Zahir Mathis developing into impact piece as a freshman in Maryland football's defense

Chase King
2 hours ago
4 min read

Maryland’s 2025 class was expected to become an integral piece to the identity of head coach Mike Locksley’s team in year seven, but several benefited from arriving on campus early. QB Malik Washington leaned on a strong spring to position himself as the next starting quarterback, while OLB Sidney Stewart capitalized on the early reps to make his case as a starter. While nearly half the class had reps to lean on heading into fall camp, true freshman DE Zahir Mathis had to begin picking up the pieces to kickstart his college career during fall camp.

That would only fuel the former four-star out of Imhotep Charter School in Philadelphia, where associate head coach, Cyril Woodland, described Mathis as “a super athletic kid that had all the attributes to be a high-level guy.”

Woodland also gave praise to Zahir Mathis as a person. “He’s a very hard worker, very coachable, and very smart kid,” he added

Mathis was ranked as a consensus top-200 player in the class of 2025 and a top-five recruit in the state of Pennsylvania. How he ended up at Maryland was in part due to the opportunities to come in and have an early impact, along with “being local and still playing at a high level,” Woodland, who helped Mathis close his recruitment, told IBG.

Another reason that influenced Mathis’s decision was his familiarity with freshman QB Malik Washington, who played a role in Mathis’s recruitment, both online and in person. Mathis spoke on the experience of getting to play with Washington in the Under Armour All-American game, saying, “Malik and I, we actually were teammates in eighth grade, so we’ve been friends for a pretty long time…and to talk about what's the next step, the next journey for myself and him, and being able to come to the same school and achieve the same goal.”

Florida State was the lone school that hosted Mathis in the weeks leading up to his decision while Penn State and Ohio State lurked in the background, but quietly, the Terps had the buzz as the team to beat through the month of January to set up the signing day surprise.

Mathis chose the Terrapins on February 5^th, noting, "[Maryland] stood out to me the most because, for my next chapter, I have to be uncomfortable to be great." He would arrive on campus in June, and since then, he has worked closely with defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino.

“I love working under coach Ted, he’s pretty unique, he’s real inspiring, he does big things for me, and it's just amazing on how he works with us in the room, and establishes us to be physical on the field,” Mathis said about playing under Monachino.

Monachino has also helped Mathis make a change from a “hand-down edge-rusher” to where he plays now, as an outside linebacker, as he lines up further on the edge of Maryland's flexible defensive alignments.

Head coach Mike Locksley also gave praise to the type of player and person Mathis was after noting, “this kid is like talking to a grown man when you meet him […] he really understands and knows what he wants and what he needs to do to get it."

From the beginning of the season, Mathis has been a big part of the defense as a freshman. In his two games, he has played the third most snaps on the defensive line, only behind fellow freshman edge rusher Sidney Stewart and grad student defensive end Cam Rice.

He has been productive in his role as well, being second on the team, behind only Stewart, in both pressures and sacks. Mathis has 7 pressures and 1.5 sacks on the year, one of those coming on a fourth down in his debut against FAU.

Mathis has been the most successful pass rusher on the Terps' defensive line in terms of pass rush win rate, boasting an impressive 16.3% win rate, according to PFF.

When asked whether or not he expected to have such a load as a freshman, Mathis said, “I didn’t really expect anything, I didn’t have any high standards, any low standards, I just kept my head down, [and] come in and play football. I’ve been doing this my whole life.”

Locksley added more detail on what makes Mathis so special and important as a freshman, “If you look at his body type, compared to maybe how we’ve had to recruit and develop body types like that. To get a guy who comes in with that body type as a freshman is a big get for us, and he’s played well.”

Mathis is listed at 6-foot-6, 222 pounds with a 6-foot-10 wingspan, and along with that, he has a rare blend of speed and athleticism. He is most effective when he is using his long arms to create space between him and his blocker, giving him space to put pressure on the quarterback.

For Mathis, he isn’t too worried about his workload as a freshman. When he was asked about whether he felt pressured, Mathis noted “you understand what you signed up for.”

“You came here to play, you came here to be great, and [...] you know the standard of the team, and if you respect and love and cherish your teammates as your brother’s keeper, you’ll continue to be effortless and create responsibilities for your brothers and yourselves to win a championship.”

Mathis and his fellow true-freshman edge rusher Sidney Stewart have grown very close in their time at Maryland. After their debut Stewart shared his reaction to their two game changing plays and said, “I damn near cried, honestly, it's better to see somebody else because, when you do it yourself, you’re kinda just so passionate that you don’t even know how to react, plus Zahir’s my guy, I mean, we're both Muslim, so you saw us praying before the game and stuff.”

While it may come as a surprise for some that Mathis has been able to make such an impact on the team as a freshman, it doesn’t come as a surprise to his Woodland.

“That was something that we expected from the work he put in. We just knew once he got on that stage, the world will see it.”

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