Florida cornerback Damarri Mathis made short work of his recruitment after decommitting from South Carolina in late November and announced his intentions to play football at Pitt on December 22nd. A 5-foot-11, 178-pound prospect from Lakeland (Fla.), Mathis chose Pitt over offers from South Carolina, Ole Miss, Indiana, Louisville, and Minnesota.

“I always liked Pitt, but I didn’t really know too much about the program going into the visit and I didn’t know that I was going to commit later on. The visit was big,” Mathis said.

Mathis described his trip to the city of Pittsburgh and to Pitt’s campus as an eye-opening experience that gave him a variety of reasons to choose the Panthers, not least of which is the strength of his relationships to the defensive staff and what they can offer him.

“After my visit, I’d really had my eyes opened to [Pitt] and I feel like it’s the best place for me to go at the moment. I can see myself there for the next three to four years of my college career,” Mathis said. “Their defensive scheme, I like it and they’re aggressive with their corners in press coverage mostly all of the time. I think I could fit in that. There’s a lot of stuff. I’ve got a good relationship with all of their coaches – coach [Josh] Conklin, coach [Renaldo] Hill, and coach [Pat] Narduzzi.”

Mathis was still in celebration mode with friends and family during our discussion and the corner explained that his inner circle was happy with the way things played out.

“Pittsburgh in general is a really nice city and I liked the campus quite a bit. It’s really nice scenery there. We’re all pretty excited with my decision,” Mathis said of himself and his family.

Pitt offers Mathis a chance to compete for early playing time at the college level at cornerback. The Panthers had a regression in passing defense in year two of Narduzzi’s tenure, ranking 110th in the country in passing yards allowed per attempt. That instability in the defensive backfield could create early opportunities for a player like Mathis.

“I feel like I can come in and play early and they made that known to me. They never said that I had something guaranteed, but they made it known to me that the opportunity is there for me,” Mathis explained. “They’re really in a need for cornerbacks right now and they got what they’re looking for.

Mathis said he’s finished taking official visits coming off of his Pitt commitment and will be wrapped up with the recruiting process. From here on out, his main goal is college preparation.

“I’m just training through my offseason, trying to get better and trying to train harder to get better for that next level of college football,” Mathis said.

Of course, just because his recruiting process is done doesn’t mean that’s the case for everybody. Mathis visited Pitt on December 9th with his teammate at Lakeland, Rivals250 running back Anthony “AJ” Davis, a player he intends to bring with him to Pitt for college.

“I’m trying to get our running back, AJ Davis. I think I can get him,” Mathis said. “We’ve always been talking about going to the same school and he really liked Pitt too.”

Stay tuned to Panther-Lair.com for a full breakdown of what Mathis brings to the table as a player and more.