Student Athlete of the Week Mats Lehan

This summer has been all about football for Niwot High School incoming senior Mats Lehan.

On top of Niwot's offseason morning workouts, the wide receiver/free safety spent time training at Jenkins Elite, a Denver-area camp focused on developing high school players. Plus, Lehan attended prospect camps at both the University of San Diego and Colorado School of Mines with the goal of getting noticed by college coaches.

"They were a lot of fun," Lehan said of his experience at the prospects camps. "The competition really showed me what level people are on because playing (Class 3A) in Colorado, sometimes I didn't notice how good people were. When I went to these camps, they showed me I needed to compete a lot more for next season if I want to [play] college football. I've just been working extra hard since I went to those camps."

Lehan shared that a couple of in-state Division II schools have communicated with Niwot head coach Nik Blume regarding his recruitment.

Although he considers himself primarily a receiver, Lehan had big moments on both sides of the ball during his junior season. Defensively, he recorded 15 total tackles, including two for a loss, and on offense, he hauled in six passes for 190 total yards and a touchdown. His longest reception of the year was a 94-yarder against Thompson Valley in October.

Niwot, however, ended last season on a six-game losing streak and came up just short of the state playoffs. But with a significantly more experienced roster heading into this fall, the Cougars are using that disappointing finish as motivation.

"Last year, we were making the excuse that we only have like two seniors," Lehan said. "But this year, we've got 20 seniors, and all of us are like, 'We have no excuses now; we always got to put in the work.'"

Lehan mentioned Sergio Pimentel, Eric Dillon and Chad Volf as fellow seniors who have led the charge for Niwot this summer.

"Everyone is a lot closer than we've ever been," Lehan said. "Everyone has realized - even some of the players that just showed up for like one day (at summer workouts) - that the team's a lot different this year."

Lehan added that he and other members of Niwot's secondary have benefited from working with a pair of new assistant coaches: defensive coordinator Harold Wagner and defensive backs/wide receivers coach Marcus Matthiesen. "We've learned so much technique and defensive coordination, so I think we'll definitely be improved a lot this year," Lehan said.

For Lehan, his objective this season is to reach the playoffs, something that hasn't been done at Niwot since 2008. That expectation, he hopes, will be embraced by his younger teammates.

"I got to pass the torch for these little kids," Lehan said. "We have a huge freshmen class and sophomore class coming in that's [going to be] playing this year. I have to set a good example and hopefully, we can make a record that's going to be hard for them to beat."