Bayron Matos’ Journey Stretches From Dominican Baseball Fields To The Gridiron At USF

When asked what he likes most about football, Bayron Matos laughed and said, “I like that you can hit someone.”

That was not the case with the sports he previously played. Basketball is a physical game, but Matos was not able to drill opposing players on the hardwood. Though he was mowing down opposing batters with a lively fastball as a teenager, baseball was a little too slow for his liking.

As a football player at the University of South Florida? Well, he is free to unleash his 6-foot-9, 290-pound frame on opposing linemen and ball carriers while learning a game that he had never played before.

“I am grateful for the opportunity coach Scott gave me to be on the team,” he said, referring to Jeff Scott, who welcomed Matos to the gridiron in the spring. “I have not played football before, so every day that goes by I learn something new. Every day is about learning and getting better, which is exciting.”

The native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic was quite a pitcher as a teenager. Matos had a low-90s fastball to go with effective breaking pitches and a changeup. He played against Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco, and he credits the brother of Rays outfielder Manuel Margot for teaching him the game.

Baseball, though, was not a sport he wanted to pursue.

“Everybody used to see me as a baseball player except myself,” he said. “I never saw myself as a baseball player.”

Basketball was more his speed. It was also a sport Matos played in the Dominican, and which led him to the U.S. in early 2018 to play hoops and complete his high school career at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy in Chattanooga.

The move from the Dominican to Tennessee was a life-altering experience for a young man who did not know a word of English and relied on Google to translate menu items while waiting in line at Chick-fil-A, which was an instant favorite of his. Thanks to Matos’ host family, he was able to learn the language, and most everything else, about his new country.

“It was the best two years of my life,” he said, and not just because he led Tennessee high school players in rebounding and helped lead HHCA to a national title. “I love my host family and I love my high school coach. My host family and my coach taught me so much. The person I am today, somebody who likes to laugh and is a good person to be around, is because of them.”

The personable Matos, whose smile mirrors the energy he brings to each and every practice, had offers from, among others, Florida, Auburn and Dayton before committing to Mississippi State in the fall of 2018. In the summer of 2019, he decommitted and ultimately wound up in New Mexico playing for Paul Weir. Following the 2020-21 season, in which he started 15 games, averaged 6.0 points and 4.1 rebounds as a redshirt freshman, Weir was out and Matos was in the transfer portal. Seton Hall, St. John’s and others came calling, but Matos was on his way to Tampa to play for Brian Gregory at USF.

“I felt like it was home,” Matos said of USF, noting the climate and Tampa’s Hispanic communities. Also, it is only a two-hour flight to the Dominican from Tampa International.

Before long, Matos would be on the move again, though without having to relocate. After averaging 11 minutes, 1.6 points and 2.7 rebound in 28 games for Gregory’s Bulls last season, Matos walked across the street from the Yuengling Center, USF’s home arena, to the football offices in the Selmon Athletic Center to tell Scott that he wanted to play for his team.

After Scott made sure everything was good with Gregory, Matos put on the pads and helmet for the first time and participated in spring drills.

“I think he thought he would just go out there and start playing,” said Gregory. “I told him that there are a lot of differences between the sports. To coach Scott’s credit, and his program’s credit, they welcomed him with open arms. He has all the athletic traits that you would want for a defensive lineman. He has great size, great speed, great strength. He just needs to learn the game.”

Scott was not sure if Matos was fully committed to doing just that. However, his new player quickly demonstrated that he was.

“Guys that come over from another sport, do they really want to do it, or do they think they want to do it?” said Scott. “Bayron has a desire and a drive that he wants to be great. There is also a lot to learn, and he is getting better. With his size, ability and want-to, it’s going to come.”

It is because of his size that Matos has been utilized on special teams, in both protection and as a threat to block kicks. He has also been lining up at defensive tackle.

“I am 6-9, close to 300 pounds and can jump,” said Matos, the first member of his family to attend college. “Wherever they need me, I am here for the team. I have four years to play, to learn, to understand the game. I take it day by day.”

Indeed, the criminology and communications major has four years of eligibility. As he noted, first things first. He is absorbing all that he can in the hope of potentially becoming a force on the Bulls’ defense and specialty units.

“Some people doubt my ability to actually play football,” he said. “Why? Because I have never played before. I have the work ethic and I want to learn. I want to learn all the details and I want to get better and better. There is stuff in life you can control, and there is stuff you cannot control. What you can control is your work ethic.”

Scott joked that, because of his size, Matos will be the first player off the bus when it stops adjacent to the stadium on game days.

“He is probably the best-looking player on the team,” the coach said. “He is the guy that is going to get off the bus first, for sure.”

All of this seems rather remarkable for a young man who has never played a down of football and as recently as a few years ago needed Google to help him order a chicken sandwich. Things that are consistent to the average American lifestyle were things that Matos could only experience through television and movies. For example, a Christmas tree and presents beneath it? He knew about the holiday, but did not experience it until he arrived in the States.

“If I was told that as a 16- or 17-year-old kid in Santo Domingo that I would be here right now?” he asked. “No. Everything about myself was in the movies. Christmas? Football games? That’s only in the movies. Now I am living it for real. I have an opportunity to do what I was dreaming about and seeing these things in the movies when I was a kid. I never take anything for granted and I have to take advantage of the opportunities I have.”

There is another dream that Matos hopes comes true. While he returns to see his family in the Dominican, neither of his family members have visas permitting them to travel. Though his host parents, as he likes to call them, will travel from Tennessee to be at USF’s season opener Saturday afternoon against visiting BYU, he would love nothing more than for his biological family to see him play in person for the Bulls.

“That would be my dream come true,” he said. “Oh, man. To have my mom here, my grandmom and my brothers watch me, I would give everything for that.”