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| Photo courtesy of Aaron Mathews' Twitter account |
Pitt grad, Aaron Mathews announced on Twitter yesterday that he will be a part of the USFL draft coming up next week on February 22nd and 23rd. Mathews was a four-year contributor at Pitt, playing both offense as a Wide Receiver and was on coverage units.
Mathews is most known for his pivotal role in the "Pitt Special" play that clinched a Panther victory over UCF in 2019. Pitt was trailing 34-28 and had a 4th and goal. A.J. Davis took a direct snap and then flipped the ball to Mathews. Mathews rolled out to his right and threw a strike to quarterback Kenny Pickett for the winning score with 59 seconds left. This win snapped a 27 regular season game win streak for the Knights. He became the first Pitt wide receiver to throw a TD pass since 2011. In that same game, Mathews blocked a punt that resulted in a score.
In his Pitt career, Mathews played in 30 games had 44 receptions, and 580 yards. He had a lone touchdown reception in 2019 against Syracuse. He also added 6 total tackles in coverage and had that one very important passing touchdown.
It's not entirely clear yet how the USFL draft will work, but what we do know is it will be by position with the quarterbacks being drafted first. Mathews was a two-way player at hometown Clairton so it'd be interesting for him to get to play for Pittsburgh professionally if the Maulers were to draft him. Pittsburgh fans won't get to see Mathews play in Pittsburgh just yet as every game this season will be played in Birmingham, Alabama, with the hopes of teams playing at their home locations in the future.
For more information on the Pittsburgh Maulers, and the USFL, check out our Things to Know article: