Position Linebacker Name Tyler Matakevich | Class Senior | |
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Date of birth (1992-12-02) December 2, 1992 (age 23) | ||
Tyler matakevich
Tyler John Matakevich (born December 22, 1992) is an American football linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Temple. He was drafted by the Steelers in the seventh round (246th overall) in the 2016 NFL Draft.
Contents
- Tyler matakevich
- Feature temple linebacker tyler matakevich
- Early years
- College career
- Professional career
- References
Feature temple linebacker tyler matakevich
Early years
Matakevich attended St. Joseph High School in Trumbull, Connecticut. He played linebacker and running back on the football team and also played baseball. He finished his high school career with 2,357 yards rushing, 1,355 yards receiving, 3,898 all-purpose yards on offense, and 371 tackles, 4.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, six fumble recoveries, and eight interceptions on defense. Over the course of his career, he scored 59 total touchdowns. During a pre-season scrimmage his senior year he broke his foot and wound up missing five games, therefore after high school graduation he attended Milford Academy. After one year at Milford Academy, Matakevich committed to Temple University to play college football.
College career
As a freshman at Temple in 2012, Matakevich played in all 13 games, making his first start in Week 5 against USF. He became the first freshman in school history to record 100 tackles, finishing with 101. As a sophomore, he had 137 tackles, one sack and one interception. As a junior, he had 117 tackles, 1.5 sacks and one interception. During his senior year, he became the seventh player in FBS history to record 100 tackles all four years. Leading Temple to the inaugural AAC Championship during his final year of eligibility, Matakevich received national honors including the AAC Defensive Player of the Year, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Chuck Bednarik Award. All three were firsts for Temple football. He also became Temple's third consensus All-American. During the 2015 Boca Raton Bowl, he broke the school's record for career tackles, finishing with 493. For the season he had 138 tackles, 4.5 sacks and five interceptions.
Professional career
Matakevich was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the seventh round (246th overall) of the 2016 NFL Draft. He said, at the time of receiving the call from head coach Mike Tomlin, he was in the process of speaking to other teams about being signed as a priority undrafted free-agent. The Steelers said they selected him because he was their highest rated player on their big board at the time.
On May 5, 2016, the Steelers signed Matakevich to a four-year, $2.40 million rookie contract that includes a signing bonus of $63,502.
Matakevich entered training camp competing with veteran Steven Johnson to be the backup right inside linebacker. He began the regular season as the backup inside linebacker to Ryan Shazier and made his professional regular season debut in the Steelers' season-opening 38–16 victory over the Washington Redskins. The next game, he made his first career tackle in a 24–16 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. On November 6, 2016, he recorded a season-high nine combined tackles in a 30–15 loss to the Miami Dolphins. In the Week 16 match-up against the Baltimore Ravens, he recorded two solo tackles in a 32–27 victory. He finished his rookie season with 20 combined tackles in 16 games.
On September 10, in the season opening 21–18 victory over the Cleveland Browns, Matakevich blocked a punt, which teammate Anthony Chickillo recovered in the endzone for a touchdown. The blocked punt gave the Steelers their first points of the season.