TCU transfer Ochaun Mathis details why he chose Nebraska over Texas

TCU defensive end transfer Ochaun Mathis did not take his decision on what school to transfer to lightly and treated it as a “business trip” when he visited both Nebraska and Texas, his top two schools.

Mathis joined HuskerOnline’s Sean Callahan for a one-on-one interview on Husker Chat Live after the defensive end committed to Nebraska on Saturday. He detailed why he chose Nebraska over Texas and the major factors in his decision in his first interview of the portal process.

The Texas native had a list of reasons why he will be wearing red next season but one theme emerged: the fan base.

“Coming to Lincoln, it was more of a business trip,” he said. “Coming out, it was a little bit of uncertainty of knowing what is actually out there besides corn but it just set the high bar for me whenever I came up. I was more than welcome, just the genuinity of the people who are surrounding that area, were showing so much love to me and my family, and, of course, the recruiting staff also showed their love and compassion.”

The 6-foot-5, 260-pound end said while he was walking through the academic area, he said a group of people setting up the red balloons that Husker fans release after the first touchdown.

“There were like senior citizens all over the place just helping out and just seeing that also just brought it to light how dedicated the people around Lincoln are,” he said. “Walking through there, they cheered me on and stuff like that. It made me feel really good inside.”

The top defensive end in the transfer portal said he also paid attention to what and how many Husker fans were commenting on his social media posts.

It also helped that his mother, sister, brother and best friend all loved Nebraska.

In fact, that was the first time Mathis’s family rode on an airplane. He said he was grateful to be able to experience that with them and was able to do that for them.

“They all enjoyed it, they had nothing but good things to say about it, and they treated us like the VIP guests of the whole thing it was really good to have all the eyes on me and my family, and they enjoyed the attention,” he said. “Coming back to the Texas area, they had nothing but great things to say and they just reminisced on it for the next few weeks going on to the Texas visit.”

Another big factor in Mathis’s decision was meeting several former Husker football players including Jason Peter, Rich Glover and Trev Alberts, Nebraska’s athletic director.

“Just having insight on coming to Nebraska itself, they weren’t too pushy,” Mathis said of the former players. “They weren’t doing the recruiting just putting in my face, like the normal recruitment of a normal high schooler. It was more of a business approach and they treated everything like a profession. That’s what I liked the most about it.”

When he met Alberts, the former linebacker pointed out the names etched into Memorial Stadium including Alberts’s. Mathis said he was surprised when Alberts told him to come to Nebraska and break his sack record.

“He laid it out for me and he told me, man to man, that I’m going to change the game and I’m going to come in there and be a true impact on the team and he wants me to beat his sack record,” he said. “That’s one thing that sat with me on the plane ride back.”

Former TCU running back coach Bryan Applewhite, that left the Horned Frogs for Nebraska, was a major factor in Mathis’s decision to pick the Huskers.

“Just having that similar connection in another program, I say, for the most part, would help me a lot just getting and fitting in the shoes or whatnot and just coming in and feeling really good about being there,” Mathis said. “I say for the most part that coach Applewhite had a big impact on me going to that school. He recruited me hard and I trust that man with my heart.”

But Mathis also had a coach he knows very well at Texas, TCU’s former head coach Gary Patterson, who is now a special assistant to Texas’s head coach Steve Sarkisian.

Mathis, who went to high school 15 miles away from Austin, said he felt pressure to pick his hometown school.

“I went there and saw a lot of day-one supporters come into the spring game and almost changed my mind, but I was like, “I can’t just fall back onto the support system,” he said of his Texas visit. “Nebraska, you guys have the most loyal fan base ever. I felt like if anything, it was the equivalent of just the day-one supporters, and I love everything about the Nebraska supporters and the support system itself.”

Before he announced his decision on April 30, Mathis had a three-hour long conversation with someone who knows both programs well, Husker quarterback Casey Thompson, who transferred from Texas.

“He gave me the rundown, he made me feel good about the decision I was looking forward to,” Mathis said. “If anything, if I were looking the other way towards Texas, he would have not had an impact on my decision but along with him just being trustworthy enough to give me the good information and not hiding any shadiness had a great impact on my decision for sure and he did a great job of is laying out everything going from his experience being up there.”

He said Thompson didn’t say anything bad about Texas, he just tried to tell it to him straight.

The reason Mathis waited to commit until the end of April was to see how the Big Ten did in the NFL draft compared to the Big 12, he said.

Mathis has two years of eligibility remaining but hopes to enter the next NFL draft and saw several Big Ten defensive ends get selected.

“I seek for that to be a good part of my decision,” he said. “One thing is just looking forward to that draft next year, I want to be in a good position. The Big Ten has a lot of competition to showcase my talent against big linemen and just having that type of feeling will help me out further along down in my career.”

During his official visit to Nebraska for the Red-White scrimmage on April 9, Mathis and his family sat down with head coach Scott Frost and defensive coordinator Erik Chinander as they detailed what his role will look like as a Husker.

Mathis’s eyes likely light up with excitement.

“They pointed out the things that would have me doing on first and second down, which is of course just running plays most likely, then whenever there’s third down, it’s on and popping,” he said. “They’re just going to have me on the one-on-one with the weakest link of the offense and have me just wreak havoc on the quarterback. That’s one thing that I wanted to do for the longest time is showcase my ability to come off the edge and play like an animal.”