into a fan favorite wherever he’s gone. He attributes that to his ability to adapt to his many moves when he was young.
“I was born in Honduras, grew up in Mexico and Brazil, and then I moved to South Georgia, and then after a few years there, I moved to North Georgia,” Mata said. “So all those moves really helped me adjust to different cultures. Moving from an HBCU to Boulder, of course, was a complete culture shock, but it was nothing I hadn’t seen before. So that made it easier.”
Boyd Ivey/Icon Sportswire
It was college football that brought him to Boulder. Mata got here to the United States in 2016 but didn’t start playing until he was in the eighth grade, when his physical education teacher saw him kicking footballs out of bounds. He became a kicker for Buford High School, helping the team win two state championships in the past two years.
At 5-foot-9 and 190 kilos, Mata went undrafted, so he and his father visited schools and did workouts. There was one taker: Sanders at Jackson State. Mata eagerly accepted the scholarship offer, although he never in his wildest dreams thought he can be kicking in front of 40,000 college football fans.
“So initially, when I started playing football, I didn’t really see myself as a great player,” Mata said. “I really thought I was going to be a footballer my whole life and then I was going to work a regular 9-5. But football definitely broadened my perspective on what was possible.”
Last yr, Colorado began the season fantastically. They began the season with a surprise to seventeenth TCU. Colorado’s quarterback Sanders-shedeur threw for a school-record 510 yards and scored 4 touchdowns, with the victory being decided by a 46-yard catch-and-run by the freshman Dylan EdwardsColorado won 45-42.
Colorado won just three games the rest of the season and finished with a dismal 4-8 record.
Things are a bit more serious this season. Colorado is currently 2-1 and opens its Big 12 schedule Saturday against Baylor.
Mata said the biggest change for the team this yr is its attitude.
“Definitely the mentality,” he said. “Last year I felt we got a little too comfortable with a few wins, and this year we want to go all out.”
The highlight of Mata’s season last yr got here against Arizona State, when he kicked a 43-yard field goal with 12 seconds left to provide Colorado a 27-24 victory. But once I asked Mata to call the best moment of his college experience to this point, the kick against Arizona State got here in second.
He returned to Jackson State.
“A lot of people might think that was my game-winning kick against Arizona State last season,” he said. “But honestly, I think my first field goal — that Hard Rock Stadium, my first year, my first year against FAMU, 34 yards — was just incredible. Especially knowing that’s how I started my college career.”
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Mata’s story has so many dimensions. One of them is the role HBCUs play in providing opportunity, serving as launching pads for greater and higher things.
Although he was at Colorado for 2 seasons, the HBCU experience at Jackson State is etched in his heart. Whether it’s the homecoming, the Greek life or the atmosphere, the HBCU culture isn’t something you’ll be able to easily replicate.
“I talk about it with my friends all the time,” he said. “The culture and the fans there are just different. Like homecoming week, Greek life there, it was just a party every day, basically. Or at least that’s how it felt.”
Mata plans to return to Jackson State next month. “Luckily, this season, our week off falls on our home week at Jackson State. So I plan on flying out there for the game.”
Of course, one of the drawbacks of being in Colorado is that he now finds himself playing on a big stage in a Power 5 conference that has a history of producing skilled athletes. He is closer than he ever could have imagined to achieving what once may need gave the impression of an unattainable goal of playing skilled football.
“It’s great to know that I can create wealth for generations, not just for myself but for future generations, my family and my parents, because that’s really the only reason I do this,” Mata said. “My dad worked too hard for me not to be successful, and I want to be able to take that back once I get drafted or join the NFL.”
To try this, Mata knows he needs to enhance. He is usually described as a “line drive” or “low trajectory” field goal kicker. He is comfortable kicking field goals from 53 to 54 yards, although his longest field goal this yr was 27 yards.
As a sophomore, he made 10 of 12 field goal attempts — his misses were from greater than 40 yards out. His longest attempt of the season was 47 yards out. “I definitely need to get my distance up. That’s the most important thing for me right now. I know I have the accuracy to get to the next level, but if I really want to guarantee myself a spot there, I definitely need to get a few more yards up in range.”
How? “Getting in shape, obviously getting stronger, getting more flexible, getting more confident from a distance. I know I can get to 55, no problem. I just have to tell myself I can.”
Most importantly, Mata was in a position to complete his studies because of a sports scholarship.
Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images
Very few players in major league college football or the NFL have had an African-American coach. Mata is fortunate to have a coach like Sanders, who played in the MLB and had a Hall of Fame profession in the NFL. Sanders looks in school football through a business lens and encourages his players to look beyond the field and the immediacy of being a college football player.
“What’s special about him is not only that he’s a football coach, but I think he’s great at coaching us in life,” Mata said. “He’s great at preparing us for life after football, in case some of us don’t make it. And I think that’s what sets him apart from other coaches.”
There was a significant Latino population in Buford, a small Latino population in Jackson, and now Colorado has a significant Latino population again. “Especially around Pueblo and Aurora, it’s just great to have people like me around,” Mata said.
When asked how he identifies, Mata said, “To be honest, I just say Spanish because I grew up in a lot of places, so I don’t really know what to say considering where I come from. So I just say Spanish.”
I asked Mata what he considered the pressing issue of immigration, knowing that as a college athlete he needed to walk a very superb line. He was a diplomat.
“Of course I see points of view on both sides, but for the most part I try to stay away from politics,” he said. “I just don’t try to piss anyone off over something I don’t like or something I like.”
Mata’s family still lives in Buford. His oldest sister is a junior in highschool, and his youngest is just starting middle school. Mata will not be a national star like Colorado teammates Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, but he’s a legend at Buford High School. “My sister always tells me how the new freshmen come up to her and ask if she’s my little sister, if we’re related,” he said. “The new teacher she has on her roster who taught me always asks her if we’re related.”
Life is sweet, and it is going to be even higher if Mata will help Sanders replicate in Colorado the success he had at Jackson State, where he went 27-6 in three seasons and won two Southwestern Athletic Conference championships.
“Right now, we’re just worried about Baylor,” Mata said. “But if we’re talking about the bigger picture, we’re thinking about competing for the Big 12 championship. We want to compete for the national championship, make the playoffs as a team.”
His individual goals: “I definitely want every opportunity to count for me, whether it’s a field goal or a PAT, and I want to be able to capitalize on every single one of them.”
Mata definitely made the most of the opportunity this trip of a lifetime gave her.
Sports
Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL

Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.
Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.
The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.
The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.
The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.
But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.
Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.
“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “
Justin Casterline/Getty Images
Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.
But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.
Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.
In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.
He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.
Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.
“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.
“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”
Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images
Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.
“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.
But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.
“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.
“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “
The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.
But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.
Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “
“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.
Sports
Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal

I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.
Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.
One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.
Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.
I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.
When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.
History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.
The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.
That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.

The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:
“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.
Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”
I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”
I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.
They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.

(Tagstranslate) @Ap
Sports
Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died

Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.
No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.
Morgan State University Athletics mourns Sterling Steward’s departure https://t.co/avjzilxhja
– Grizzly Life (@grizzlylife22) February 26, 2025
Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.
“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “
While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.
Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.
He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.
(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry
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