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Temple’s Tyler Matakevich Vaults Up Butkus Award Class In Win Over Penn State
By Mike Gibson
@papreps on September 6, 2015
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
On National Redhead Day, the most famous Temple football player with that color hair forced his way into the conversation for numerous college football awards this season — one in particular for being the nation’s best linebacker.
In fact, his might be the first name in the conversation. Ardent college football fans were already familiar with the name Tyler Matakevich, a first-team AAC pick from a season ago. Now, thanks to a nationally televised historic 27-10 beatdown of in-state rival Penn State before a sellout crowd at Lincoln Financial Field, the rest of the world knows all about him. He entered the game with 355 career tackles, the most among any active player in all five of college football’s divisions (FBS, FCS and Divisions I, II and III).
The 6-foot-1, 232-pound senior immediately vaulted to the head of the Butkus Award class with perhaps the most dominant game of his brilliant four-year career. Going into the game, many mock NFL drafts had Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg as the No. 1 overall player in the 2016 draft. Matakevich may have cost Hackenberg the several million dollars by sacking him three times, potentially knocking him down a few draft slots
On those occasions when he did not get a sack, Matakevich was in Hackenberg’s face, and was a major reason he went 11-of-25 for 103 yards in the game. With those sacks, Matakevich finished with seven tackles, including five for losses.
Most coaches do not call blitzes against perceived premier quarterbacks like Hackenberg because they are worried that a quick out could mean six the other way. Temple defensive coordinator Phil Snow calls them for Matakevich because he trusts his star to disrupt the play.
For the last three years, Matakevich has rewarded that trust with the kind of play that reminds old-timers of former Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, and it would be fitting that when the day comes to put another name on his award, it will go to Temple’s most prominent redhead.
For the last three years, Matakevich has rewarded that trust with the kind of play that reminds old-timers of former Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, and it would be fitting that when the day comes to put another name on his award, it will go to Temple’s most prominent redhead.
By Mike Gibson
@papreps on September 6, 2015
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
On National Redhead Day, the most famous Temple football player with that color hair forced his way into the conversation for numerous college football awards this season — one in particular for being the nation’s best linebacker.
In fact, his might be the first name in the conversation. Ardent college football fans were already familiar with the name Tyler Matakevich, a first-team AAC pick from a season ago. Now, thanks to a nationally televised historic 27-10 beatdown of in-state rival Penn State before a sellout crowd at Lincoln Financial Field, the rest of the world knows all about him. He entered the game with 355 career tackles, the most among any active player in all five of college football’s divisions (FBS, FCS and Divisions I, II and III).
The 6-foot-1, 232-pound senior immediately vaulted to the head of the Butkus Award class with perhaps the most dominant game of his brilliant four-year career. Going into the game, many mock NFL drafts had Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg as the No. 1 overall player in the 2016 draft. Matakevich may have cost Hackenberg the several million dollars by sacking him three times, potentially knocking him down a few draft slots
On those occasions when he did not get a sack, Matakevich was in Hackenberg’s face, and was a major reason he went 11-of-25 for 103 yards in the game. With those sacks, Matakevich finished with seven tackles, including five for losses.
Most coaches do not call blitzes against perceived premier quarterbacks like Hackenberg because they are worried that a quick out could mean six the other way. Temple defensive coordinator Phil Snow calls them for Matakevich because he trusts his star to disrupt the play.
For the last three years, Matakevich has rewarded that trust with the kind of play that reminds old-timers of former Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, and it would be fitting that when the day comes to put another name on his award, it will go to Temple’s most prominent redhead.
For the last three years, Matakevich has rewarded that trust with the kind of play that reminds old-timers of former Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, and it would be fitting that when the day comes to put another name on his award, it will go to Temple’s most prominent redhead.
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. I keeed, I keeed (I'm a ginger, so i can say these things). Would love to have had him here. Almost everyone missed on him (SU, BC, RU, us, etc...). I remember years ago there was a poster connected to Milford Academy saying Tyler was going to be a great college player, he really wanted to be at UConn, and whoever got him was going to be getting a steal. He was right, and everyone but Addazzio was wrong.
