6'5" WR from Clairton , offered as ATH. Has been waiting for a PSU offer, and is the teammate of Lamont Wade.
Interesting.
Interesting.
Aaron Mathews offer
- Thread starter lionlurker
- Start date
He's a stud. He hits like a Mack truck on defense. Not sure where he would play. He is the QB now but not in college.
Yeah, he is a 2016. Prior to his senior year was felt to be not fast enough. Decent offer sheet, not stellar.
Don't know what it means. No Nixon? Laying groundwork for Wade? Just poaching from Pitt? JF has a plan, but I don't know what it is. From all I've heard, though, this kid has been waiting for this offer.
Don't know what it means. No Nixon? Laying groundwork for Wade? Just poaching from Pitt? JF has a plan, but I don't know what it is. From all I've heard, though, this kid has been waiting for this offer.
Nothing against Matthews. However, his getting a late offer means we are missing out on other targets. I don't know how anyone could think this is a good thing.
Not if he plays TE. Moorhead likes the tall tweaner types. I believe Nixon is the only other high interest WR at the moment PSU is after and he could still sign.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
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Big kid; really stands out amongst the competition in the video I've seen of him. Hits hard for a rangy guy. Would love to see him add weight and maybe play safety. I guess speed is the concern, but he's certainly athletic enough to do many things on a football field.
Good call. Offer this late points directly to Moorhead input. Think Giants Bavarro refusing to go down.
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Think he ends up as an H back. Moorehead pick for sure. Nice idea actually. Think Brett Brackett from a while ago.
I would take him just to keep him from Pitt. Despite the fact that we tend to dismiss Pitt, they have had a very good month of recruiting, picking up two or three 4 stars and three or four 3 stars. Just taking Mathews from them would be a redux of taking Givens and Bowers from last year.
In addition, I think he can play. Flex TE or just tall WR are possibilities.
He can't be too much different in size than Cameron Brown or Shaka Toney, this year's LB recruits.
You do not see too many 6-5 safetys, if he is indeed 6-5. I see LB before I see safety.
One of JoePa's beliefs was that the best athlete often played QB in HS. Probably not the case with Wade on team, but I would think giving tis kid a RS year and then seeing where his strengths lie is a reasonable approach.
Also, I don't think this has anything to do with Nixon. They would probably not pay same WR position even if Mathews finally settles as WR.
Finally, does this help sway Wade to the good guys?
In addition, I think he can play. Flex TE or just tall WR are possibilities.
He can't be too much different in size than Cameron Brown or Shaka Toney, this year's LB recruits.
You do not see too many 6-5 safetys, if he is indeed 6-5. I see LB before I see safety.
One of JoePa's beliefs was that the best athlete often played QB in HS. Probably not the case with Wade on team, but I would think giving tis kid a RS year and then seeing where his strengths lie is a reasonable approach.
Also, I don't think this has anything to do with Nixon. They would probably not pay same WR position even if Mathews finally settles as WR.
Finally, does this help sway Wade to the good guys?
We talked about this in the Den at length. As @broey says, great comparison to Brent Brackett. Big, likes to rumble, plays physical. A beautiful combination.
Teams are also looking at him as a defensive player. Great build for a pass-rushing specialist OLB except he lacks the great speed.
Nothing to do with Tre Nixon whatsoever IMO. As for Wade, of course it can't hurt, but it's just as important to get in to Clairton. But we would not offer Matthews, Wade or no, if we didn't think he could help us all by himself.
I'm no insider, but I agree that Matthews and Nixon have nothing to do with each other. That being said, I think we are very deep at WR now with the two redshirts we have coming up next year. If Nixon ends up somewhere else, then we'll be OK.
Agree, which is why we targeted only one WR. If Nixon joins up, that's great, but we would not offer a receiver UNLESS we thought the guy was just outstanding. Nixon would play as a freshman. Matthews will need a redshirt and will be filling a new/different role when he hits the field.
Matthews wants to play WR in college. That why he has not pulled the trigger yet. Toledo is the only school that has told him he could play at WR and he has his heart set on it. That said, he has been hoping for a PSU offer so he will probably end up there regardless of the position offered.
