Arizona football: Matthews all about football these days

Matthews gives up his glove for the gridiron 

Jake Matthews’ eyes were a little bloodshot. His hair was all over the place. Sweat poured down his exhausted face.

He was the picture of a college football player after a tough, demanding practice. The sight was almost enough to make you forget this tough outside linebacker was once a baseball player.

“Oh gosh, not anymore; it’s been two years since I picked up a bat or a glove,” Matthews said this week. “I feel like more of a football player these days.”

Which makes sense. 

Matthews making progress since walking on 

Matthews, who won a football state championship in 2012 at Ironwood Ridge High School, was a two-sport star for the Nighthawks.

He never came off the field in football and was a Pac-12 prospect at shortstop for the baseball club.

But Matthews, who was drafted in the 38th round of the 2013 MLB draft by the Kansas City Royals, turned down a chance to play baseball to walk-on with Arizona football.

He played in eight games as a true freshman, mostly on special teams.

Then last season, Matthews played in 11 games and started six. He finished with 29 tackles and one sack and earned Pac-12 starts against Colorado, Washington and USC. 

Matthews likely to earn scholarship 

This spring, Matthews is trying to earn an even bigger role in 2015. Last year, his playing time went down as former safety Tra’Mayne Bondurant emerged at a new position after an early-season discipline issue.

Bondurant is now out of the picture, but Matthews still has plenty of others to compete with, including classmates DeAndre’ Miller, Derrick Turituri and Cody Ippolito.

Entering the spring, Matthews had the same goal he’s had since arriving at Arizona: Continue to get bigger and stronger.

Listed at 6 feet 3 inches and 221 pounds on the UA’s roster, Matthews has been working on filling out his frame since arriving from Ironwood Ridge.

“I think putting on some weight has helped my confidence, for sure,” Matthews said. “I think by the end of the summer, I’ll be where I want to be. I’m getting there. I’m pretty close.”

On the field, Matthews said he feels more comfortable than he ever has in coach Jeff Casteel’s 3-3-5 odd-stack defense. The same is true for Miller, Turituri, Ippolito and even the fifth junior of the group, Scooby Wright.

“We were talking about that the other day in film, how much better we are this spring as compared to last spring,” Matthews said. “Everyone is playing quicker and a little better. It’s more natural for us. (Casteel) is definitely doing more observing this spring. It’s nice to know he has the confidence in us. He still gets on us when we mess up, but it’s more to explain things than to get mad.”

Last year, UA coach Rich Rodriguez said before the season he wanted to put Matthews on scholarship, but a little known NCAA rule was making it difficult.

The numbers still have to be crunched before the season, but Matthews is likely to go on scholarship at some point before his career is over.

“I’m still staying patient and working hard on that,” Matthews said of the scholarship. 

Shadowman training 

Rodriguez and the Wildcats have bought a few new pieces of equipment to help improve their tackling.

The Wildcats purchased three “Shadowman” tackling dummies.

The inflatable dummies, with a tire as a base, are attached to student managers by a rope.

The managers slowly jog as players line up the dummy and practice their tackling technique.

“They showed an exhibit at the NFL owners meeting a couple of weeks ago,” Rodriguez said. “We saw video of it, and we bought three of them. You can’t really simulate live tackling, but I think it will be a pretty good drill for our guys that we’ll use the rest of the spring and certainly in August.”

Rodriguez said he hasn’t been pleased with the team’s tackling this spring. But like most coaches across the country, Rodriguez wants to preserve his team in the spring and not subject them to heavy hitting.

“From a health standpoint, you don’t want to beat each other up, but we have to keep working on our tackling,” Rodriguez said. “It has been poor in some of the scrimmages and live periods we’ve had.” 

Jones' development 

Cayleb Jones played in all 14 games last season. He led the Wildcats with 73 catches, 1,019 yards and nine touchdowns.

He was the UA’s most dangerous threat at receiver.

But receivers coach Tony Dews said recently that Jones can be considerably better in 2015 and that’s been the focus this spring.

“He needs to continue to become a fundamental, technique player,” Dews said. “He obviously has some god given ability, but he has to fine-tune it. He has improved drastically since he walked in the door here. He’s made changes to make himself better. The game is starting to slow down for him.”

Dews continued: “Last year he was like a mustang, he was just out there running around. When he sat down and watched himself this offseason, he saw the areas where he could improve. Just the little things, coming off the ball a certain way, creating separation at the top of routes, running full speed all the time, just stuff like that.”