INKED: CB Damarri Mathis signs with Pitt
Find out more about Florida cornerback Damarri Mathis, who has signed his National Letter of Intent to continue his academic and athletic career at Pitt.
Damarri Mathis became the 11th player to sign with Pitt’s football program in the 2017 recruiting class on National Signing Day at 7:59 AM, joining his classmates signing today and four early enrollees who have already been in class at Pitt. Mathis is a 5-foot-11, 178-pound cornerback from Lakeland (Fla.) who flipped to Pitt from South Carolina. Here’s a brief look back at his journey as a recruit and his history with Pitt:
First mention on Rivals: Mathis first popped up in his junior year as he had begun picking up offers from Southern Mississippi, UMass, and Florida Atlantic. Mathis first spoke with Panther-Lair in June of 2016 when he received his Pitt offer, but committed to South Carolina just two days later. That commitment lasted for around five months until Pitt made the move to flip Mathis from the Gamecocks.
Mathis commits to Pitt: Mathis committed to Pitt shortly following a decommitment from South Carolina and a December 9th official visit to Pitt, making his decision official on December 22nd of 2016. Mathis had offers from the likes of South Carolina, Ole Miss, Louisville, Minnesota, and others.
In his words: “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, discussing his commitment to Pitt. “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' impact: "Mathis shows a willingness to strike and hit his opponent, whether that's in run support, on a blocker, or on a receiver coming across the middle of the football field. Mathis' wingspan is somewhat longer than his height, which helps in terms of being able to play the football in the air and break up attempts in the passing game. Moreover, Mathis has an impressive sense of timing and instincts for the football. For a young player, he seems to always find himself in on plays at the right time." Read more on Mathis' impact.
On his official visit: “It was great getting up to Pitt’s campus for the first time. Campus was great and the city has a lot of history to it and cool things to see. I got to be with the coaches and the players and see how they do things at Pitt,” Mathis said. “You can really tell that the coaches care about the players they have at Pitt and want them to not just be better players, but also better men. They care about them a lot.”
From the coach: “Well, I’m happy for him first of all. I keep my hands totally off of the whole recruiting thing and leave that between players and their families, but it seems like he’s going to fit in very well at Pitt and he’ll be happy there. He’s a hard-working kid and somebody who made a lot of plays at cornerback for us," said Lakeland head coach Bill Castle.
