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Going into his senior year this fall, only college football fanatics know who Temple linebacker Tyler Matakevich is, but, come October, he could become more of a household name to everyone. Keeping this valuable commodity healthy was a focus at the Owls’ spring football game on Saturday and, although he suited up, he did not play.
That was a wise decision by head coach Matt Rhule.
Matakevich has reached triple figures in tackles in each of his previous three seasons with the Owls — a distinction only six other players have in the history of college football. It’s heady stuff, but the recognition has been slow to come his way because he competes in a Group of 5 conference (the American Athletic Conference) and the All-America team is weighted heavily toward Power 5 conference players. That should change this year, and the reason is because Temple has a pair of marquee games on the schedule no other G5 school has — home games against Notre Dame and Penn State.
All Matakevich has to do to project himself near the top of defensive player of the year lists is to continue doing what he has been doing his whole career. If Matakevich stands out against those two teams and the Owls are able to steal a win against one of them, he will be in that kind of conversation. For him to get one of the three major awards given to defenders — Lombardi, Nagurski or Bednarik — he is going to do what Arizona’s Scooby Wright did a year ago, and that was register 153 tackles, including 28 for losses. Wright, though, played in 14 games and Matakevich only 12, with Matakevich tied for second in most tackles per game (7.3), just ahead of Wright’s 7.1.
If Matakevich takes advantage of the schedule Temple has now, he could take home the same kind of hardware haul Wright did a season ago.
Mike Gibson is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @papreps , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
