:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49443235/usa-today-9141724.0.jpg)
One of the most productive players to ever come from the college ranks, Tyler Matakevich is now part of the NFL fraternity after getting selected with the #246 overall pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Matakevich had one of the most storied college careers ever with nearly 500 tackles, All-American honors, as well as the Chuck Bednarik and Bronco Nagurski Awards. Matakevich was the only player in the entire FBS to lead his team in tackles in every single game of the season. He is only one of seven players to ever earn four 100+ tackle seasons.
Matakevich has a nose for the football and knows how to make tackles. He studies extensively and uses his natural instincts to know where to be and make a play. Play action fakes rarely fool him and he is more than serviceable in the passing game with five interceptions in 2015.
He does an excellent job of shooting gaps and finding himself in the backfield to make a tackle. Matakevich fills a need a linebacker with a player that could easily be a tackling machine at the NFL level.
He is exactly the kind of player that the Steelers will probably gradually develop into a monster and then unleash on the league in a few years, in the Lawrence Timmons mold. This is an amazingly good fit of player and team.
Congrats to Tyler Matakevich and the Temple Owls on sending another player to the next level.