JUCO commit 'the greatest story'

AUBURN | Mark Rose coached Octavius Matthews for just one year at North Jackson in Stevenson, Ala., but it was quite a year.

“He’s probably the greatest story I’ve even been associated with,” said Rose, a former Auburn offensive lineman and 23-year coaching veteran. “We got to North Jackson and he’d been on the varsity three years and had 408 career rushing yards. A lot of people had some bad things to say about him but I knew him since I was there before. He played with my son. I’ve known him since he was small.

“We made a pact that we were going to work and he worked has hard as any player I’ve ever had. He never missed nothing, he totally trusted and believed in me and he had the greatest season in the history of North Jackson as a senior.”

Matthews, who committed to Auburn last week, rushed for 1,773 yards and 26 touchdowns, caught four touchdown passes, returned three kicks for touchdowns and returned a punt for a touchdown in 2014.

“Of all the great backs I’ve had, that’s off the charts,” said Rose of Matthews’ 11.2 yards per carry.

Due to academics and the lack of production before his senior season, Matthews wasn’t highly recruited coming out of North Jackson but that didn’t stop Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn from contacting the athletic running back before he enrolled at Itawamba (Miss.) Community College last summer.

“He talked to Coach Malzahn on the way to junior college and I told Coach, ‘You’ll be recruiting him again in about a year.’ Coach was the only one that talked to him,” Rose said. “He’s a great player, extremely explosive. He has the best hands of any player I’ve ever coached. He’s respectful. He’s a great kid. He’s got a great momma. I love him like a son.”

After a bit of a slow start at Itawamba last fall, Matthews caught fire rushing for more than 100 yards in four of the last five games. He finished his freshman season with 808 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 94 carries. He also caught 13 passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns.

“He had a really productive first year for us,” Itawamba coach Sean Cannon said. “Like most freshmen, he started out a little slow but got the game figured out about midway through the season and had a good last three-quarters of a season.

“I thought he had a good offseason in the weight room and I’m looking for him to be a big part of our team this year for sure.”

Cannon, who said Matthews reminds him of former Auburn running back Onterio McCalebb, plans to use him in different roles as a sophomore.

“He’s a pretty versatile guy,” Cannon said. “We moved him around a lot this spring to try to get him a little bit more involved in the offense. Our running backs only do a certain amount of things and we got him involved a little bit more in the passing game. He catches the ball very well.

“He’ll be our workhorse. We played a couple of guys there last year and he was kind of our home run threat. We’ll use him in a lot of different roles this year.”

That doesn’t mean Matthews can’t run between the tackles. He did it effectively in high school and last season at Itawamba, and is working to be a more physical back this fall.

“He can run because he’s got a lot of highlights and big runs and open field stuff,” Cannon said. “Being a complete back you’ve got to be an inside and outside runner. I think that’s one thing he really did this offseason. He got in the weight room and worked on his leg strength, his shoulders, things that are going to take the most pounding as a back.”