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Matthews’ hustle play sparks USC
Back at defensive tackle, the former Cheraw star is showing the benefits of his nonstop motor
Defensive end Cliff Matthews, who has earned praise from USC coaches for his hustle, stretches during practice Wednesday.
Lindsay Semple/lsemple@thestate.com
CommentsEverybody has a friend who is not shy about throwing his arm around your shoulder and squeezing his way into a picture.
Cliff Matthews is that guy on South Carolina’s defense. When Gamecock coaches review practice tapes, they invariably find Matthews sprinting into the frame — regardless of whether the play was run toward the sophomore defensive end or to the other side of the field.
After watching enough hustle plays involving Matthews, the coaches decided to give the Cheraw native a nickname: The Exposer.
“Because he exposes everybody else’s lack of effort,” USC defensive line coach Brad Lawing said. “He’s running by people that he shouldn’t be able to run by.”
Fans generally have a soft spot for players who go all-out, be it baseball players who run out every ground ball or football players who keep their legs churning and lower their shoulder pads into an opponent rather than step out of bounds.
But Matthews shrugs off talk about his refusal to take plays off.
“Coach always preaches in practice, go full speed every play. That’s what I try to do,” Matthews said. “Occasionally, you’re going to get tired. But most of the time you’ve got to suck it up and play.”
Matthews is back playing his natural position after he moved in the spring from outside linebacker, where he started nine games as a freshman. Matthews had a solid season at linebacker, collecting 26 tackles and earning a spot on the SEC’s all-freshman team.
But he was stoked when he learned he was returning to end, the position where he made his mark as an all-state player while leading the Cheraw Braves to the Class 2A title his senior year.
“Defensive end is pretty much my thing,” said Matthews, who was rated among the top 10 ends in the country at Cheraw. “I’ve been playing it all my life.”
“That’s where he needs to be,” Lawing said. “Last year we were having to plug people in to try to plug some holes. We’ve got guys that are a year older. We’ve got more of them, more depth. It just works out better as far as being able to have him at end.”
After swapping positions with Eric Norwood, the 6-foot-4, 255-pound Matthews added 10 pounds in the offseason while keeping his body fat at a lean 9 percent. Though Matthews will be giving up 50 pounds to a few SEC offensive tackles, he hopes his quickness will level the playing field.
“Confidence-wise, I feel I can get past them with speed,” Matthews said. “But it’s not all the time (about) speed. You’ve got to use a move or something to get past (blockers).”
While Matthews works to develop a bull rush to complement his speed on the edge, coaches do not have to worry about Matthews playing hard.
“Cliff is a guy that has tremendous ability,” Lawing said. “He’s got great quicks, great ability and he’s got the big-time motor, which you don’t always get in the total package.”
Added Spurrier: “If we can get all 11 going like Cliff Matthews, I really think our defense will be much, much improved.”
As for The Exposer, Matthews doesn’t see why people are making such a fuss about something that is second nature to him.
“You gotta play hard,” he said.
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