hawaiiansteeler
05-09-2016, 01:34 PM
Paul Zeise: Rookie linebacker Matakevich was born to be a Steeler
May 9, 2016
By Paul Zeise / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
There are some guys in sports who are really hard to root for. Unfortunately, we spend an awful lot of time and energy focusing on them.
Then there are guys like Steelers rookie linebacker Tyler Matakevich, who was born to be a Steeler.
Matakevich is the classic undersized overachiever who never wins the beauty prize at combines or in a 7-on-7 setting.
Far too many coaches are fired because they’re enamored with guys who are 7-on-7 champions but can't play the game in pads.
All Matakevich does is make plays when the pads and lights are on and the games actually count.
Obviously, you need to have enough players with the right size and speed in order to win, but you also need guys who are just straight-up productive football players of any shape, size or speed.
And frankly, Matakevich has made a living out of beating up on a lot of guys who look far better than him in combines and 7-on-7s. He has proven people wrong his entire career.
He is humble but confident. He’s hard-nosed. He loves football and wants to prove people wrong about not being fast enough for the NFL.
Of course, that’s what they said when he was coming out of St. Joseph High School in Connecticut, and that is why his only scholarship offer was from Temple.
All he did after that was become one of the best defensive players in the country and help lead Temple to a place of respectability.
You think a few schools would love to go back and recruit Matakevich a little harder now?
Last season, he won the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik awards as the top defensive player and led Temple to its first win against Penn State since 1941.
He had 138 tackles, 15½ tackles for loss and 4½ sacks, and if you watched Temple this season you saw him around the ball on just about every play.
It’s pretty simple to understand why he slipped to the seventh round. But it’s also easy to see why the Steelers drafted him: he was way too productive to overlook.
Mike Tomlin’s exact phrase was “football justice” when he described drafting Matakevich. What he meant was that a player like him — a productive, great college player, who by all accounts is a great guy and a hard worker — deserved to be drafted, even if late.
That doesn’t mean he is a lock to make the team. He has long odds to overcome, but he now has a foot in the door, an opportunity of a lifetime with a team that seems to be rooting for him to make it.
He will always have to overcome his perceived lack of speed, even if he does make the team, as the Steelers will continue to draft guys who are a step faster and maybe a little bigger.
My guess is that he will be in a Steelers uniform this fall and will make himself a hard guy for the team to let go.
Matakevich is simply too good of a football player — a raw, pure football player — to not find his way onto the roster, if even as just a special teams ace.
He’s only about 6 feet, 233 pounds, but he is a linebacker’s linebacker, which Steelers fans love.
And that’s why I will make two more predictions about him:
to read rest of article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/zeise-is-right/2016/05/09/Paul-Zeise-Temple-Rookie-linebacker-Tyler-Matakevich-was-born-to-be-a-Steeler/stories/201605090107
May 9, 2016
By Paul Zeise / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
There are some guys in sports who are really hard to root for. Unfortunately, we spend an awful lot of time and energy focusing on them.
Then there are guys like Steelers rookie linebacker Tyler Matakevich, who was born to be a Steeler.
Matakevich is the classic undersized overachiever who never wins the beauty prize at combines or in a 7-on-7 setting.
Far too many coaches are fired because they’re enamored with guys who are 7-on-7 champions but can't play the game in pads.
All Matakevich does is make plays when the pads and lights are on and the games actually count.
Obviously, you need to have enough players with the right size and speed in order to win, but you also need guys who are just straight-up productive football players of any shape, size or speed.
And frankly, Matakevich has made a living out of beating up on a lot of guys who look far better than him in combines and 7-on-7s. He has proven people wrong his entire career.
He is humble but confident. He’s hard-nosed. He loves football and wants to prove people wrong about not being fast enough for the NFL.
Of course, that’s what they said when he was coming out of St. Joseph High School in Connecticut, and that is why his only scholarship offer was from Temple.
All he did after that was become one of the best defensive players in the country and help lead Temple to a place of respectability.
You think a few schools would love to go back and recruit Matakevich a little harder now?
Last season, he won the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik awards as the top defensive player and led Temple to its first win against Penn State since 1941.
He had 138 tackles, 15½ tackles for loss and 4½ sacks, and if you watched Temple this season you saw him around the ball on just about every play.
It’s pretty simple to understand why he slipped to the seventh round. But it’s also easy to see why the Steelers drafted him: he was way too productive to overlook.
Mike Tomlin’s exact phrase was “football justice” when he described drafting Matakevich. What he meant was that a player like him — a productive, great college player, who by all accounts is a great guy and a hard worker — deserved to be drafted, even if late.
That doesn’t mean he is a lock to make the team. He has long odds to overcome, but he now has a foot in the door, an opportunity of a lifetime with a team that seems to be rooting for him to make it.
He will always have to overcome his perceived lack of speed, even if he does make the team, as the Steelers will continue to draft guys who are a step faster and maybe a little bigger.
My guess is that he will be in a Steelers uniform this fall and will make himself a hard guy for the team to let go.
Matakevich is simply too good of a football player — a raw, pure football player — to not find his way onto the roster, if even as just a special teams ace.
He’s only about 6 feet, 233 pounds, but he is a linebacker’s linebacker, which Steelers fans love.
And that’s why I will make two more predictions about him:
to read rest of article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/zeise-is-right/2016/05/09/Paul-Zeise-Temple-Rookie-linebacker-Tyler-Matakevich-was-born-to-be-a-Steeler/stories/201605090107