FR's Mattraw signs to play at Toledo

Mark Mattraw will be making the jump from the strongest small-school conference in Ohio to playing Division I football.

The Fort Recovery High School senior signed his national letter of intent Friday to play football at the University of Toledo.

"A Division I school, that's definitely a great opportunity," said Mattraw, who was also considering several Division II and III schools including Ashland, Bluffton and Tiffin. "To be able to play there, you're playing with the best of the best. That's the main reason (I chose Toledo)."

He will try to make Fort Recovery football history - the program started with a partial schedule in 1992 - becoming the first to play at a Division I school. Others from the Midwest Athletic Conference who have signed with D-I schools this year include Coldwater's Adam Homan and Tony Harlamert (both Ohio State), Keith Wenning (Ball State) and Eric Lefeld (Cincinnati) and Marion Local's Luke Bertke (Princeton).

Mattraw, a 6-foot-4-inch, 240-pounder, heads to Toledo with "preferred walk-on" status. He will have a place on the team with the chance to become a scholarship athlete if he makes top two on the depth chart.

"Mark made a choice pretty early in his high school career that he wanted to play college ball," said FRHS coach Brent Niekamp. "So then he set out to do that."

Niekamp, who played his college ball at Tri-State (now Trine) University, noted that Mattraw prepared himself with hard work and making himself known by attending a lot of camps and applying to a variety of schools.

"He did all the leg work kind of stuff that you might not necessarily think about to become a college athlete," he added. "He put himself in the right position to get this kind of opportunity.

"He's a good kid. I'm real happy for him. He's real coach-able ... He's worked real hard and he deserves this.

"I'm excited for him."

Mattraw was a four-year varsity player for the Indians, playing on the offensive and defensive lines. He also served as a kicker, and sometimes punter, and was part of one of the best season's in school history as a junior when the Tribe won four MAC games.

He played left tackle on offense, protecting quarterback Greg Kahlig's blind side, for a team that racked up more than 3,000 yards of total offense, including 2,320 yards through the air.

On defense, he totaled 20 tackles in his senior season and had one fumble recovery.

"He's a real gifted athlete, because he's such a big guy that moves so well," said Niekamp of Mattraw, who will play on the offensive line at Toledo. "As a lineman for us, he was tremendous. ... There's a lot of athletic ... really good defensive ends in our league who had trouble getting past Mark."

Toledo finished 5-7 overall last season and fourth in the Mid-American Conference's West Division at 3-5.

In addition to the chance to play Division I football, Mattraw said he was attracted to the school's setting. Located in downtown Toledo (population 293,000), the university has more than 20,000 undergraduate students.

Fort Recovery's population is 1,332.

"I like the campus," said Mattraw. "It's big, kind of in the city. It's different than what I'm used to and that's what I was looking for."[[In-content Ad]]