Katy DE recaps unofficial visit to TTU

The coaches hosted a couple of unofficial visitors this past weekend, including Katy defensive end Michael Matus.

The 6-foot-2, 238-pound standout had already scheduled the visit with former Texas Tech defensive line coach Kevin Patrick, and although he left the program for another opportunity, the coaches told Matus to follow through with the visit.

"I visited Texas Tech this past weekend with my Mom," Matus said. "I had originally setup the visit with Coach (Kevin) Patrick, but he left and then we got in touch with Jason Reed. I spoke with him and the defensive line graduate assistant coach Tevin Mims. They still wanted us to visit because I couldn't make it for the junior day with track."

Matus was able to spend time with both Texas Tech defensive coordinator David Gibbs and new defensive line coach Terrance Jamison over the weekend.

"Coach Jamison was there all day, and he actually went on the tour with us," Matus said. "It was funny because it was his first time seeing a lot of the things around campus too. We talked with Coach Gibbs and Coach Jamison, and they would like to offer me, but Coach Jamison had only been on the job for two days and wants to come visit me at practices later this spring.

"We mostly got to know one another and Coach Jamison told us more about himself. We talked about his background and how he coaches his players, just went over some of his philosophies for pass and run concepts. Overall, I could tell that he really lolves his players. He told us that he has kids at home, but on the field his players are his kids and his family. Coach Jamison wants to push his players in school as well, and he had his defensive line group at FAU at No. 2 in grades behind only the quarterbacks group."

The visit was Matus' first to Lubbock and he shared his thoughts on the experience.

"It's definitely different, but in a good way," Matus said. "It's quiet and peaceful out there. To me, it's the same as being out on my Dad's family farm, and I very much enjoyed the visit. I could see the culture around campus and how everything is surrounded by football. We toured the facilities, went to the training room, toured the various sports medicine areas, the weight room, met the strength and conditioning staff, met the nutritionist and learned how they all supported the football team.

"I was also able to spend time learning more about the academic center and we met the tutors. From there, we toured the Business Administration building and rode around the campus with Coach Jamison. When we got back to the football building, I was able to see all of the equipment and gear. We also toured the stadium and they had a cool video for us to watch on the scoreboard."

Matus currently holds one offer from McNeese State, but the Red Raiders are not the only Power Five program beginning to show interest this off-season.

"I have visited Baylor for their junior day and Texas Tech this past weekend," Matus said. "I'm also going to visit Washington in April. I have been talking with coaches from Duke, TCU, Houston, Northwestern, Iowa State and Stanford about possible visits.

"I recently went to the Nike Regional in Houston and finished with a 119.70 sparq score. I'm also attending the Under Armour camp in Houston and maybe the Rivals Camp in Dallas later this spring, it all depends on my visit schedule."

Currently rated a 5.5 three-star prospect, Matus earned both District 19-6A All-District First Team Defense and All-Academic First Team honors this past season.