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.”

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.”

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.

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.