Determined Alabama tight end Josh Cuevas reaches Rose Bowl

Soon after watching his son Josh Cuevas help Alabama beat Oklahoma in the first round of the College Football Playoff to clinch a spot in the Rose Bowl, Ivan Cuevas thought of his mother. In his son, Ivan saw the grit, work ethic and determination his mother displayed while raising three children as a widow in the suburbs of Los Angeles. 

Alabama tight end Josh Cuevas’ father Ivan was born in Ciudad Guzman, Mexico, to a pair of Mexican immigrants. Josh’s paternal grandparents Adan and Graciela Cuevas were on vacation in Ciudad Guzman when Ivan was born there at his paternal grandmother’s home in 1982. 

Adan died a year later while back in the United States, leaving Graciela to raise three young children. With the help of her parents, extra shifts at the Dapro Rubber Co. and part-time gigs from time to time, Graciela found ways to support her family.

Ivan Cuevas saw his mother’s determination in his son Josh after the tight end broke his right foot on Nov. 18 against Oklahoma.

Overcoming broken foot

“My mom had three jobs,” Ivan Cuevas says. “She taught us to never give up. She’s going to do what she can to move forward. That’s what I see in Josh, his determination. He said, ‘I’m going to come back if we make the playoffs.’ And he did.”

Josh Cuevas, a redshirt senior, had six catches for 80 yards and one touchdown in a 23-21 loss to Oklahoma on Nov. 15. As if the loss weren’t disappointing enough, Josh learned that he had a broken right foot.

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Doctors told Josh that he might be ready to return if Alabama reached the College Football Playoff. After the No. 9 Tide earned a rematch against Oklahoma, Josh Cuevas was ready. He had three catches for 35 yards in the 34-24 victory in the first round of the CFP at Oklahoma. Then he saw his dad at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. 

“I’m coming home,” Josh told his dad after helping Alabama earn a shot at No. 1 Indiana at the Rose Bowl. The 6-foot-3, 280-pound Ivan was so proud, he almost cried with joy. 

“I had to hold it in,” Ivan Cuevas says with a hearty laugh over the phone. 

‘The Mismatch’ returns

Josh Cuevas is one of the most inspirational stories in college football. Although folks at Campbell Hall High nicknamed him “The Mismatch,” his recruitment suffered because of the COVID pandemic. 

He began his college career at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the Big Sky Conference, which might as well be the minor leagues compared to Alabama and the Southeastern Conference. As his abuela Graciela taught the family with her own journey as a single mother, Josh Cuevas worked hard to overcome his modest start to his college football career. 

“There’s so many kids like me growing up just kind of looking for those kind of public figures,” Josh Cuevas said. “And kind of in the sports realm, especially in football, there’s not very many Latinos in kind of like the football realm.”

He transferred to Washington as a redshirt sophomore in 2023. He then helped the Huskies reach the 2023 National Championship Game against Michigan. Then he followed coach Kalen DeBoer from Washington to Alabama in 2024. 

Cuevas has been one of Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson’s favorite targets this season. Despite missing the final three games of the regular season, he is one of Alabama’s leaders in catches and receiving yards.

Reliable target

Josh Cuevas is fourth on the team in receptions with 33. Cuevas is also fifth in receiving yards with 376. He’s tied for third in receiving touchdowns with four.

“He’s an in-the-moment guy,” DeBoer says of Cuevas. “He doesn’t shy away from the competition. He doesn’t shy away from any of the pressure that comes being here at Alabama or being in big games. He embraces it.

“He’s got a great future. I think he’s opened a lot of people’s eyes to what he can be, not just as a pass catcher but evolved as a run blocker. We saw it a couple of years ago already, the physicality that he can have. And he’s shown that week in, week out in the SEC.”

The 6-foot-3, 253-pounder is a one tough Mexican. There aren’t many Mexican American tight ends in Division I football. Heck, he may be the only player in college football whose father was born at a home – instead of a hospital – in Latin America.

“It’s a dream come true,” Ivan Cuevas says of his son. “I’m proud of him. It’s a sense of orgullo (pride). It doesn’t hit you until you’re there and you finally realize it. It’s like, ‘Oh my God, he’s getting the opportunity that our people don’t get a chance to do. He’s enjoying it and he’s making it to the max.”