Wide receiver Michael Mathison from Newton High School in Covington, Georgia, is the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football program's second commitment for 2019. He committed Saturday.
The 5-foot-10, 175-pounder chose the Mocs over scholarship offers from fellow Football Championship Subdivision programs Morgan State, Seton Hall, Albany State and Southern Illinois and one from Division II member Virginia-Wise.
He had 37 catches for 417 yards and four touchdowns as a slot receiver for Newton in 2017. He had a 71-yard reception in the first game of the season against Drew.
Mathison jumped on the recruiting scene in the team's May spring game against Salem. He had two touchdowns, a two-point-conversion reception and a one-handed interception in the game. He had another touchdown and a second interception negated by teammates' penalties.
On one of his TDs, he caught a short pass and turned what looked like a lost-yardage play into a 65-yard score.
"After the spring game, I started to get a lot more recruiting attention from different schools and stuff," he told the Rockdale-Newton Citizen in a story published June 1. "I always knew that I was capable of making those big plays. That's just really the first in-game situation that I've performed at that level."
The Mocs have four senior receivers on the 2018 roster: Dejuan McQuarters, Bingo Morton, Joseph Parker and Wil Young.
Mathison joins Thomasville (Georgia) defensive back Karey Lee as UTC commitments for the 2019 recruiting class.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.