Blue White Illustrated

T hey had known beforehand that this could be the time. A:er visiting on at least four occasions previously, Yetur Matos made yet another trip to Penn State in February, this time traveling with his father, Rob. By the time they le: University Park, the four-star defensive end from Fredericksburg, Va., had given the Nittany Lions a verbal commitment, selecting them over North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Virginia Tech. A basketball coach at Chancellor High, Rob Matos coaches Yetur on the hard- wood and has stood by him closely throughout his recruitment on the grid- iron. He was on hand when his son gave head coach James Franklin and his assis- tants a verbal commitment. Blue White Illustrated's Tim Owen recently caught up with Rob to discuss Yetur's decision to join PSU. When Yetur told the coaches, how did that moment go down? We were there at the end of the day, and the other recruits were already gone. I had told Coach Franklin that we want- ed to speak to him. Initially, we were fooling around with him. I had actually told him that we were looking for a school that was going to allow Yetur to play o9ense. I said that he was interest- ed in playing wide receiver. They were a little puzzled and weren't sure. I can keep a pretty straight face, so they were a little confused. I said, "That's what we're looking for, someone who's going to give him a shot to play both sides of the ball." But Yetur couldn't hold it in very long, and at that point I basically told them, "Here is my expectation. This is what I'm looking for: I'm going to hold [the sta9] accountable for my son," and so forth. They agreed. That was impor- tant, and at that point I told them I was going to turn it over to Yetur. He told them he wanted to be a Nittany Lion, and the place erupted. How closely had he followed Penn State before his recruitment started? Penn State has been at the top of the list for quite some time. But at the same time, he still wanted to give everyone an opportunity. So we recently took a cou- ple visits to schools with new coaching sta9s, again, just to give them an oppor- tunity. But I knew that I wanted to give Penn State the 7nal say. If they do noth- ing else, they do an outstanding job re- cruiting. I mean, they've recruited his entire family. They've recruited his mom and siblings. They've just done a fabu- lous job keeping everyone involved in the process and really making him feel not only that he's wanted but he's need- ed there. That was pretty signi7cant for him in his decision. You mentioned that you coach Yetur in basketball. What kind of basketball player is he? He's a throwback. ... He's going to run you over rather than 7nesse you. He plays the 7ve for us. Our four is actually 6-foot-6 and more of a 7nesse player and can score from anywhere on the 8oor. Yetur plays around the basket and is a ferocious shot-blocker and defender and he goes to the basket strong. Can you describe him as a football player? He is incredibly long. He's incredibly fast. For a kid who is over 6-5 now, up to 235, he's extremely long and he's ex- tremely fast. He's got a really solid foot- ball IQ. He studies the game quite a bit. He hasn't always been that way, but he's really matured over the last couple of years and really become a student of the game and studied di9erent defenses and how to play di9erent scenarios in di9er- ent situations, which has really im- pressed me. He is incredibly coachable. He really is. … But again, I've had the pleasure of coaching him for years and he's extremely coachable. He's a hard- working kid. He's got a high motor, and the upside is ridiculous. He's explosive. He's incredibly explo- sive. Next year is going to be an amazing year for him. I think he's going to start his training this week and he's going to put on some muscle. Very easily, his frame could be 270 or 280 and not lose any speed because his lower body is so big. Is that something you've talked about with the coaching sta , how he expects to grow? That's exactly what they're talking about – the calves and the thighs. The kid wears size 18 shoes. His upper body hasn't caught up to his lower body. All of his strength and his muscle are just nat- ural. He hasn't done a whole lot of con- centrated weight li:ing and so forth. He's about to get in the gym now, so I'm excited to see what he's going to look like a:er he does that. What are some things that might separate him or help him stand out o the eld once he's at Penn State? He's an incredibly humble kid. His teammates and coaches and the people who are following him see that that's one of his most endearing qualities. Re- gardless of the success he's seeing, he doesn't get too high. He doesn't get too low. He's going to experience some ups and downs – hopefully more ups than downs – but I think that's going to serve him well, not letting his emotions get to a point where he's not able to perform, because he's having a bad time. I think that would be it. ■ He's got a high motor, and the upside is ridiculous' ' I N T E R V I E W R O B M A T O S For daily and break- ing news updates on recruiting, visit bwi.rivals.com.

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