Awards
3x National Champion
2020-21 MVFC Honor Roll
A longtime contributor with NDSU who has dealt with his fair share of injuries during his time on campus, Zach Mathis had his biggest season to date in 2022 and he is coming back for more.
As a journalism major, do you see yourself being in journalism in the future?
Oh definitely, I even worked at Bison 1660 this past summer.
Do you want to be a writer or are you thinking more about working in radio?
No, I’m not thinking more of radio, it was just something fun to do. I might go back, but I’m thinking about probably being behind the camera more.
Do you know what you want to cover?
Probably sports, football or basketball. I kind of know baseball, but I never played it so I don’t feel like I’m justified to talk about it.
Why did you decide to come back and how long did it take you to make that decision?
It was a pretty quick decision, honestly. Personally, my goal is to go to the NFL, and just after this year, I don’t think what I’ve done is enough. I think I need to have another good year to have a chance. I just need more film and better play for scouts to increase my chances to go there.
What do you think you need to improve on most in those regards?
Separating within the route I think I can do a better job, making more contested catches. I had a couple but not as many as I wanted. Against Incarnate Word, I wish I came down with some of those. Blocking can always be improved so there are a lot of areas I think I could improve. I’m nowhere close to where I want to be yet. But the main focus is probably separation within the route and contested catches, especially with me being 6’ 6,’’ contested catches are important.
I think it is very stupid when football players get labeled as injury prone. It’s one of the most physical sports in the world and I think injuries are more so about luck. However, you have experienced a fair amount of injuries here, with this being more of a full season for you, do you feel like you’re hitting your stride a little bit more?
I did, but at the same time, I didn’t like the groove I found because I definitely found a way to stay healthy, but I wasn’t as physical as I wanted to be because I didn’t want to get hurt doing certain things. But then that kind of went away as the season progressed, and then I started not thinking about that at all. Which definitely helped my play.
Did you have any NFL players that you looked up to when you were growing up?
Derrick Brooks and Mike Alstott coached me on a seven on seven teams. That was pretty cool. I always looked at Hines Ward because I was a big Steelers guy. And then, lately, like when I got to high school, because I didn’t start playing football until high school. I looked up to Keenan Allen’s game and technique for sure. And Christian Watson, he gives me a lot of advice.
What were your emotions after the SDSU game?
The emotions honestly hit more during one of those points toward the end of the game when I looked up and realized we just didn’t have enough time. It was depressing for sure. I just feel like we let so many people down. Whether it’s former players, fans, coaches, that was my main thing, all the people that came to watch, I just feel like we let them down. We lost our FBS game. We lost the rock and the natty to the same team. Honestly, looking back at the whole season, I just feel a lot of disappointment from our team. But personally, I feel like that’s driving this team to come closer together especially in a time right now when people are leaving the program. And honestly, it causes the guys that are still here to come closer together and especially reflect on last season.
What do you think is gonna be the strength of the receiver room coming into this next year?
I just think we can all make explosive plays in our room. I think we’re more explosive than people think. Even going into the national championship, I think people are still thinking we don’t have receivers when it’s not that at all. We have plenty of depth in the receiver room. We have great receivers. I think our strength is looked down upon, but I think going into next season, we’re going to be able to make a lot of explosive plays and I feel like we’re going to be very consistent.
What do you think, as a whole, your team needs to improve to overcome some of those challenges that maybe you fell short on this last year?
We need to get out of our own way. We can’t get behind the sticks on early downs. We can’t hurt ourselves with penalties and turnovers. When you play a good team, especially like the Jacks, you can’t turn the ball over. And both times we played them, we turned the ball over and they out physicaled us up front. We just can’t get out physicaled again because that’s not what Bison football does.
What are you most looking forward to about the season?
Just to improve personally. I want to have a better season than last year and I’m looking forward to see how this team’s gonna respond to all the stuff we’re dealing with this offseason. I’m honestly most excited to see who’s going step up in these spots like the safety position and cornerback position.
