DAVIS, Calif. — Matteo Perez walked into Tim Plough's office after the 2025 season and asked the Aggies' head coach for another chance. Perez felt unfulfilled after completing his fifth season with the Aggies as the team's third running back and on the sideline of a season-ending loss to Illinois State in an FCS playoffs quarterfinal game at UC Davis Health Stadium.
 
"My response was, 'Why do you want to come back?'" Plough said about Perez' postseason visit. "I wanted to be clear that I would love to have him back but only if he really wanted to come back. If he did, I wanted him to enjoy it and become the best version of himself. If he dedicated himself to that, I felt like whether he played a lot or not this year, it would be worth it."
 
Plough had identified Perez when the running back was in high school at Marin Catholic and began his UC Davis recruiting process before leaving in 2021 to join the Boise State program as its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Plough had seen Perez rack up 2,024 yards and 30 touchdowns on the ground as a 2019 prep junior while winning Marin County Athletic League Offensive Player of the Year honors and leading the Wildcats to both an MCAL crown and the North Coast Section title game.
 
"In my mind, the best version of Mateo was the guy I saw when he was 18 years old," Plough said. "He was a guy that could be a great leader, a guy that could know the offense front and back, a guy that could be the hardest worker on the team."
 
Despite Plough's departure, Perez ended up at UC Davis and, over the first five seasons, has admittedly not been the best version of himself. On the field, Perez carried the ball only 144 times for 653 yards and two touchdowns, while adding another 35 receptions for 266 yards and four scores. He's also had two serious injuries and spent lots of time on the depth chart behind ultra-successful running backs including Ulonzo Gilliam Jr., Lan Larison, Jordan Fisher and Carter Vargas.
 
But during that loss to Illinois State, Perez was thinking more about things he could control.
 
"I wanted to come back because of my lack of giving back to the program," Perez said. "I wasn't a great leader. I had attitude problems and character issues. I wasn't a team player, and I wasn't doing all I could for the team. I wanted to have another chance to give something back to the program that took a chance on me."
 
Plough, who had returned from stints at Boise State and Cal to become the Aggies' head coach in 2024, wanted to give Perez that chance, but it wasn't the only thing he wanted.    
 
"One of the first things he had me do was go to the coaches I had issues with, apologize and tell them what I needed to work on," Perez said.
 
And with that, Perez went back to work but this time with different goals.
 
"I wanted to do it for my teammates and the program," Perez said. "I wanted the focus on them and not on me."
 
January is one of the most challenging times of the year for a college football player, filled with grueling workouts in empty stadiums and no games in sight. And with a sixth year of eligibility needing to be approved by the NCAA, there were no guarantees that Perez would even get the chance to ever play in another game for the Aggies. Still, he was adamant about going through the offseason process with his teammates and hoping for the best from the NCAA.
 
His actions and attitude were noticed by his coaches and teammates alike.
 
"Mateo decided to go through the entire offseason process and put in the really difficult winter workouts with no guarantee that he would play," Plough said. "Something shifted in his mindset. He found joy within the team and from being with the boys."
 
"Mateo's attitude is a great example for the young guys," tight end and fellow sixth-year senior Winston Williams said. "Regardless of what happens this year, the trickle-down effect from his attitude shift will impact the entire team and program. His teammates are seeing a guy who put the team before himself even though he has got the short end of the stick in some situations and everything has not gone exactly how he would have hoped."
 
In August, after nearly eight months of uncertainty, things finally went this way when the NCAA approved his sixth season of eligibility.
 
"Being able to tell him that it was all worth it and that he got his year back, I'll remember that day as long as I live," Plough said. "I love Mateo so much and am so proud of him." 
 
He's also done something with his chance on the field as the Aggies' leading rusher through three games. He posted the best performance of his career at San Diego when he rushed for a career-high 123 yards, including a career-long 79-yard touchdown in a 49-17 win over the Toreros.
 
Even immediately after that run, Perez' thoughts shifted to his teammates.
 
"Having a bunch of the dudes come up to me after that run was the best feeling in the world," said Perez, who is a member of the team's leadership council selected by both his teammates and coaches. "That run doesn't happen without them. They are my why."
 
