Tony Mathis Jr. is Preparing to take his game to Another Level

West Virginia running back Tony Mathis Jr. continues to develop and looks to take the next step

West Virginia running back Tony Mathis Jr. recorded his first 100-yard performance against a surging Kansas Jayhawk team on the road in the season finale last year. He became the workhorse for the offense in the second half, including bursting for a 45-yard run early in the fourth quarter. West Virginia went on to win the game, becoming bowl eligible but it became the game where two-time 1,000-yard rusher Leddie Brown seemingly passed the torch to the sophomore.

Oct 23, 2021; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers running back Tony Mathis Jr. (24) dives for the endzone during the second half against the TCU Horned Frogs at Amon G. Carter Stadium / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Mathis had a good offseason last year but an injury in fall camp slowed his development before coming on late in the season, and according to running backs coach Chad Scott, he’s carried that momentum into the spring practice period.

“Tony Mathis is having a really good spring for us,” said Scott. “He had a really good offseason for us and he’s having a really good spring. When I say, ‘good spring,’ he’s consistent in his assignments, the game is slowing down for him and with the amount of repetitions he had at the end of the season and the ones he’s had now, the game seems to be slowing down for him. He seems to be free floating, being a football player. That’s good to see.”

Christopher Hall - Sports Illustrated: West Virginia

Hearing Scott tell Mathis he needs to be a football player seems odd considering if you constructed a running back, Mathis fits the blueprint. Scott expanded on his comment and shared the conversation he had with the top running back.

“He knows the offense really well, I thought he was pressing and forcing things, trying to make things happen,” said Scott. “Doing that at the running back position it looked real robotic sometimes.”

“We went back and watched a lot of your runs last year, you had a lot of one-on-one situations where if you just be the football player that you were in high school where you weren’t thinking, you were just rockin’ that Cedartown uniform, you’ll win a lot of those one on ones and go score."

There was more to just playing the game he loves, Mathis needed to improve in certain areas. Scott, not hesitant to withhold the truth, was honest with his redshirt junior running back, and Mathis' reaction? He went to work.

“All those weaknesses, all the things he needed to improve upon, he worked his butt off in the offseason,” said Scott. “He worked his butt off toward the end of last year and came back and he’s done it, and right now, he’s taken his game to another level.”

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West Virginia has been searching for offensive playmakers since Will Grier, Gary Jennings and David Sills graduated out of the program, coinciding with Neal Brown’s arrival, and the staff is starting to see flashes of Mathis’ playmaking ability.

“There’s been some runs we’ve had out there, he cut some of these runs back that, you know, you ain’t really supposed to cut back but it’s hard to say anything when he goes and makes a play with it,” said Scott.

Now, Mathis has to take the next step, show it consistently on game day. 

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