Football
Associated Press 17y

Mendoza's leg feels better, UNC punter remains on guard

GREELEY, Colo. -- Rafael Mendoza carries a long stick with
him at night.

He said he won't be caught unprepared again.

The Northern Colorado punter was attacked from behind last Sept.
11 outside his apartment. It left him with a deep gash in his
kicking leg, but he later returned to the team.

"I always carry something ... something just to try to defend
myself," Mendoza said Wednesday. "You never know. It could always
happen again."

Mitch Cozad, a former backup punter at Northern Colorado, is
currently on trial for the knife attack and faces charges of
attempted first-degree murder and second-degree assault.
Prosecutors said the stabbing was a bid to get the starting job.

Mendoza addressed the media following a day in which the jury
spent more than eight hours deliberating the case. The judge
dismissed the jury for the evening without reaching a verdict.

The 22-year-old Mendoza testified he could not see who attacked
him.

"I don't know if it was him," he said. "If they come back
with the guilty verdict, it had to be him. If not, he (the
attacker) is still out there and we'll go from there."

Being a witness, he didn't get to hear any of the case. However,
he did listen to the closing arguments and was stunned by the
facts.

"I was able to find out stuff I never knew before," Mendoza
said. "A lot of it was surprising. A lot of it was shocking."

Like what?

"Some of the stuff Mitch said to investigators," Mendoza said.
"I can't say any specifics. It was tough to listen to."

Mendoza said his right leg is better and that he's been kicking
all summer. The Bears had their first football practice Wednesday
night and he was eager to get back on the field. It's been his safe
haven ever since the attack.

"Last season, it was tough for me to sleep, go to school,"
Mendoza said. "As soon as I stepped on the football field, my
whole mind cleared and I had nothing going on in my mind other than
my teammates and playing football."

Mendoza returned to the team two weeks after the attack, but had
to alter his style of kicking because he couldn't fully extend his
leg. He went with more of a rugby approach of just dropping the
football and booting it. He averaged 39.9 yards on 56 punts.

"Now we're going to go back to the normal style of punting,"
he said with a grin. "My flexibility is as good as I can get. As
far as I can tell, there are none (limitations)."

At practice, held at night under the bright lights of their new
practice field, Mendoza trotted onto the field, participated in
stretching exercises, and then consistently boomed 50 yard punts.

He did not speak to the media afterward.

"This is where he comes to relax," coach Scott Downing said,
adding the team has moved on. "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 by the time they got
done with all it, it was way last fall."

As the jury deliberated over the case, Mendoza spent the day
hanging out with family and friends. He said it's still hard to
believe the attack happened.

"It's unreal," he said. "You never think something like
that's going to happen. I'm glad it happened to me because I was
strong enough to fight through it."

Yet he's taking no chances of having it happen again. He carries
a "big, long stick" at night and he's moved into a house with a
garage so he can park directly in it.

Mendoza was asked if he's thinking about a book or movie deal
about the case.

"Jokingly, people have mentioned it," he said. "But I want to
focus on school and football."
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Associated Press writer Eric Bolin contributed to this report.

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