HOW TO FOLLOW:
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GAME 3 RECAP NOTES:

• UC Davis fought through blistering heat and humidity on Saturday, Sept. 12, as No. 17/17 FBS SMU defeated the Aggies, 56-10, at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
• Jackson Kollock (QB #12) and Coby Herman (RB #24) both scored their first collegiate touchdowns at SMU as the pair connected on a four-yard strike at 11:18 in the fourth quarter to put the first points of the game on the scoreboard for the Aggies. Kollock transferred to UC Davis after spending his freshman year at Minnesota, while Herman joined the Aggies as a true freshman out of La Costa Canyon High School in Encinitas, Calif.
• Four Aggies recorded at least three solo tackles: Brayden Rosa, Drew Faulkner, Chaz Gilbreath, Teeg Slone, and Nick Afato. Faulkner finished second on the team in total tackles with five.
• Slone recorded the lone sack of the game for UC Davis, taking down Kevin Jennings for nine yards at 2:57 in the second quarter. He also led the team with two tackles for loss.
• Jaden Few (1 TFL), Macray Madruga (0.5 TFL), and Devin Huegel (0.5 TFL) also each made an impact in the backfield.
• Robert Meyer, who is originally from Colfax, Calif., connected on his first field goal as an Aggie in the fourth quarter, which also marked the team's first field goal of 2026. He finished 1-for-2 on field goal attempts for the day.
• Cleeland and Gbatu, Jr. connected for a 27-yard completion and a first down at 3:34 in the first quarter, the longest play on offense for UC Davis.

THE SERIES VS. STETSON:

• UC Davis and Stetson will face off for the first time on Saturday evening, with neither program having previously scheduled the other before this matchup.
• Stetson competes in the Pioneer Football League (PFL), which will mark the second opponent from this league UC Davis has faced this season. San Diego, who the Aggies defeated 49-17 on Sept. 5, is also a member of the PFL.

MORE ABOUT THE 2026 AGGIES:

• UC Davis has six players on its roster who earned preseason All-American honors: DB Drew Cofield, LB Porter Connors, DB Rex Connors, RB Jordan Fisher, WR Samuel Gbatu, Jr. and TE Winston Williams.
• Each of the team's preseason All-Americans also earned All-Big Sky recognition prior to the 2026 campaign, along with DL Trent Carrade, OL Zaier Collier, P Dylan Mauro and DL Rayne Mayo Jr., to give the Aggies a total of 10 preseason All-Big Sky picks.
• Gbatu, Jr. (Water Payton Award) and Rex Connors (Buck Buchanan Award) are on preseason watch lists honoring the top offensive and defensive players in the FCS.
• The Aggies have a total of 13 starters (7 offense, 6 defense) and 20 players (12 offense, 8 defense), as well as four specialists from its two-deep of a year ago returning.
• The team returns both a 1,000-yard rusher (Jordan Fisher; 1,141 yards) and a 1,000-yard receiver (Samuel Gbatu, Jr.; 1,169 yards) from a year ago. The pair combined to get into the end zone 22 times in 2025, with each reaching paydirt on 11 occasions (Gbatu, Jr. - 11 TD receptions; Fisher - 8 TD rushing, 3 TD receptions).
• QB Treynor Cleeland, who was named the starter during training camp, got into two games in 2025 (2-4, 26 yards) as the Aggies' third quarterback. UC Davis' 2025 starter was Caden Pinnick, who transferred to Washington State and won the Cougars' starting job in training camp. Grant Harper, who was Pinnick's primary backup a year ago, completed his collegiate eligibility in 2025.
• The Aggies return four players who had more than 30 tackles in 2025: LB Jackson Sieves (67), DB Rex Connors (45), DB Drew Cofield (36) and LB Sam Goligoski (33). Goligoski was a frequent visitor in opponents' backfields a year ago with 9.5 tackles for loss (-52 yards) and 6.5 sacks (-37 yards) that were both second on the team, while Sievers had 5.5 tackles for loss (-16 yards) and 2.5 sacks (-12 yards), and Cofield picked up 2.0 tackles for loss (-3 yards) and a team-high-tying two interceptions. Sievers also had two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
• P Dylan Mauro is back after posting a 44.4 yards-per-punt average in 2025, as are both of the Aggies' top two kick returners, Zach Jones (8-224, 28.0 ypr) and Samuel Gbatu, Jr. (8-146, 18.3 ypr).

ABOUT UC DAVIS ATHLETICS
UC Davis, ranked No. 2 among public universities by the Wall Street Journal in the value of a college degree, is home to 40,000 undergraduate students and 12,000 employees. Ranked top in the United States in agriculture and forestry as well as No. 1 in veterinary medicine, UC Davis is located in a true California college town nestled between world-class destinations such as the San Francisco Bay Area, Napa Valley, and Lake Tahoe. Over 650 Aggie student-athletes compete in 25 Division I varsity sports, with 16 sports transitioning to the Mountain West Conference beginning in 2026–27. 

For more information, visit ucdavisaggies.com/.