Central High Grad Declares For NFL Draft

By Kirsten J. Barnes

For Devonte’ Mathews, playing football is second nature.

“I started playing football when I was four or five years old,” said Mathews, who was a member of the 2019 Central High School 7A State Championship team during his senior year. “I really liked the contact and the physicality.”

Over the years, he’s played on the offensive and defensive side of the ball; and during his college career, he played defensive back and safety.

Having attended three colleges, graduating with one degree and working on a second, Mathews has declared for the NFL draft. Since declaring, Mathews completely has been focused on training.

“This is the dream I had playing as a little kid,” he said. “Football really took my heart, but declaring for the draft is a dream come true.”

He has an agent and has been training in Daytona, Fla.

“All I’m thinking about is training and showing the scouts what I can do,” he said.

He credits God, his family, and Central for preparing him for this moment.

“Central really prepares you for life and the next level, which is college,” he said. “Central is all about hard work and they build you up as a leader and as a man. Central prepares you for life on and off the field.”

After high school, Mathews spent his next three years at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Ga.

“I was a small two-star coming out of high school at 5’9” 165 pounds and West Georgia was my only offer,” Mathews said. “That’s the school that wanted me and that’s the school that was going to get my all.”

Mathews’ father, Johnny Mathews, said his son has been a self-starter since he was a child.

“When he was little, he wanted to lift weights, but I wouldn’t let him, so he started doing 100 pushups a day,” said Johnny Mathews. “I wouldn’t let him lift weights until he got to high school. By then he was doing 1,000 pushups a day.”

After his third year in West Georgia, his older brother Devin, convinced him to enter the transfer portal.

“He pushed me and felt that I had more potential. So, I decided to hit the portal,” Mathews said.

This time he was picked up by Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La.

“Being in Louisianan was a very different experience, but it was a great school. It opened my eyes up to things outside of football,” said Mathews, who was named Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week while there.

Devin Mathews said he encouraged his brother because he knew he could play at a higher level.

“When he was in high school, I first noticed his potential,” said Devin Mathew who is almost two years older than his brother. “I would come down to his games when I was in college.”

At the time, that meant driving from Florence, Ky., where he was attending The University of the Cumberlands.

“During his 2021 season at West Georgia, I saw his ability. So, I told him you might want to start looking at the portal, but he wasn’t comfortable enough and I didn’t want to push him too much because he was still young, and it was his first year really playing,” said Devin Mathews, who is competing his chiropractic degree at Palmer College of Chiropractic. “So, after he went back for the next season, I told him you got to go. You can’t keep holding yourself back and he listened, and he entered the portal, and it turned out good.”

After a year at Nicholls, he graduated with a degree in health science and then entered the portal again. This time he landed at Western Kentucky University, where he began working on a master’s degree in sports management.

“At Western Kentucky I became more of a leader as Central had instilled in me. I had more friends and brothers on the team who were coming together to do something special,” said Mathews.

His parents are excited about the prospects of attending professional games to support their son.

“We haven’t missed a game since he was four,” said his mother, Patricia Mathews. “He finds us every game.”