Colorado Mesa hosts South Dakota Mines for their second home game of the season and third of the year on Saturday at Stocker Stadium. The Mavericks are coming off a 56-7 win over Black Hills State while the Hardrockers fell last weekend to Chadron State 41-25 in Nebraska.
 
WIN 473
Colorado Mesa moved to 2-0 on the year after an offensive explosion resulted in a 56-7 win over Black Hills State in Spearfish, S.D. The offense churned up 392 yards rushing on 59 carries in the win, led by redshirt sophomore Jesse Rodriquez' 158 yards and one touchdown.
 
The defense allowed Black Hills State to score the first touchdown of the game but didn't allow anything past that as they limited the Yellow Jackets to just 239 yards of offense with just 54 of those yards coming on the ground.
 
RMAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the second straight week, Colorado Mesa had the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week. Last week it was Greyson Matalus, this week senior defensive back Damar'ren Mitchell after his two-interception game against Black Hills State. On his second interception, he returned it 41-yards for a score that made it 28-7 at the time.
 
In two career games in Spearfish, Mitchell has five interceptions.
 
DLINE PLAY
Colorado Mesa has received much praise for stopping the run and most of the recognition goes to the improved unit up front in the defensive line. Defensive line coach Trent Earley has the group playing well with a pair of new Mavericks and a pair of veterans having career years.
 
Redshirt junior Logan Bayus and redshirt senior Reed Rowan are the two returners having great seasons. Bayus has 10 tackles on the season including three tackles for a loss, a sack and a blocked kick while Rowan has nine tackles from the defensive tackle position.
 
Add in newcomers Brian Rattery and Pierre Hayes to the fold and the group has made big strides. Rattery, the big defensive tackle, has eight tackles on the season with a quarterback hurry while Hayes has 10 tackles and two and a half sacks along with a blocked kick.
 
QB SWITCH
Colorado Mesa made a switch at quarterback prior to their week two game against Black Hills State. Enter freshman Gavin Herberg who led Pine Creek High School to the Colorado 4A State Title a year ago. Herberg, in his second appearance, was 10-for-20 passing for 143 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 87 yards and a score in his first start.
 
Week one starter Aaron Howard played in the fourth quarter against the Yellow Jackets and threw one pass that went for a 14-yard touchdown to BJ Brown.
 
GROUND GAME
Black Hills State could not stop the Colorado Mesa rushing attack on Saturday as they produced 392 yards on the ground. In fact, the 392 yards was the most by the Mavericks since October 21, 2017 when they had 471 yards rushing in a 70-21 win over Adams State in Alamosa.
 
The Mavericks have utilized six running backs along with the two quarterbacks and have 620 yards on the season led by the 334 yards by redshirt sophomore Jess Rodriquez.
 
DYNAMITE DEBUT
Freshman running back D'Aris McMillan made his collegiate debut in the backfield at Black Hills State and didn't disappoint. The bulldozing back had three touchdowns in the game and paved out 84 yards on the ground in just eight carries. He scored on runs of four, three, and five yards and added a little burst in one of his final runs, scampering for 58 yards.
 
WHITTY
Redshirt junior Jacob Whitmer saw his first significant action of the 2020 campaign and his first football action in over two years. Whitmer spent the last two seasons as a part of the Maverick baseball team as a pitcher. Last winter, he decided to move back over to the football side as a pass catching tight end.
 
The Moreno Valley, Calif. native had quite the debut catching five passes for 89 yards in the win over Black Hills State. Whitmer saw limited action in the season opener against Chadron State but is now the Mavericks leading receiver this season.
 
MAVERICKS vs. HARDROCKERS HISTORY
Colorado Mesa has won all four matchups with South Dakota Mines in the two program's history. The Mavericks have won twice in Grand Junction at Stocker Stadium and twice in Rapid City. The average margin of victory in all matchups is a little over 19 but those numbers are slightly skewed with the Mavericks blowout win in 2017 in Rapid City. Three of the matchups were decided by 10 points or less.
 
The first matchup was important to the Mavericks as it sealed a tie for the RMAC Championship. Eystin Salum threw for 217 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 143 yards and a touchdown in the win. Salum was playing in relief of starting quarterback Sean Rubalcaba.
 
Last Four Meetings
Sept. 7, 2019 – Colorado Mesa 37, @ South Dakota Mines 33
Sept. 1, 2018 – @ Colorado Mesa 36, South Dakota Mines 33
Oct. 7, 2017 – Colorado Mesa 69, @ South Dakota Mines 7
Oct. 8, 2016 – @ Colorado Mesa 48, South Dakota Mines 38
 
SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA MINES
The Hardrockers feature one of the top backs in the RMAC in Ahmad Lewis. The junior from Tacoma, Washington has rushed for 266 yards and three touchdowns in two games and claimed RMAC Offensive Player of the Week honors in week one. In last season's matchup, he gained 108 yards on 27 carries.
 
Junior linebacker Will Carroll leads South Dakota Mines in tackles with 18, picking up nine tackles in each of the team's first two games. In the season opener, he had added a quarterback hurry and broke up a pass while last week he got to the quarterback and earned a half a sack in the loss to Chadron State.
 
For the second straight week, Colorado Mesa will be facing off against the RMAC Special Teams Player of the Week with Hardrocker freshman Isaiah Eastman earning the honor this week. Eastman averaged 25.4 yards per return with a long of 37 yards in last weekend's matchup with Chadron State.
 
THE HEAD COACH
During the offseason, Colorado Mesa made a change at the head coach position…enter Tremaine Jackson. Coach Jackson will be making his head coaching debut on Saturday against Chadron State. He coached last season at Division I Texas State as the defensive line coach and made previous stops at Abilene Christian, Sioux Falls, Texas Southern, and Texas A&M-Kingsville.
 
He served in the defensive coordinator role at Texas Southern, Sioux Falls and Abilene Christian leading those programs to huge turnarounds on the defensive side of the ball with his 212 approach.
 
THIS WEEK IN THE RMAC
Chadron State matches up with Black Hills State in the other matchup of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference schools. The Eagles are coming off their first win of the campaign after a 41-25 win over South Dakota Mines in their homecoming game. Black Hills State played the Mavericks at home and fell 56-7 in snowy Spearfish.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Colorado Mesa will be off next week before heading down the back stretch of the brief five game schedule. They will then play host to rival Western Colorado on November 7 at Stocker Stadium. The Mountaineers will be coming off their first game of the season as they play at Division I FCS Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas on Oct. 31.