By Marty Gordon
Tyler Matheny has been a bright spot in a depleted Virginia Tech secondary.
Who is Tyler Matheny and where did he come from?
With at least five defensive backs sidelined the first two weeks for Virginia Tech thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, several reserves were thrown to the wolves. This included walk-on redshirt sophomore Tyler Matheny.
In his first career start against Duke last Saturday, the 6-1 209-pounder registered seven tackles, including two for a loss, and an interception.
Head coach Justin Fuente sang Matheny’s praises earlier this week.
“I think 39’s a fantastic story,” Fuente said. “It’s well-deserved. You get guys of varying talent levels that walk on. You can tell relatively quickly if it’s a guy that you think one day has a chance to be a contributor on offense or defense, or one day has a chance to be a contributor maybe just on special teams, or maybe one day gets to run down on a kickoff if you’re up considerably in the fourth quarter, or if this is a guy that can be a glue guy, a guy that just helps the football team in any way possible.”
Matheny turned down a wrestling scholarship to the University of Virginia to come to Tech and try his hand at football.
“Matheny is a guy that has just worked his way up those levels, quite honestly, into a guy that
Contributes,” Fuente said. “Obviously, he got a start, but he is going to contribute to the football team on the defensive side and on special teams. It’s a testament to his work ethic, his toughness. I haven’t heard him say very many words. He just shows up and does whatever we ask him to do whenever we ask him to do it. It’s always fun to cheer for guys like that.”
“When his time came, he met the challenge,” the coach said.
Matheny was a first-team All-State 6A and was named the Northern Virginia Football Hall of Fame player of the year in 2018. The Lake Braddock High School senior did not receive a single offer from a Division 1 school for football after serving as the team’s tight end.
He was a standout on the mat, landing a wrestling scholarship from Virginia, but he was determined to play Power-5 football. Matheny said the decision was not easy, taking him almost a month to decide whether Blacksburg was his new path.
After sitting out the first year, he saw some reserve time against Old Dominion.
This past Saturday, it was next man up, and Matheny took advantage of the opportunity.
“More excitement than nerves,” Matheny said of his first start. “It was unreal, to be honest. It was kind of like a dream of mine to be in this position, and now it’s here.”
With questions surrounding the rest of the season and how COVID-19 will affect it, Matheny could see more playing time. By the ACC championship, Hokie fans might know him on a first-name basis.