Posted on 09/13/2006 3:27:55 PM PDT by DuxFan4ever
GREELEY, Colo. -- The backup punter at Northern Colorado has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing his teammate -- the starting punter -- in the kicking leg.
The motive may have been competition for the first-string job, police said Wednesday.
Mitch Cozad was accused of attacking punter Rafael Mendoza in a parking lot Monday night, Evans police Lt. Gary Kessler said.
Mendoza was treated and released from the North Colorado Medical Center Monday night. Coach Scott Downing said Mendoza will not punt in Saturday's game at Texas State University.
"I guess the only identified motive at this point in time is the competition for that position," Kessler said Wednesday.
The stabbing took place in Evans, a small town adjacent to Greeley and about 50 miles north of Denver.
The Greeley Tribune first reported the story in Wednesday's editions.
Cozad was suspended from school and from the team, university officials said in a news release. They did not immediately return calls from the Associated Press but scheduled a news conference later Wednesday.
Kessler said Cozad, a sophomore, was arrested Tuesday on a charge of second-degree assault. He remained in jail as of Wednesday morning, and it was not immediately known whether he had an attorney.
Kessler said Mendoza was attacked from behind and stabbed in his right thigh after parking his car outside his Evans apartment Monday night.
The assailant fled in a black Dodge Charger, Kessler said. About 10 minutes after the attack, a liquor store clerk told police that two men in a car matching that description stopped outside the store, stripped tape off the license plate and drove away.
The clerk gave police the license number and the car was traced to Cozad, Kessler said.
Mendoza, a junior, has averaged 37.6 yards per punt on nine punts in the two games this season.
Downing told the Greeley Tribune he had not spoken to Rafael's doctor and did not know how long he would be out.
I was gonna say Tonya! LOL
But I thought kickers aren't real football players...
They aren't. A real football player would never stab the guy starting ahead of him, he'd just try to lay him out on the pratice field fair and square.
darn you beat me to it!
Good grief. I just sent my daughter to the University of N. Colorado.
Cozad was arrested Tuesday and faces second-degree assault charges. He was due in court for a bond hearing on Wednesday.
UNC athletic department officials suspended Cozad from the football team Tuesday morning. He was later suspended from school and evicted from Turner Hall.
LOL
Thought you'd like that.
I'm going to have to get a couple...
Once they aren't $19.99 a piece or whatever they are selling them for....
The starter was averaging 37 yards/punt? Maybe the stabiing improved him.
20 bucks for that?! The NFL tax is in full effect, I see.
Mr. Cozad appears to be not the sharpest tool in the shed....
LOL
Well considering it's like $8 to get a 30 oz beer now....I'm just guessing $20...
Let me look it up....
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