Hollis Mathis Commits to Howard University
The last time Penn Hills won a WPIAL football championship was in 1995. Just yesterday Penn Hills starting quarterback Hollis Mathis decided to announce on Twitter that he will continuing his academic and football career at Howard University in Washington D.C.
Howard University is a NCAA Division 3 school. Hollis is only a junior right now and next year he will be a senior. It is good that Hollis has made his college decision already. Since Hollis has made his decision he can now focus on football and getting Penn Hills to the "Promise Land". The "Promise Land" for Penn Hills is getting to Heinz Field to try and win a WPIAL championship for the Penn Hills football team.
When Hollis was a freshman in 2015 he only had 5 passing attempts and only completed one pass for 32 yards. In 2016 Hollis was a sophomore got just a tad bit more playing time as he completed 16 passes out of his 46 throwing attempts for 164 yards. He also threw for a touchdown and threw one interception in 2016. This football season Hollis reached a whole new other level as he threw for 2,435 yards, threw 27 touchdowns and only threw 8 interceptions in his junior year. Hollis saw in his sophomore year how much former Penn Hills quarterback Cam Tarrant improved from his junior season to his senior season. Hollis knew that even though he was not a starter his first two seasons at Penn Hills that he can become very good and become a starter for the team in the future. And with all that hard work Hollis did in the offseason after his sophomore football year he was awarded as a starter for Penn Hills this year in his junior year and made every snap count when he was on the field this season.
The addition that Penn Hills received when Corey Thomas Jr. transferred from Central Catholic to Penn Hills helps Mathis a lot now that he knows that he as another wide receiver that is skilled in breaking defenders and catching the ball way down the field. Penn Hills defense also got a whole lot stronger with Thomas Jr. perhaps being the starting safety on this team. The future looks bright for Penn Hills as Hollis Mathis has to be thinking deep down in his heart if he wants to win a WPIAL title and perhaps even make it to a state championship game that he and the rest of his teammates have to just ball out next year.
What I like about Hollis is that he trusts his teammates. Hollis throws the football towards his receivers a lot when the coverage seems to be tight but Hollis believes that any time he'll throw the football to them that they will make the play. Hollis is also good when it comes to faking the defense when it comes pretending that he is handing it the football off to his running back when really he is going to run with the ball. Hollis rushed for 328 yards as well this season and let me just say that man can fly. The man is very strong and can throw the football down the field far.
I like that Hollis is going to continue playing quarterback in college as he has the capability next year to throw for over 40 touchdowns and throw for 4,000 yards as I think this man will be the most talked quarterback in the WPIAL next year as there might be a new WPIAL team crowned in 6A.