Up Close & Personal: Gross-Matos inspired by brother's memory
It was with a pair of 5s on his chest–jersey No. 55 – that Yetur Gross-Matos wreaked havoc on opponents, finishing with a school-record 18.5 sacks as a senior at Chancellor High to become one of Virginia’s most feared pass rushers.
His younger siblings wear No. 5, too, or some variation thereof, in their youth sports. For the Gross-Matos family, the number has a special significance. It calls attention to a person they’ll always remember and a day they’ll never forget.
Yetur was only 10 years old. His older brother, Chelal, was 12, and they were on the same Little League baseball team. Chelal was the one who wore No. 5 in those days, and Yetur admired almost everything he did.
But the clouds moved in fast that day, and the game was forced into a weather delay. As the skies began to open up, Yetur made his way toward a vehicle. Chelal stood along the field.
“It started to rain a little bit, so I was getting into the car,” Gross-Matos recalls more than eight years later. “Then I just felt this loud shake. My brother had been struck by lightning and he died on impact. That was his number. His number was 5, so ever since that day I’ve always worn 5.”
He honors his big brother with more than just his jersey. Gross-Matos has a tattoo in Chelal’s memory on his arm, and his bedroom is “like a museum,” he said. But it’s the number that connects those memories with the present day.
“The number for me is kind of like motivation,” he said. “Every time something doesn’t work out or there is adversity, the number always reminds me to keep going and to keep my head up.”
On his basketball team, Gross-Matos also wears No. 5, and his varsity coach often sees a motivated brand of play on the court. He calls the 6-foot-5, 243-pound Gross-Matos an “old-school ’80s type of basketball player” whose best attributes are carryovers from the football field – shot blocking, screen setting and an eagerness to lay out across the hardwood for a loose ball.
His hoops coach is also his father, Rob Matos, and like Yetur, he knows the family tragedy so well that without a word being spoken he understands how it drives his son.
“[Chelal] is on his mind. That’s who he’s playing for, and he’s trying to make him proud,”Rob Matos said.“They were very close. Although he was the larger child, he always looked up to his big brother.”
In the years since Chelal’s passing, Gross-Matos has drawn upon his experiences and forged ahead in the name of his brother to become one of the most sought-after football recruits in the country.
When it came time to select a college, he chose Penn State over Clemson, Tennessee and Virginia Tech. Alabama also offered a scholarship following his commitment, but he passed up the chance to play for the Crimson Tide.
After announcing for PSU, Gross-Matos intensified his approach to football workouts. Through his junior season, he had relied upon his natural athletic ability, his lanky size and his inherent desire. Late in his junior year, however, he began football-specific drills during the off-season.
Training four days a week, he focused on an explosive weight regimen, speed exercises and hand and footwork technique specific to defensive linemen.
By the time his senior season began for Chancellor, it was a whole new player who took the field. He went on to set the school’s career and season records for sacks, while also registering 130 tackles and 21 tackles for loss. Matos was named his conference’s Defensive Player of the Year and shared its Player of the Year honor. He also soared more than 100 spots in the recruiting rankings and finished as a Rivals250 prospect.
“The difference was absolutely phenomenal,” his father said. “You saw it in everything he did on the football field. Despite the gaudy numbers, it was often against double- and triple-teams. He was still putting up big sack numbers and still put up the big tackle numbers. Basically offenses were planning on how to run away from him. He really learned to use his hands and became violent with his hands, and his pursuit to the football improved tremendously. ... It was just pretty hard to [block] him.”
With both of last season’s starters moving on, Penn State has vacancies at defensive end. Gross-Matos wasn’t promised anything, but with the Nittany Lions often rotating six or more players throughout a game, it’s possible that he could play a role as a true freshman.
Defensive line coach Sean Spencer made that clear throughout his recruitment.
“He plays a lot of guys on that defensive line,” Gross-Matos said. “He made it a point when he was recruiting me that he wasn’t recruiting me to wait it out a year. He wanted me to come in with the mindset that I should be able to compete.”
As his Penn State career approaches, Gross-Matos is taking that advice to heart, and he intends to maintain his steadfast approach with or without his favorite jersey number.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to get the number that I wish for,” he said. “It’s not looking like it.”
No. 55 is already taken by defensive tackle Antonio Shelton, and No. 5, which is open on the defensive side of the ball after the graduation of Nyeem Wartman-White, will be selected based on seniority.