Kicker Mathis not a mystery anymore

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Tennessee's Devin Mathis kicks a field goal against Vanderbilt on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009 at Neyland Stadium.

There was a mystery man wearing No. 93 on his Tennessee jersey during the Vols' 31-16 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.

He ran onto the field after UT's first touchdown and booted the point-after-touchdown kick. He surely wasn't the Vols' other No. 93, 6-foot-4, 312-pound freshman defensive tackle Montori Hughes.

This No. 93, Devin Mathis, is 5-foot-10, 180 pounds. He wasn't listed on UT's game-day roster, but was on the UT football Web site's roster.

Mathis was 4-of-4 on PAT kicks against Vanderbilt and kicked a 25-yard field goal.

UT coach Lane Kiffin had a good one-liner when asked about Mathis after the game.

"That's the kicker, right?" Kiffin said. "You almost had me for a second."

Mathis' whereabouts these past few weeks are still somewhat a mystery. Mathis first said he approached UT's coaching staff after the Oct. 24 Alabama game, then said it was before last week's game at Ole Miss.

"A few weeks ago we saw there was a need for a kicker," Mathis said. "There was an opening and I'd been here before so I thought maybe I'd see if I could take another crack at it and I went for it again."

Kiffin said: "He was with us at one point, and then I don't know. We didn't see him for a while. I really don't know what happened. You can ask Eddie Gran (special teams coordinator). We hadn't seen him and all of a sudden last week we saw him and he practiced last week and the guy started kicking the ball.

"And then, that was two weeks ago, I said, 'Eddie, this guy is kicking the ball.' I guess he wasn't eligible yet. I don't know what the ruling was. We thought about playing him two weeks ago and I don't think he was eligible yet. Something happened and he was eligible this week so we rolled him out there and he kicked it."

Mathis was an all-state soccer player for Chattanooga Baylor in 2006. He was redshirted at UT in 2006 and was on the practice squad the past two years. He kicked a field goal in a UT spring game.

After spending the 2009 spring semester in Mexico learning to speak Spanish fluently - one of his double majors is Spanish - Mathis returned to the U.S. this past summer and got ready for school.

"I just played soccer in a couple of leagues and just tried to be a normal student for the fall," he said.

Mathis got the start in place of the two place-kickers listed on UT's depth chart: juniors Daniel Lincoln and Chad Cunningham.

Lincoln, the starter, has been bothered by a quadriceps injury - and a case of blocked kicks (three of them). Lincoln had two kicks blocked at Alabama - including the potential game-winner - and had another attempt blocked last week at Ole Miss.

Cunningham, who got the start for Lincoln against South Carolina, had a field-goal attempt blocked in that game.

"We looked at it during practice, during the week," Kiffin said, "and Mathis was kicking the ball high and the ball was getting up and he was doing great and it kind of went all the way till this morning (whether Mathis would kick).

"Eddie (Gran) did a great job. He kept coming to me saying, 'I tell you, this guy is kicking the ball well, we should let him go.' I said, 'Has this guy ever kicked in college?' and he said no, he's never kicked anywhere."

Mathis learned Saturday afternoon he would get the start.

"I was blown away," Mathis said. "That's what I wanted the last few years and I didn't think I'd get it. This is a new coaching staff looking to give a walk-on a look. I'm just really grateful."

Dave Link is a freelance contributor.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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