A former West Virginia Mountaineer football player is returning to the state of West Virginia to continue his college football career. But he is not returning to WVU -- instead choosing to head the program's rival Marshall University.
Running back Tony Mathis Jr. spent four seasons with WVU (2019-2022) before jumping into the transfer portal and finding a new home -- he only used two seasons of eligibility, however, and two of those seasons were the COVID year and a redshirt year. The former Mountaineer found himself at Houston for two seasons (2023-2024) but was able to use a medical redshirt last year after missing the season with injury.
Now, Mathis returns to The Mountain State for college football. He announced on his personal X account on Wednesday that he has committed to Marshall.
COMMITTED. THANK YOU GOD. Appreciate Coach McDowell & Coach Tony Gibson ! 💚 #Herd ! pic.twitter.com/odNJLtr1tG
— Tony Mathis jr (@_tmathiss24) May 7, 2025
Across 30 games at WVU, Mathis Jr. racked up 943 rush yards and managed to find the end zone six times in the old-gold-and-blue. Playing in 10 games at Houston in 2023, Mathis Jr. only managed to secure 170 yards on the ground with 41 carries.
Marshall grabs another former Mountaineer football player
WVU’s in-state rival, led by Tony Gibson, has already swooped four players away from the Mountaineers this offseason. The latest name was defensive back Sammy Etienne, who committed to Marshall just last week.
Gibson, the former Mountaineer defensive coordinator-turned-Marshall head coach, is not shy about going after former WVU players. However, Mathis Jr. and Gibson did not have any overlap inside the program in Morgantown together -- Mathis Jr. began his career in 2019 while Gibson’s last year with WVU was in 2018.
In his last year at WVU. Mathis Jr. had the best year of his career. Rushing for 513 yards --over half of his total career rushing yards -- the running back also found the end zone five times that season. This was impressive for the Orlando, Florida, native as Mountaineer fans saw the budding emergence of running back CJ Donaldson that season. Donaldson cut into Mathis Jr’s workload with 87 total carries.
Mathis Jr. will get some meaningful snaps in his last year of eligibility with the Thundering Herd. Mathis and company will begin their season against the Georgia Bulldogs on August 30.