It's that time of year when we start reaching out to incoming recruits and their parents/coaches for our magazine's "Up Close and Personal" series. Always a good opportunity to learn a little more about the prospects and their background. Also helpful to see where they stand physically just a few months before enrolling.
I caught up with DE Yetur Gross-Matos and his father, Rob Matos, the other day. Gross-Matos went on to visit campus this weekend before he plans to return in a couple weeks for the Blue-White Game.
"I just watched the practice and hit the road back home," he said about this weekend's trip. "It was good to see my future coaches and these (future teammates) and to see what practice was going to be like. I really enjoyed being back up."
Future position coach Sean Spencer and the rest of the staff were pleased with the physical progress that Gross-Matos appears to be making, as one thing that has been stressed to him throughout his recruitment is that they didn't offer with the intentions of him coming in to redshirt. They stressed previously that with the proper preparation he has the skill set to contribute at least in a role as a true freshman.
"[Spencer] wasn't recruiting me to wait it out a year," he said. "He wanted me to come in with the mindset that I should be able to compete."
While Gross-Matos has every intent to push for immediate playing time he's also maintaing a modest approach.
His goal, he said, "is just to get my foot in the door and get used to college life and the academics there. I mean, football-wise my goal is to compete. Hopefully to succeed and get an opportunity to play, but if that doesn't work out, then to just work hard and prepare myself for my future."
In order to get a jump start he's been working largely according to Penn State's workout plan for the last two months and he continues to see progress. The program started off with low weight, high reps and gradually increased/decreased from there. Between lifting and running with a personal trainer, he works out four times a week.
He says he's now just a hair over 6-foot-5 and weighs 243 with the hopes to add a few more pounds before arriving in June. It isn't entirely different than his announced singing day weight, but his dad said, "It looks like he's growing by the day."
A large growth spurt for Gross-Matos occurred between his junior season and senior season, beginning around the time of his Penn State commitment. Not only did he add 15-plus pounds as he began a strict weight-training regimen for the first time, but he also honed in on football-specific drills.
"My junior season I definitely relied on my athleticism and wasn't very – didn't use my hands or technique," Gross-Matos said. "But I feel like I did improve on that from junior to senior season."
Listening to his dad, he strongly agrees with that evaluation. Rob is also the basketball coach at Chancellor and says Gross-Matos has been timed running the 40-yard dash in as low as the 4.6s. That speed combined with the added size for his senior year made him a difficult blocking assignment for opponents.
"The difference was absolutely phenomenal," his father said. "You saw it in everything he did on the football field. Despite the gaudy numbers (he set his high school's record with 18.5 sacks), it was often against double- and triple-teams. He was still putting up big sack numbers and still put up the big tackle numbers. Basically offenses were planning on how to run way from him. He really learned to use his hands and became violent with his hands, and his pursuit to the football improved tremendously. Then again it was just his overall strength and his explosiveness. It was just pretty hard to stay in front of him."
I caught up with DE Yetur Gross-Matos and his father, Rob Matos, the other day. Gross-Matos went on to visit campus this weekend before he plans to return in a couple weeks for the Blue-White Game.
"I just watched the practice and hit the road back home," he said about this weekend's trip. "It was good to see my future coaches and these (future teammates) and to see what practice was going to be like. I really enjoyed being back up."
Future position coach Sean Spencer and the rest of the staff were pleased with the physical progress that Gross-Matos appears to be making, as one thing that has been stressed to him throughout his recruitment is that they didn't offer with the intentions of him coming in to redshirt. They stressed previously that with the proper preparation he has the skill set to contribute at least in a role as a true freshman.
"[Spencer] wasn't recruiting me to wait it out a year," he said. "He wanted me to come in with the mindset that I should be able to compete."
While Gross-Matos has every intent to push for immediate playing time he's also maintaing a modest approach.
His goal, he said, "is just to get my foot in the door and get used to college life and the academics there. I mean, football-wise my goal is to compete. Hopefully to succeed and get an opportunity to play, but if that doesn't work out, then to just work hard and prepare myself for my future."
In order to get a jump start he's been working largely according to Penn State's workout plan for the last two months and he continues to see progress. The program started off with low weight, high reps and gradually increased/decreased from there. Between lifting and running with a personal trainer, he works out four times a week.
He says he's now just a hair over 6-foot-5 and weighs 243 with the hopes to add a few more pounds before arriving in June. It isn't entirely different than his announced singing day weight, but his dad said, "It looks like he's growing by the day."
A large growth spurt for Gross-Matos occurred between his junior season and senior season, beginning around the time of his Penn State commitment. Not only did he add 15-plus pounds as he began a strict weight-training regimen for the first time, but he also honed in on football-specific drills.
"My junior season I definitely relied on my athleticism and wasn't very – didn't use my hands or technique," Gross-Matos said. "But I feel like I did improve on that from junior to senior season."
Listening to his dad, he strongly agrees with that evaluation. Rob is also the basketball coach at Chancellor and says Gross-Matos has been timed running the 40-yard dash in as low as the 4.6s. That speed combined with the added size for his senior year made him a difficult blocking assignment for opponents.
"The difference was absolutely phenomenal," his father said. "You saw it in everything he did on the football field. Despite the gaudy numbers (he set his high school's record with 18.5 sacks), it was often against double- and triple-teams. He was still putting up big sack numbers and still put up the big tackle numbers. Basically offenses were planning on how to run way from him. He really learned to use his hands and became violent with his hands, and his pursuit to the football improved tremendously. Then again it was just his overall strength and his explosiveness. It was just pretty hard to stay in front of him."
