DL Michael Matus returns from injury, advises new group of ASU football players

A year ago Arizona State defensive lineman Michael Matus made his way into the interview room in the student-athlete facility at Sun Devil Stadium with the aid of crutches, having torn an ACL days earlier. It is unusual for a player to address the media about an injury, particularly after sustaining one so severe.

Matus wanted to do so and for about 15 minutes talked about the injury in an eloquent manner. At that time he hadn’t decided whether he would use his extra season of eligibility and return but did talk about staying close to the team and tutoring the younger players while he was on the shelf.

But Matus has indeed returned and looks forward to being a leader for a revamped Sun Devil team which will boast more than 50 new players when it opens the regular season on Aug. 31 against Southern Utah at Sun Devil Stadium.

He was a limited participant in spring drills back in March but was going full throttle when the Sun Devils opened fall camp Monday morning at the Kajikawa practice fields.

“It’s exciting. Now that I look at it, 11 months has gone by like that,” he said, snapping his fingers. “But 11 months ago I was standing in that room over there about to cry my eyes out saying I wasn’t playing again. This is the day I was looking forward to and tell you guys, yeah I’m going to be out there. It’s like a relief.”

“It’s more of a shock to the system now because last year I transitioned into this role of trying to help and coach and stuff like that so now it’s time to put the cleats back on and get back to work.”

Anthonie Cooper (96) and Michael Matus (91) work through drills at Sun Devils football practice at the Kajikawa Practice fields on July 31, 2023, in Tempe.

Matus, a native of Katy, Texas, is the most experienced player on the squad, first arriving as a three-star prospect in 2018 and working his way into a full-time starting role by 2020. He’s on his seventh defensive coordinator, if you count Phil Bennett who first recruited him while on staff under Todd Graham.

Matus has seen his share of defensive line coaches too — four.

He jokes about being the elder statesman of the team, soon turning 24. That’s not that much younger than first-year head coach Kenny Dillingham who just turned 33 and is the youngest head coach at a Power 5 program.

“We were in a leadership (text) chat and he sent us a Pop Warner photo in there and we were all laughing,” Matus said. “I was saying we were probably playing there together.”

The decision to return was not one made hastily. The injury wasn’t the only thing that made the 2022 campaign difficult. There was the departure of Herm Edwards three games into the season, with the reins handed to running backs coach Shaun Aguano on an interim basis.

The team finished with an abysmal 3-9 record, capped off by the first Territorial Cup loss to rival Arizona in six years. It was the worst record since a 3-8 mark in 1994.

In came a new coaching staff, led by Dillingham. After meeting with the new coach and positive interactions with others under Dillingham’s umbrella including new defensive coordinator Brian Ward, the 6-foot-2, 260-pounder made the decision to return.

“I can say yes I wanted to come back but they had to sign off on me and want me back,” Matus said. “I really liked everything he (Dillingham) had to say and I could see the energy he was going to bring and how much he wanted to be here and I knew that was going to be contagious.”

Matus added that the defensive scheme Ward brought with him from Washington State was also a factor. The Sun Devils lost to Ward’s Cougars 28-18 and it was a game Matus remembered quite well even though it was as a spectator.

“Who wouldn’t want to play in that defense,” Matus said. “Eleven guys just flying to the ball. There is nothing scarier for an offense than that. I saw that firsthand last season.”

Matus is providing the same leadership he did last year, embracing the chance to mentor the younger players. The defensive front has some other experienced veterans in Anthonie Cooper, B.J. Green and Michigan State transfer Dashaun Mallory. But there are some promising rookies as well in true freshmen, most notably C.J. Fite and Ashley Williams.

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But no one is more versed in the ins and outs of the program than Matus. He was one of the first people new defensive line coach Vince Amey turned to upon his arrival. He asked about errors of the past as well as what Matus thought was needed moving forward. Amey acknowledges it’s nice to have a respected voice in the locker room that isn’t coming from a coach.

“He (Matus) is going to be able to do whatever he wants in life. He’s a very bright, intelligent dude. My meeting with him when I first got here was probably my best meeting because he filled me in on everything,” Amey said. “He’s very articulate, very smart. He knows the defense already, picks things up quick. The guys respect him and look up to him. It helps to have that voice in a locker room that isn’t a coach.”

Matus says being relegated to a coach while injured helped him see the game from a new perspective.

“Coaches have an extremely hard job. I don’t want to be a coach,” he laughed. “What I learned is the appreciation for how everything collectively has to work. Everything from safeties, corners, linebackers D-Line. Anything you learn about offense too. Schemes. When you’re on the field it’s really hard to see the bigger picture. And when you’re sitting on the sideline and you’re watching you see how much of a chess match is it. And what pieces go where. And how do I combat this? How do I scheme against that? That’s honestly what I learned. You’re just one piece in the puzzle trying to accomplish the end goal.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State football’s Michael Matus makes return from knee injury