The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mathews eyeing a big season
Mentor grad has important role in Colgate backfield
In many cases, college football is an upperclassmen’s sport.
A player’s biggest jump can occur from his sophomore to junior seasons.
The comfort level of a player knowing his place in the program is firmly there. Knowing coaches and underclassmen are leaning on that upperclassman for leadership and support only ups the ante.
Enter Mentor graduate and 2015 Tony Fisher Award winner Alex Mathews, who will be a junior running back at FCS Colgate in the fall.
The 5-foot-8, 205-pounder is expecting big things from himself as he makes that big jump from underclassman to not only upperclassman, but one of the program’s leaders.
During the offseason and spring practices that concluded April 21, Colgate coach Dan Hunt handed Mathews a form to fill out. It’s one the coach gives to players he deems worthy of team captain. Mathews was a senior captain for the Cardinals, and takes that distinction seriously.
“The coaches are looking at me to be one of the leaders next season,” he said. “I feel like I’m ready for that.”
However his role plays out from a team captain perspective won’t change his approach as a player. His coach feels the same way.
“Alex had a great spring,” said Hunt. “He showed a whole other gear of footspeed and athletic ability, and he looked a lot looser in the hole. He can still run you over, but he really took his running and his pass protection to the next level.”
Colgate’s tradition as a run-first offense won’t change in 2018. The Raiders will feature fifth-year senior James Holland, the likely lead ball carrier, and Mathews. The base set for Colgate’s offense will be quarterback Grant Breneman in the shotgun with the running backs to each side.
“We should be living in a two-back offense,” said Mathews. “There’s a bunch of different things we can run from that set.”
The coach’s confidence in Mathews stems from a three-game stretch last season in which he stepped in for an injured Holland and carried the load. In consecutive games against Furman, Cornell and Lehigh, Mathews carried it 20, 20 and 27 times, and totaled 277 yards.
Included in that stretch was the best game of his career — 137 yards and two touchdowns vs. Lehigh.
“The big thing was the confidence booster,” said Mathews of that threegame stretch. “Just knowing for myself that I could do it if the coaches needed me to do it. I think I showed to them I could be relied upon to be the guy. I think I’ve proven that to my coaches. Hopefully that carries over into next season.”
Mathews played in all 11 Colgate games in 2017, and gained 578 yards on 130 carries with six touchdowns. In nine games, Holland had 722 yards on 135 carries and six TDs.
The Colgate coaching staff told Mathews they plan to play him and Holland a lot in 2018, and they expect to go with the “hot hand” throughout the season. That dynamic won’t be a problem, said Mathews.
“We’re good friends,” he said of Holland. “It’s not like we’re in competition with each other.”
When Mathews made his official visit more than three years ago, Holland was his mentor.
“He really helped me getting comfortable with the offense, and everything else,” said Mathews.
Things are also heating up for Mathews in the classroom. Two weeks ago, he declared himself a philosophy major. A philosophy class he took as a freshman piqued his interest, and from there he’s been all in.
“I’ve taken three other philosophy classes since then. I just think in a very logical way,” said Mathews, who hopes to one day be a sports agent or sports broadcaster. “I like to problem solve and go into deep analysis about why things are.”
Don’t expect a ton of analysis on offense next fall for Colgate, a program looking to improve on its 7-4 mark in 2017. Giving Holland and Mathews plenty of carries seems like the logical approach.