ATHENS — D’Wan Mathis has touched down at Temple, leaving the Georgia transfer portal behind to continue his career with the Owls.
Mathis issued a release on his Twitter account on Monday:
Mathis, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound redshirt freshman this season, has four years of eligibility remaining.
The former Oak Park (Mich.) High School star has appeared in four games this season completing 12 of 30 passes for 89 yards with a touchdown and 3 interceptions.
Mathis has also been credited with 60 yards rushing, but losses on sacks have reduced the number to a cumulative 17 yards on 18 attempts, with lost yardage as a result of errant snaps factored in.
The Owls, members of the American Athletic Conference, went 1-6 this season, closing the 2020 campaign with a 28-3 loss to East Carolina on Nov. 21. Temple ranks 103rd in the nation in total offense.
Mathis will likely compete with fellow dual-threat Re-al Mitchell, a former player featured on the QB1 Netflix Series who transferred from Iowa State to Temple last summer.
Temple, led by second-year head coach Rod Carey, also has redshirt sophomore Trad Beatty, a 6-5, 220-pounder from Columbia, S.C., and Mariano Valenti, a 6-1, 210 transfer from Northern Illinois.
It’s the next stop of many already for Mathis, who had a busy recruiting path in addition to having to overcome emergency brain surgery in May of 2019.
Mathis ended up at UGA two years ago when he flipped from Ohio State to Georgia on the December early signing day in 2018 after learning the Buckeyes were recruiting UGA Justin Fields out of the transfer portal.
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Prior to Ohio State, Mathis was committed to Iowa State and Michigan State.
Mathis enrolled early in 2019 and had a strong spring session before a severe headache triggered a trip to the emergency room. Mathis underwent emergency brain surgery and was limited in practice for a year before being cleared last May.
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Mathis started the 2020 season-opening game at Arkansas but was replaced after failing to lead the team to a touchdown on the first six series of the game. Redshirt junior Stetson Bennett assumed starting duties and Mathis’ playing time was limited until Bennett suffered a shoulder injury in the first quarter of a 44-28 loss to Florida.
Mathis came on in relief of Bennett in the third quarter with Georgia down 41-21 but was unable to rally the team to a win.
Smart said two weeks ago when Mathis’ pending transfer was announced that he believes the former Bulldog has a great future.
“We want him to stay here,” Smart said. “We’re going to help him every way we can with the transition, and we think he’s got a bright future.”
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Georgia, in need of roster space with an early signing class of 14-20 expected on Wednesday, has three other players in the transfer portal.
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More details as they develop