I think some of us are WAY over thinking this. Joe Moorehead's offense loves lighter, quicker, more athletic TEs. His TEs are basically H-backs or split in the slot much of the time and catch 30-40 balls a year. Matthews is currently 6'5'', 200. Look for him to get to 225-235 and be in the H-back position or split out & catching a ton of passes.
Like the idea of a receiver that size that can actually catch the ball. It's remarkable how bad Gesicki was --- he had to be a head case after a while. I wonder if he'll develop into a reliable target.
Gesicki is a phenomenal athlete, but you can't play receiver (WR or TE) if you can't catch a football. His drops surely cost PSU a couple of games. When you have executed a 3rd down play in order to keep a drive going and you drop an easy catch that is a big blow to scoring and winning a game. This happened time after time this year. We need to put a TE on the field that can block and can catch. I have not studied the new OC's offense, but if it relies on the TE catching the ball CFJ needs to go back to the drawing board and evaluate all the TE's on the roster to determine who will play. Maybe Matthews will be that guy in the future, but right now he is very slim to project him as a TE..... Listed at 190 but that may be rounded up.
I think there are a lot of factors. None of them are negative as someone else tried to say, so let me reiterate this has nothing to do with Nixon at all:
BTW, if we ever get a kids name right in the title of a thread it will be a miracle.
- I think the biggest thing is what lurker said and that is dominating the WPIAL and landing another blow to Pitt who was seen as the favorite in this one.
- I think there probably is some truth to the idea Moorehead saw his tape and said let's offer this kid.
- Definitely helps with Wade. If not directly then at least through Mathews and the Clairton coaching staff. We've seen the staff do this already at some of the other factory HS in PA.
- Could be that after Franklin had talks with current players he already knows of some attrition and has more scholarships than he thought he would.
- I don't know anything at all about Mathews personally but maybe there were academic concerns that have now been cleared up. No clue what-so-ever, but certainly it can be the reason for a late offer.
- Landing Hamlin, Hudson, and Mathews would give us 8 of the top 12 in the state. There is a psychological factor in there too. Really cements Dominating the State. That's near OSU over Ohio type domination.
BTW, if we ever get a kids name right in the title of a thread it will be a miracle.
This may be a key point.
We may see a slight shift in recruiting targets, which better fit Coach Moorehead's schemes.
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Dude, with the exception of Whitehead last year, they're all ours.
CJF is what , 35-2 vs. pitt in recruiting? Just Whitehead and the 2017 kid that is committed - and with the 2017 kid don't count him until Feb. 2017.... It would make more sense for you to go to the Toledo board, as a good number of your commits have/had Toledo offers, not PSU offers. The pitt supporters had to be cringing when Toledo beat Temple, as that will give Toledo momentum to maybe take some players from pitt....
Gesicki did play better at the end of the year though. Be interesting to see how he does in the bowl - TE figures to be an important component against a stingy run defense like Georgia's.
Won't be physical enough? Looking at his film he is more physical than most high school players. I like him on offense, but watching his defensive film he brings a lot of physicality.
I honestly think he is paid by Rivals to troll us everyday to drive traffic. There's no other explanation as to how someone can be so stupid
@21Guns is hard to figure out. He has lots of astute, interesting posts - and then comes out with some wild stuff. It's like the joke box of candy - half of them are great, and the other half are sweat sock and fish flavored. You never know what you're going to get.
He keeps things lively, that's for sure.
Half??? Wow, Id put his batting average at about 10% of that
There is really only one good reason to offer a prospect: because you think that he can play.
CJF isn't wasting scholarships on kids that are marginal. He has a great start on the 2017 class as far as top talent very interested in PSU so there is no reason to go after marginal player with the last 2016 scholarships. If he offered Matthews it is because further film evaluations, the tail end of 2015 season and playoffs, have convinced CJF and his staff that Matthews can come to PSU and be a great contributor. CJF is not coming to this board to tell us that or to tell us what position they have Matthew slotted for initially, but you can bet your paycheck that CJF believes the kid can play at PSU..... There are likely some players that are versatile enough to play multiple positions (such as Hudson and Fuller), and it seems that CJF values versatility as well.
This staff is from the SEC. They are not saving scholarships for next year. They will use them all and if they have to make room next year then so be it.
