The Colorado Mesa football team will kickoff their season this week as they travel to Liberty, Mo. to take on the William Jewell Cardinals. Get all the tidbits and more below and at the links on this page. 

FIRST AND TEN

• Colorado Mesa will open the season with William Jewell for the second straight season. The Mavericks are coming off a 40-3 win against the Cardinals in the season opener a year ago in Grand Junction.
• Last season's matchup with William Jewell represented the first time since 2010 the Mavericks had faced an opponent from Missouri when they played Missouri Western on September 2, 2010.
• Thursday's opener marks the first time the Mavericks will play a game in the Central Time Zone since September 8, 2018 when they played Eastern New Mexico and came away with a 34-21 win over the Greyhounds.
• For the third straight season, Colorado Mesa will be sporting the white helmets and are scheduled to wear all white in game one.

SEASON OPENERS

• Colorado Mesa is riding a nine-game win streak in season opening games dating back to the 2013 season. The streak started in 2013 with a 34-0 win over Menlo College in Grand Junction.
• The Mavericks largest margin of victory during the streak came in 2015 when they defeated Dixie State, now Division I FCS Utah Tech, 43-3.
• The last loss in a season opener for Colorado Mesa came on August 30, 2013 at the hands of Humboldt State, now Cal Poly Humboldt, 38-19 in Arcata, Calif. The Lumberjacks were ranked No. 21 in the AFCA Coach's Poll before dropping the program following the 2018 season
• Prior to the nine-game winning streak in the season openers, Colorado Mesa had lost their previous five openers.

Results during the Winning Streak
Sept. 7, 2013: vs. Menlo, 34-0
Sept. 6, 2014: vs. Dixie St., 44-37 OT
Sept. 5, 2015: at Dixie St., 43-3
Sept. 3, 2016: at Western Colo., 34-14
Aug. 21, 2017: vs. Western Colo., 49-23
Sept. 1, 2018: vs. S.D. Mines, 36-33
Sept. 7, 2019: at S.D. Mines, 37-33
Oct. 10, 2020: vs. Chadron St., 10-7 OT
Sept. 2, 2021: vs. William Jewell, 40-3

THE OFFENSE

• The offense will be under the direction of Tom Thenell and Trevor Wikre during the 2022 season. Thenell came to CMU after a long stint as a high school head coach on the front range while Wikre comes back to where he played his college football after most recently spending time at Linfield College.
• It all starts with the signal caller and the Mavericks return one of the top quarterbacks not only in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference but in the entire region. Redshirt sophomore Karst Hunter is back behind center after his record breaking freshman season of 2021 that culminated with him being named RMAC Offensive Freshman of the Year.Hunter set Colorado Mesa single-season passing records in yards (2,481), completions (190) and completion percentage (62.5) and was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week three times in his first season.
• Flanking Hunter this year will likely be three different running backs with plenty of college experience. Jullen Ison will likely get a bulk of the carries after transferring in from Northern Colorado while fifth-year senior Isaac Maestas is the only returner in the backfield. The Palisade product has 804 yards rushing in his career with seven touchdowns. Foothill College transfer Keyshawn Ashford could also figure into the ground game.
• The receiving corps. had an overhaul in the offseason but a handful of names should sound familiar in the group. 6-7 tight end turned receiver Jacob Whitmer is a big target on the outside while slot receivers Sebastian Campbell and Trey Windham could also factor in. A couple of names to remember are Keenan Brown and Noah Sarria as both transferred in from Division I schools and are expected to start week one.
• Don't forget about one of the biggest pass catching tight ends in the region in Dagan Rienks. The Paonia native had one of his most productive seasons of his career a year ago catching 20 passes for 285 yards and five touchdowns that led him to All-RMAC second team honors.
• The offensive line may be one of the units that the Mavericks rely on in the early season as four starters return. Center Caelan Keenan is back after an All-Region performance a year ago and is joined up front by fellow All-Conference recipient Ozzy Torres who will be slated to start at one of the tackle spots. Returning starter Zach Farrow will likely start at the other tackle. Sophomore Alex Bruns started games at guard last season and could once again factor in along with Caleb Rodriguez. Alex Bruns, Jesus Garcia and Gus Campbell should provide depth across the front.

THE DEFENSE

• The defense will be engineered by Trent Matthews in his first season with the program. He will be assisted by linebackers coach John Arledge who has extensive experience at various levels at coaching defenses.
• The defensive line will return one of the Mavericks top pass rushers from last season in Dirion Hutchins. The RMAC Player to Watch finished the season with 27 tackles, three-and-a-half tackles for loss, one-and-a-half sacks and six quarterback hurries. Nathan Deitrick has received high praie from the coaching staff during training camp and a player to watch.
• The linebackers may have some of the most experience returning in the group. Siaosi Finau and Kaden Stewart should lend some stability to the overall unit as both produced excellent seasons a year ago. Finau was third on the team in tackles with 57 including seven tackles for a loss while Stewart had 18 tackles, six tackles for loss and three sacks during his redshirt freshman campaign. Hadyn Steffens and Cam Nathan should also be a factor for the linebackers.
• The secondary will be led by a pair of returners in Bryce Stevenson and Scrappy Norman. Both saw time during the 2021 season and could be one of the defensive units strengths during the season. Norman saw action in nine games while Stevenson played in eight games and finished with seven passes defended.

THE SPECIALISTS

• Lucas Ruiz Diaz returns to lead the Colorado Mesa kicking game. LRD has proven he is one of the top kickers in the RMAC as he has held the position since his freshman season.
• The punting duties could be up for grabs as Blake Moore graduated. Ben Sargent or Ruiz Diaz could take on that role this year.

KNOW YOUR FOE

• William Jewell is coming off a season where they went 0-11 and have lost 24 straight games dating back to the 2019 season.
• The Cardinals last win came on September 7, 2019 in a 29-9 win over Southwest Baptist at home in Liberty, Mo.
• They are led by third-year head coach Mike McGlinchey who previously coached at Colorado School of Mines as the defensive coordinator.
• The Cardinals could start any of four quarterbacks on the roster with three of the four transferring in from four-year schools. Kansas State transfer Bart Harris saw action in last season's matchup with Colorado Mesa.
• Last season's leading tackler is back in Carson Anderson. The Camarillo, Calif. native finished the season with 68 total tackles including seven in the matchup with Colorado Mesa last season.

IN THE STAMPEDE

• 11 freshman appear on the two-deep week one for Colorado Mesa. Of those 11 freshman, six of them are true freshman and have just completed their first college football camp.
• The numerical roster features 90 players and features 39 freshman and a total of 36 players remaining in-state from Colorado. It also has players from 17 different states with Colorado, California, and Texas having the most.
• The Mavericks have a set of brothers on the team this season. Kaleb and Jayden Niumata.

TIDBITS

• The road trip to Liberty, Mo. is the longest trip in terms of mileage, 861.3 miles, since the Mavericks NCAA playoff game against Texas A&M-Commerce, 960.3 miles, in 2016.
• After this roadtrip, the Mavericks will leave the state of Colorado just twice the remainder of the year. Trips to Spearfish, S.D. and Chadron, Neb. are all that is left outside of the state.