Temple linebacker Tyler Matakevich

That Temple linebacker Tyler Matakevich is having a great season is a surprise to no one. The senior from Stratford, CT had over 100 tackles in each of his first three seasons on North Broad, in doing so he became just the third Owl to have three-straight 100-plus tackle seasons joining Joe Klecko and Steve Conjar.
The 6-1, 232 pound Matakevich could have gone on and been a tackling machine and with his toughness and leadership had a great senior season for Matt Rhule and the Owls, instead he’s raised his level of play and has made plays all over the field.
It started with week one and the historic win over Penn State, the Owls had 10 sacks – Matakevich had three of them. It earned him American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week, an award he’s won three times in the first nine weeks of the season.
The next week at Cincinnati, he had 13 tackles (a team season high which he’s matched in two other games). Also, he had a pair of interceptions including one in the end zone in the final minute of the game to seal the 34-26 win.
Against Notre Dame, Matakevich had one red zone interception and helped force another one to allow the Owls to stay in the game with the Fighting Irish.
“ We have the mentality once you get in the red zone were not going to let you score,” said Matakevich, “and that’s what we do.”
Through nine contests, Owls opponents have visited the red zone 30 times and scored 22 times (13 touchdowns and nine field goals). Temple’s .733 average of allowing teams to score from the red zone is 14th best in the nation. By comparison, LSU, a top 10 team, allows teams to score on over 91percent of trips into the red zone which places them just outside the bottom 10 nationally.
Individually, Matakevich is well on his way to another season with over 100 tackles (he has 87 in the first nine games). He would be just the seventh player in NCAA history with more than 100 tackles in four different seasons. His four sacks is already a career high; with 10 tackles for a loss thus far, he has a good chance at a new single season mark in that category as well (his previous high is 11.5).
Playing the pass, he was leading the AAC with five interceptions.
“Just the right place at the right time,” said Matakevich, who had two career picks coming into the season.
Additionally, he has 10 passes defensed which is two more than than the total of his other three seasons combined.
As a senior, Matakevich is concentrating of his final few games as a college player and trying to help the Owls achieve their goal of a conference championship. Others have started to look at where he fits in the 2016 NFL Draft. He’s projected as a third-round selection by cbssports.com while another site nfldraftscout.com has him rated as the third best outside linebacker available (he plays inside for the Owls) and says his stock is on the rise.
“He does what you ask and does it at a really high level,” Rhule said about his star player.

Email Rock Hoffman at Rock@footballstories.com