Family sticks up for punter

Alleged assailant 'a good kid that has good grades'

Ivan Moreno And Felix Doligosa Jr., Rocky Mountain News

Published September 15, 2006 at midnight

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The family of a college football player suspected of stabbing a teammate who bested him for the starting punter's position said Thursday the crime he's accused of is out of character and that he has aspirations beyond football.

"What he's been accused of is absolutely not part of his personality," said Richard Cozad of his son, Mitch Cozad. "This is a good kid that has good grades and works hard."

Mitch Cozad, 21, is accused of stabbing University of Northern Colorado teammate and punter Rafael Mendoza Jr. in his right kicking leg Monday night. Mendoza, 21, had beat out Cozad for the team's punter position.

Police said Cozad stalked Mendoza and attacked him at the parking lot of Mendoza's apartment complex in Evans before driving away in a black Dodge Charger with another male. Evans police have not identified the car's second passenger but said he and Cozad were both wearing black hooded sweatshirts the night of the assault.

Cozad was arrested Tuesday evening on investigation of second-degree assault. He posted $30,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Weld County Court today to be advised of the charge.

Mendoza, who was treated and released Monday night from North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, will not start in Saturday's game against Texas State.

Cozad has been suspended from the university and the football team. Relatives said Thursday that news of his arrest surprised them.

"Well really, he's a pretty laid- back kid," said half-brother Tim Cozad, 26. "He's never been the type to get involved in any type of conflict."

"I just think that maybe he just didn't know any other way to handle things," he said, adding that he hasn't spoken to Cozad since his arrest and that "for all I know, they might have the wrong person."

But Evans police said in an affidavit that Cozad was upset and jealous that Mendoza was chosen as the team's punter, according to a teammate who told investigators Cozad "has an extreme hatred" for Mendoza.

Another player told police Cozad asked him for Mendoza's address under the pretense that he was interested in renting a place at his apartment complex.

Instead, police said Cozad used the address to go to the apartment complex Monday night, where he is accused of punching Mendoza from behind, then stabbing him when he fell.

Police said Mendoza told a passerby he'd just been stabbed and asked him to follow the Dodge Charger that Cozad allegedly had gotten into with the other male.

A liquor store employee later spotted the car in the store's parking lot. He called police after he saw two men with hooded sweatshirts peeling tape off a Wyoming license plate that read "8-KIKR."

Police traced the plate to Cozad's mother in Wheatland, Wyo. She confirmed her son drove the car.

Tim Cozad said the arrest of his half-brother is "a big shock to our family, as much as to everyone else who's reading (the story)."

Cozad planned on going to law school and was studying finance, his family said.

"Everyone has dreams," Richard Cozad said in a phone interview from New Mexico. "I think first and foremost he (Mitch Cozad) wanted a professional career, and probably not football," he said.

Richard Cozad said he's spoken to his son on the phone since the incident.

"I can't say how he's feeling about it, I don't know," he said. "I'm sure he's troubled."

Former teammates at Wheatland High School said Cozad was often ridiculed for being a mama's boy.

"He always got mad if you picked on him," said Colt Thayer, an 18-year-old senior at Wheatland High. "He was kind of like a sissy."

Suzanne Cozad and her son declined to comment when contacted at their home in Wheatland on Thursday.

Cozad tried out for the University of Wyoming football team two years before transferring to UNC, said Tim Harkins, assistant athletic director for media relations at Wyoming.

But Harkins said Cozad never played for the team.

"Just in terms of skill level he was never able to break into the depth chart," Harkins said.

In 2003, Cozad was Wheatland High School's place kicker when he was replaced in a game after missing two extra points, said Kent Smith, owner of the KZEW radio station in Wheatland.

Smith, who covers sports for the radio station, said reports that Cozad hid the kicking tee so his teammates couldn't use it are untrue. Smith said the tee belonged to Cozad, so he took it with him when the coach pulled him out of the game.

"So that's the real story," Smith said. "He did not go and hide it," Smith said.

Smith said the story about Cozad's arrest has been a hot topic in Wheatland.

"It is the talk of the town," he said.

morenoi@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2895

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