The Ohio State football recruiting class of 2023 is complete and despite some murmurs of negativity in the crowd, this class is fantastic from top to bottom. One of the gems of the class is four-star cornerback, Jermaine Mathews from Winton Woods in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mathews was a bit of a late riser in this class and was once viewed as just an athlete before being listed as a corner on most recruiting sites. He finished this cycle as a consensus top 150 player in this class and top 15 cornerbacks according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings. It is also nice to see Ryan Day and Co. snag a top-five talent in Ohio.
Let’s dive into what he is capable of:
Strengths
Breaking It All Down
Jermaine Mathews was a fun player to watch with plenty of pure speed and quickness to hang with any receiver in the country. Mathews checks all of the boxes you need to be a scheme versatile corner that can be utilized in either man or zone.
He has unique size for a cornerback at 6-foot tall and has the frame to pack on another 15 pounds without sacrificing any speed. Corners with his kind of height do not typically have the ability to flip their hips as smoothly as Mathews and he is also a fairly physical player who really shined in bump and run.
Jermaine Mathews with clamps here at LSU camp @Jr2Maine 📦 pic.twitter.com/tGGO9ruDnR
— Darren Junior Recruiting Source (@DJRSwework) June 16, 2022
Weaknesses
Breaking It All Down
It is pretty cliché at this point, but as expected with most high schoolers, Jermaine Mathews is going to need to add weight to hang with the big dogs in the Big Ten, but his frame should make that easy. The other aspect he needs to improve upon that is also a standard high school criticism, is that his technique needs work. Mathews is typically the biggest, fastest, and strongest player on the field, but that will not be the case in the Big Ten. He will not be able to bully and bate quarterbacks and receivers as he did in high school.
Jermaine Mathews 🅾️🌰
— 🅾️BuckeyeUpdates🌰 (@Buckeyeslife247) September 10, 2022
Comparison: Vince Skillings
• Happy 57th Birthday to @OhioStAthletics football alum Vince Skillings. He had 13 interceptions from 1978-80 for the #Buckeyes.
— Mike Pearson (@Spartifacts2022) May 4, 2016
Vince Skillings is an old-school comparison, which is my favorite kind, but even though the game was different, I envision similar careers between the two studs. Skillings was All-Big Ten three times from 1978-1980 before being selected in the sixth round of the 1981 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. Skillings also spent time with the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Raiders as well as in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Montreal Alouettes/Concordes.
Skillings suffered an injury, which robbed him of his freshman season but earned a starting role as a safety during his sophomore campaign and even led the team with six interceptions. He moved to cornerback as a junior and continued to get All-Big Ten recognition despite the position change. Skillings is still eighth in Ohio State history for career receptions with 13.
Much like Skillings, Jermaine Mathews has the raw ability to play anywhere in the defensive backfield and will likely leave Ohio State with both starts at cornerback and safety. His versatility will allow him to see the field earlier and his speed will make him a ball-hawk much in the same style as Skillings.
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