Mathews gets the chance he wanted at Pitt

PITT MADE A BIG PUSH FOR A POSITION OF NEED LAST WEEK | PITT COMMIT CHASE PINE IS BACK FROM HIS VISIT TO VIRGINIA TECH - WHERE DOES HE STAND?

All Aaron Mathews wanted was a chance to play receiver.

Finally, in the last two weeks, that opportunity came - and it came at the hometown school. So on Monday evening, the Clairton standout made it official when he announced he was decommitting from Penn State and committing to Pitt.

That commitment was the culmination of a process that really started in the last two weeks, even though the roots of Mathews’ commitment trace back to the summer.

Mathews first got offered by Pitt early in his career at Clairton, and Pat Narduzzi’s staff honored that offer after getting brought to Pittsburgh in December 2014. But after the commitment of Ruben Flowers in June 2015, the coaches told Mathews that they didn’t have room for him at receiver; they would still recruit him, but it would be as a defensive prospect.

That didn’t sit well with Mathews, and he extended his recruitment through the fall. Then, at the end of December, Penn State offered Mathews for defense. It wasn’t an offer at receiver, but Mathews decided to commit a few days later.

“It was tough when the schools started recruiting me for defense,” Mathews told Panther-Lair.com. “I just kind of accepted it.”

And it seemed like State College would be his destination until two weeks ago, when Narduzzi and his staff came to Mathews with a proposition:

Come play receiver at Pitt.

“They DM’d me on Twitter and said they had a couple receivers they weren’t recruiting anymore,” Mathews said. “Once they told me that they wanted me at receiver, I knew what I wanted to do. I was pretty excited.”

Despite having his next step in mind, Mathews sat on it for a week. He even considered taking an official visit to Pitt this past weekend, but instead he just attended the Pitt basketball game Sunday night, and that was when he informed the Pitt coaches that he was going to flip to the Panthers.

“I told Coach Narduzzi [Sunday] night and he seemed excited,” Mathews said. “I like the coaches there a lot. Me and Coach (Kevin) Sherman are real cool. I’ve talked to him a lot and he’s a cool dude. And Coach Narduzzi is cool. He brings a lot of excitement. It seems like everything is going uphill there.”

On Monday morning, Mathews called the Penn State coaches to inform them of his decision. From there, he started looking forward to what he might be able to do in a Pitt uniform.

“Playing receiver was the big thing for me; that was what really did it,” he said. “I feel like I have a lot of people to prove wrong now.”

In addition to Pitt and Penn State, Mathews held offers from Boston College, Maryland, Minnesota, N.C. State, Syracuse, West Virginia, Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Old Dominion, Temple and Toledo.

This past season, Mathews, 6’5” 195, served primarily as Clairton's quarterback, throwing for 2,483 yards and 31 touchdowns with just five interceptions. He also ran for 453 yards (6.8 yards per carry) and scored 11 touchdowns.

With Mathews in the class, Pitt now has commitments from at least two and possibly three receiver prospects. Beyond Mathews and Flowers, New Jersey athlete Maurice Ffrench could also play receiver at Pitt.

“Without any doubt, I feel like we can be a foundation class,” Mathews said.

Pitt now has 22 commitments in the class of 2016.