After missing the 2022 season due to an ACL tear, ASU’s sixth-year DE Michael Matus is back and shared a lot with the media ahead of fall camp.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Despite not playing last year, Matus was an honorary captain and decided to stay with ASU when they added Dillingham.
“I don’t second-guess it at all,” the 6-foot-2, 260-pound Matus said. “I love this place, I love these people, I love it here … I wouldn’t change it.”
Matus, who hails from Katy, TX, has stuck with ASU since 2018 through a coaching change during his recruiting from Todd Graham to Herm Edwards and now to Kenny Dillingham.
“The winning is not what kept me here,” Matus said. “It’s the people that have helped me grow as a person and a man for the past five years. And realistically, at the end of the day, if I’m going to give up after we have a three-(win) season, I don’t deserve to wear the colors anymore, realistically, and that’s just how it goes. And that’s how everybody should think.”
In terms of all the change he’s endured, he added: “Trust me if they make a 30-for-30 on this, it’s gonna be nuts.”
😈 SAFETY 🔱
Michael Matus forces the safety → Sun Devils cut the lead to 5️⃣
🎥 @FS1 pic.twitter.com/gwuxEDUHTL
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) December 6, 2020
In 2021, Matus was the 11th-highest graded end on run defense in the Pac-12. He finished the year with 28 total tackles and 5.5 for loss. In his Sun Devil career, Matus has played 28 games, registering 41 total tackle, nine tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, two pass deflections, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.
Matus will be a big re-addition to the Sun Devil defensive front this season after ASU struggled to stop the run last year.
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Brendan Mau is a college sports insider and general assignment reporter for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on Twitter via @Brendan_Mau
