ESPN’s Tom Luginbill wrote that four-star 2017 DT Phidarian Mathis “won’t be a secret for long.”
Mathis is something of a late-comer to the 2017 recruiting party, as he had been listed as part of the 2018 class prior to this spring. Now bumped up a year, the 6-foot-4, 287-pounder should see his recruitment shift over to the fast lane soon enough. ESPN 300 ranks him as their No. 20 overall prospect for the cycle, noting that he “blends great size with effort and athleticism and while a good football player now he still scarily has room to grow both physically and as a player.”