Miami football adds quarterback depth with commitment of Peyton Matocha

The Miami football program received its long-awaited quarterback commit for the Surge ’19 recruiting class on Saturday. Peyton Matocha, from Houston, gives the Hurricanes added depth at a position badly in need of it.

Before Manny Diaz was hired to succeed the retiring Mark Richt last month, the Miami football roster had only three scholarship quarterbacks entering the 2019 season. Only one, Rising Redshirt Sophomore N’Kosi Perry had thrown a pass against an FBS team.

Rising Redshirt Sophomore Cade Weldon and Rising Redshirt Freshman Jarren Williams’ only playing time in their collegiate careers came last season against FCS Savannah State. Savannah State is moving down to Division II beginning with the 2019 season.

Peyton Matocha is a three-star dual-threat quarterback according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. He is the 1,672 ranked player overall, the 38th ranked dual-threat QB and the 223rd ranked player in Texas in the Class of 2019.

According to Christy Chirinos of the Sun-Sentinel “Matocha was the Houston Touchdown Club Private School Co-Offensive Player of the Year” in 2019. Matocha shared the award with Arizona bound QB Grant Gunnell. Gunnell is all-time leading passer in Texas High School history.

In 2019, Matocha threw for 3,697 yards, 35 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He also, according to Chirinos, had 787 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns and even punted for his high school team, averaging 40.5 yards on 24 punts with 10 landing inside the 20-yard line. All of that helped him earn All-State recognition.”

Matocha committed to the Miami football program on Saturday during his official visit to Coral Gables. He posted his commitment on the preferred news source of the era, Twitter.

Matocha becomes the fifth scholarship QB on the Miami football roster. In addition to Perry, Weldon and Williams, the Hurricanes added former Ohio State QB Tate Martell from the NCAA Transfer Portal earlier this month. Martell’s eligibility for 2019 is in question. He will have to petition the NCAA to be able to play this season.

Matocha’s presence on the roster in the immediate future just adds depth. He might see playing time in a blowout as Weldon and Williams did against Savannah State in 2018. In 2019, that would likely be against Bethune-Cookman. He will be a few years away from seriously challenging for a starting spot.

Perry, Wiliams and/or Martell is the future signal caller for Miami. Martell will have three years of eligibility remaining if he is granted a waiver, two if he does not. Perry has three years of playing time left with Miami and Williams has all four after redshirting in 2018.

Matocha’s commitment moves Miami past Kentucky to 32nd in the 2019 247 Sports composite recruiting rankings. Running back Mark-Antony Richards visited Miami this past weekend as well. A commitment from the brother of former Hurricanes wide receiver Ahmmon Richards would be a huge boost to Surge ’19.