Chris Matthews enters his Senior Season at UK with a year of conditioning and experience at WR. He, along with De Quin Evans transferred to UK before the beginning of the '09 season from Harbor Junior College in California. While at Harbor, Chris caught 112 passes for over 1,700 yards and 15 TDs.
As a Junior at UK, Chris caught 32 passes for 354 yards and 3 TDs. With a year of experience, and better knowing the Offense, Matthews should increase those numbers significantly and with a good combine/workout position himself to at least be considered as draftable by the NFL. His greatest attribute is his size (6 ft 5 in).
Here is my two cents on Matthews. Chris has an NFL body and good raw athletic tools. He is ripped. Few UK fans realize this, but Chris' biggest impact in 2009 was as a blocker on the perimeter. He is a very tough kid. He was responsible for a number of solid blocks that resulted in productive runs by Derrick Locke and Randall Cobb.
ReplyDeleteBut Chris does not run good routes. He is an unpolished receiver and drops too may passes.
In the past, JUCO transfer receivers have tended to make a big jump in performance bewteen their junior and senior seasons at UK. I think Chris will have his hands full fending off LaRod King, but he could have a really good 2010 season anyway if he improves as much as Steve Johnson did as a senior.