Matheson pledges to Princeton
Gurnee (Ill.) Warren Township senior offensive linemen recruit Tommy Matheson (6-foot-4, 250 pounds) decided to wrap up his recruiting process today and gave Princeton his verbal commitment. Matheson, a valuable two way starting linemen for the 2019 Class 8A state runner up Blue Devils discusses his college decision here.
"I decided to commit to Princeton," Matheson said. "I've seen the school twice in person now and Princeton truly feels like home to me. I've built up a great relationship with the coaching staff at Princeton. Also playing for and going to the top school in America is also a huge factor in my decision."
Matheson pointed to some key factors which led him to commit to the Princeton Tigers.
"Princeton recruited me as an offensive linemen and I've been able to get to know P:rinceton OL coach Chris Zarkoskie along with head coach Bob Surace. I feel very comfortable playing on either side of the football, and in a lot of ways I probably have more upside on the offensive line. I get along great with the other kids in this Princeton recruiting class. The recruiting class features some great guys from across the country who are just very like minded people. We are going to also be a very good recruiting class. Princeton also offers an amazing engineering program and my plan all along was to major in engineering. That was really the starting point for everyone who was recruiting me, that they had to offer a strong engineering program that I could actually earn a degree in and also play football."
Matheson looked at several other schools before deciding upon Princeton.
"I looked hard at Holy Cross and Cornell plus some other schools. In the end I just felt like Princeton was the best fit and the best place for me. I was able to build up some great relationships with my recruiting process. I called all of the schools who recruited me and those ended up being very hard phone calls to make."
Did COVID play a factor ion Matheson's recruiting process?
"It definitely did. I was able to make a lot of different college visits so that wasn't a big issue for me. I was planning to go to a lot of camps this summer and I wanted to show the bigger schools what I was capable of doing. In the end it all worked out for me with Princeton but COVID no question played a big role in the process."
Tommy Matheson is verbally committed to Princeton.