George Ferguson Column: Mix makes well-deserved memories in his return to football

When you’ve gone through something as horrible, and life-altering, and as scary as what Montana State University-Northern sophomore wide receiver Sam Mix has, and did have to go through, something like catching a football might seem trivial. It might seem insignificant compared to the big picture.

On the other hand, when you’ve gone through what Sam Mix has, you deserve to have something like catching a football truly mean something in your life.

Saturday, in a 31-21 MSU-Northern loss to Rocky Mountain College at Blue Pony Stadium, catching passes became important to Sam Mix again. For a long time, just being alive, just getting healthy again, just getting back to normal was what mattered most to Mix.

But, as he hauled in his first of two passes from Northern quarterback Jess Krahn, football, Mix certainly deserved to make the moment important, and he certainly deserved to be happy about it.

“It definitely felt really good to be back out here with my brothers,” Mix said on a day where not only did he catch his first pass in a game in more than two years, but he also was in the starting lineup for the Lights. “It’s a lot different (game) than practice, so it felt really good to be back out here, and I was able to make a couple catches. The atmosphere was awesome today, the support I got felt so awesome. And my teammates played great today. So it was a really good day.”

For a long time, Mix didn’t have many good days, after enduring the horrific attack that he and two friends faced back in May 2014. So there was no doubt, even when the Lights fell short of victory against the Battlin’ Bears, Mix deserved to call Saturday a good day.

Not only did he contribute, making catches and throwing key blocks, but he got finally get back to just being a normal college student-athlete again, and that was something Mix was yearning for, striving for, for a long time.

Even the “pop” he took from an RMC defender on a long first-down catch he made in the fourth quarter, didn’t deter Mix from calling Saturday a special day, a fun day, and a day he’d been looking forward to for a long time.

“I thought I played pretty good,” Mix, who caught two balls for 31 yards said. “There are definitely some things I could have done better. I have a lot of work to do. But, it felt really good to be out there again. To be playing a real game with my teammates again, it means a lot to me. Those guys are my brothers. They are all awesome, and it felt awesome to be back out there with them again.”

It was awesome seeing you back out there too Sam. I know, there was a time when you didn’t know if that would happen. I know there was a time when catching a pass and being tackled to the Blue Pony Stadium turf was the furthest thing from your mind.

But, when you did just that Saturday, you deserved for that to be a special moment, a milestone moment for you, and, after what you’ve gone through, you deserve to remember Saturday as a happy day — a big day in your life.

And just know, we all are happy for you. We all are so excited to see you playing football again.