With shoulder healed, Pitt cornerback Damarri Mathis eager to tackle again

While chatting with reporters Tuesday on a video conference call, Damarri Mathis admitted he was hiding something.

“I probably have a blank face right now,” he said, “but I have a lot of enthusiasm. You’re going to see that on Saturdays. I promise you that. I don’t like talking that much. I want to show what I’m going to do.”

Pitt’s senior cornerback said his face is hiding a lot of backed-up energy he hopes to unleash, perhaps as soon as Thursday, when the Panthers strap on pads for the first time in spring practice.

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Mathis, who started 10 games in 2019 and was ready to step up among the ACC’s best cornerbacks last summer, sat out the entire season with a shoulder injury that occurred before the season. He said he is healed now.

He had planned to join veteran teammates Damar Hamlin, Paris Ford and Jason Pinnock in 2020 to give Pitt an experienced secondary and, then, aim for the NFL.

Instead, Hamlin, Ford and Pinnock will be among 16 former Panthers players working out for NFL scouts and executives Wednesday at Pitt’s Pro Day.

Mathis, who assumed a relatively passive role of a mentor last season, must wait his turn. At times, it’s been frustrating.

“I’ve been watching too much football. I’ve been working out too much. I’ve been in the dungeon too much,” he said. “It’s time to let me out of the cage. Let the beast out of the cage.”

Mathis, who is approaching his fifth year on campus, will join a defense that returns several players who gained valuable experience last season.

Of the 11 who started on defense in the regular-season finale — a 34-20 victory at Georgia Tech — nine are back. Surveying the season in its entirety, 11 of the 16 players who recorded the most tackles return.

For Mathis, there might be a period of transition when he lunges for that first ball carrier. He hasn’t encountered many of them in live-action since the 2019 Quick Lane Bowl, but he said he won’t be limited this spring.

“I haven’t really tried to tackle anybody, yet,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m going to second-guess myself or not.

“I probably won’t because I’m good, but I haven’t been in that motion in a while so I have to get comfortable doing that.”

In 2019, Mathis was comfortable through 10 starts, finishing second on the team with 11 pass breakups (tied with Ford) and two interceptions (second only to Ford).

With his shoulder in a sling last season, however, he couldn’t do much more than encourage his younger teammates and live vicariously through them.

Referencing cornerback Marquis Williams’ interception against Louisville, Mathis said, “I felt like I got the interception. I was happy for him. He read the route and everything. I was so excited for him. He still should have scored on that play. We’ll talk about that later.

“They held it down,” he said of Williams, sophomore A.J. Woods and freshman Rashad Battle. “They did what they were supposed to do.”

For Mathis, sitting was difficult, but it taught him more about football than he had known previously.

“It’s like a small bump in the road I had to get over. It’s given me another aspect of the game,” he said.

“Sitting on the sideline, learning everything, getting more in the playbook, seeing stuff that I wouldn’t see playing on the field and taking my game to the next level.”

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