By Fox Sports

Copyright foxsports

On Saturday afternoon, when UCF takes on Kansas, Andrew Cherico will once again be in the press box, doing the job he loves, exactly where he’s meant to be. For Cherico, the journey to that seat has been anything but easy. Born with spinal muscular atrophy, a progressive neuromuscular disease, he was able to walk as a young boy until the age of 9, when he began using a wheelchair. But despite the physical challenges, Cherico found a connection and comfort in his love for sports, especially football. “I kind of understood already,” Cherico said in a segment on “Big Noon Kickoff,” told by FOX Sports’ Tom Rinaldi. “These guys work day-in and day-out for 60 minutes on a field. There’s something about the intensity, that passion, that urge to compete. I feel in love with that.” In 2023, Cherico enrolled at UCF and immediately began pursuing his dream of working in sports journalism. Last year, while contributing to the “Sons of UCF” website, Cherico was assigned to cover a postgame news conference following UCF’s matchup with Colorado, coached by the legendary Deion Sanders. “I’m in the middle, second row, and Deion Sanders walks in,” Cherico recalled. “My heart starts to flutter. I start getting butterflies in my stomach. My hands start to shake. I knew I had an opportunity I may never get again for a long time.” When he asked Sanders a question about stopping UCF’s run game, he got more than an answer. He got a moment that would change his life. “First and foremost, I’m proud of you and your resilience and what you go through on a day-to-day basis,” Sanders told Cherico. “I’m so darn proud of you, you have no idea, because I was in a chair at one point with these toes being amputated, and I know what you deal with on a daily basis.” That acknowledgment meant more than he could ever put into words. “Everything I thought I could do as a kid until now was justified by somebody at his level,” Cherico said. “Those words — ‘I’m proud of you’ — meant so much to me. He didn’t need to do that.” The journey hasn’t gotten easier for Cherico. But he keeps showing up. Keeps working on his craft. “When I go into the press box, I’m the only person with a physical disability in there,” Cherico said. “It’s harder than a lot of people could understand.” His mother, Aracelis Contreras, sees that strength from her son every day. “He’s not weak,” she said. “He’s strong, and he’s fighting for what he wants — and what he wants is to be recognized.” Cherico was recently hired by 247Sports and had the opportunity to travel more than 1,000 miles to Dallas this past summer to cover Big 12 Media Days, where, once again, he crossed paths with Sanders. “I said thank you for everything,” Cherico said. “That moment we had changed my life.” That moment also solidified Cherico’s future. “If I wasn’t 100% sure about journalism then,” he said, “I know this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I can’t stop now. I’m just getting started.” Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!