D.J. Matthews Needed Time Away to Find Peace, Now Rejuvenated with Indiana
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — D.J. Matthews was a four-star, top-50 recruit nationally and top-10 recruit for his position coming out of high school in the class of 2017.
Matthews went to Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville and was committed to Florida State fairly early on in his recruiting process.
Once the highly-touted receiver arrived in Tallahassee, things didn't go as planned.
Matthews endured numerous coaching changes at Florida State, which today he admits was a tough position to be in.
"It took a lot of maturity," Matthews said. "It was definitely a challenge going through."
But he still managed to make an impact on the field. Matthews was an electric punt returner for the Seminoles. He ranks 10th at FSU with 582 career punt return yards and 56 returns, and he holds two of the top-4 single-game marks. In 35 games (16 starts), Matthews has 84 receptions for 809 yards and five touchdowns to go along with one punt return TD.
Heading into his senior season, there was another coaching change. Mike Norvell became the new head coach at FSU, and then the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down that spring and summer of 2020.
It left Matthews with time to think about what he wanted to do next.
"Everything is not going to go as planned," he said. "You walk into great situations and a lot of adversity happened, and it allowed me to trust the process and see everything through."
Matthews decided to take the 2020 season off from football. It was a hard decision for him to make. He had played football since the age of 4, but there was something more important three-and-a-half hours away from Matthews in Tallahassee.
Matthews had newly-born daughter named Seyvnn — Matthews wears the No. 7 on the field — living in Georgia with her mom.
"I dedicated last year to my daughter," Matthews said. "I took that time to spend as much time as I could with my daughter."
Seyvnn likes to be outdoors, so Matthews would take her fishing and canoeing. She's also a big music fan, so he would give her toy instruments to play around with.
Matthews watched football of course, but most of his time and energy was spent on his daughter.
"I really found piece with myself last year," Matthews said. "She brought so much joy to myself. I found myself again."
Since COVID-19 allowed players to have another year of eligibility, Matthews decided to enter the transfer portal. Not long after doing so, he found a new home when he committed to Indiana on Dec. 16, 2020.
Matthews earned an interdisciplinary social science degree in Dec. 2020 before coming to Bloomington.
Fast forward eight months later, and Matthews has earned a top spot on the depth chart as a slot receiver for the Hoosiers.
"That means they trust me, and that's a big part in winning and elevating," Matthews said.
Ever since coming to Indiana, Matthews was praised for his maturity and how quickly he was able to learn the playbook.
He credits that to when Norvell got to Florida State. Norvell brought a confusing playbook and taught the players different strategies on how to learn it effectively.
So when Matthews was handed a new playbook in Bloomington, he used those same methods to study and learn as quickly as possible.
He said it's completely different than Florida State's but, "when you want to get on the field, you'll learn."
Matthews bring a quickness to his game, something similar to what Indiana fans were used to seeing the last four years with current Minnesota Vikings receiver Whop Philyor.
"I always say I had a quick-twitch," Matthews said. "When I got here, I wanted to get faster, put on more weight and get more explosive."
He's quickly formed a relationship with Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who Matthews admits he was a fan of before coming to Indiana.
D.J. Matthews celebrates with Michael Penix Jr. during Indiana's fall camp on Aug. 20.
Indiana Athletics
But Matthews isn't worried about his own individual stats. He said that when he got to Indiana, he quickly realized how much the LEO culture was real.
It feels like a family in Bloomington, and Matthews has bought into the Hoosiers' goals as a team.
"It's about us getting to the Big Ten championship, getting to the national championship," Matthews said. "I'm going to do whatever I have to for my teammates for us to get to the ultimate goal."
This Saturday marks the first game Matthews will be playing in over a year.
When he took the season off last year, leaving football was never a thought that crossed Matthews' mind.
He went from being a big recruit to having things not play out the way he thought they would. He wondered what he could do to take his mind off things, and the answer was his 1-year-old daughter.
"When I did get there and was able to spend time with her, I was just relaxed," Matthews said. "All the anxiety was gone. It was a feeling I've been searching for since leaving out of high school."
Now Matthews is reset, ready to contribute to the 17th-ranked team in college football heading into the 2021 season.
"I'm very excited," he said. "I've been looking forward to this since I took a break off. We just ready to go out and play football."
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