Tray Matthews already a big hit in Auburn secondary

AUBURN – The location and jersey have changed for Tray Matthews, but he is still the same bruising safety as two years ago.

After sitting out in the fall after transferring from Georgia, Matthews is making his mark, literally and figuratively, this spring while laying the lumber in the Auburn secondary.

His nickname, "trigga," is quite fitting given the tenacity of the 6-foot-1, 192-pound Matthews.

"He runs to the ball with bad intentions," cornerback Josh Holsey said.

A third-year sophomore, Matthews had 36 tackles, one interception and a forced fumble during his true freshman season in 2013.

Dismissed from Georgia last year for his role in a check cashing scheme with several other players, Matthews had a lot to prove once he arrived at Auburn.

He admits to being "very immature" while in Athens, where he also reportedly had issues with acting out in class.

"In life, you make a mistake, you learn from it," Matthews said. "You move on."

Matthews is trying to make better use of this opportunity.

On the field, he made a great early impression on defensive coordinator Will Muschamp with his performance in bowl practice and in the meeting room.

"Tray's a very physical player; I saw that in bowl practice," Muschamp said. "Enjoys contact. Football's important to him; he really enjoys the game. He's constantly in the building watching film, asking questions.

"An instinctive player that's played a lot of football for a young player. And a guy that obviously has made some mistakes, learned from his mistake and moved on from those. But I've been pleased with his maturity level."

Matthews also had to take some initial ribbing from his new teammates for his role in the Prayer at Jordan-Hare, which he says is no longer an issue. It's not as though he can forget the play, as pictures of Ricardo Louis' catch are all over the Auburn athletics complex.

"I'm not even in the pictures," Matthews said. "I don't know how they cropped me out the pictures, it's just Josh (Harvey-Clemons)."

The safeties are rotating at boundary and field so far in the spring and both Matthews and Johnathan Ford are considered strong in coverage.

"Half the time I'm in the box and half the time I'm middle field and sometimes I'll be playing one-on-one with a receiver," Matthews said. "Of course, I still got a lot of things to work on, but Muschamp and (defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson) and (defensive analyst Blake) Gideon, they're polishing my craft, so I feel like I'm going to do very well this season and excel in this defense."

Matthews calls Ford, a converted running back, one of the fastest safeties he's ever seen. Together, they form an interchangeable duo of speed and power that could have a lot of opposing wide receivers hearing footsteps on routes over the middle of the field.

"He's going to be a great player, playing alongside of him," Ford said. "He's going to help us out a whole lot."