Senior Matt Page is not one for platitudes, but when he made the improbable transition from second string quarterback to star tight end of the Washington University Bears, he had to answer some of those soft questions.
Why did you decide to switch positions?
“I just wanted to get out onto the field.”
Was the switch hard?
“I knew I could catch the football. I knew I’d be okay playing.”
Every answer is direct and full of quiet confidence. He likes to plays down the significance of his transition. In fact, the only time he draws attention to himself is when he’s laying down a teeth-rattling hit or a contested catch in the middle of the field. And even after that he barely celebrates—only a high five or two before sticking his hand in the dirt for the next play.
Clik here to view.
Stephen Huber | Student LifeTight end and senior Matt Page tracks down a pass in the Bears’ 39-28 loss to Centre College. Page, who switched from quarterback to tight end, is coming off 150 yards with two touchdowns in the Bears’ win to Carnegie Mellon University.
“He’s very much a team player—‘put me where you need to put me’,” head coach Larry Kindbom said. “And if he didn’t have that attitude, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
The attitude is what kept him working at quarterback for three years even when he only saw sporadic reps in garbage time. It’s what kept him committed as a sophomore, when he had surgery on his throwing hand. It’s what brought him to offensive coordinator Scott Mueller’s office at the end of last season, when he knew the team was about to graduate two starting tight ends.
From an athletic standpoint, the change made sense.
“He’s 6’5,’’ 230-235 pounds—so he’s a big guy, he’s physical, he can run,” Mueller said. “Prior to the transition position-wise, he’s also someone that could stand on the 30- or 35-yard line and throw it to the opposite goal line. So he’s always been a very talented athlete and just trying to find a way to get him on the field at the same time as our other guys has kind of been the thing.”
At the line of scrimmage, he towers over the defensive backs that sometime have to guard him. He’s such a big and physical target that opposing teams have to get more aggressive. It’s already resulted in more than a few pass interference calls in the Bears’ favor.
Not that anything Carnegie Mellon University, Centre College or Birmingham-Southern University has tried has worked. In three games this season, Page has 22 catches for 356 yards and three touchdowns, well on his way to matching the combined 57 catches 669 yards and eight touchdowns that Max Elliot (‘16) and Mitch McMahon(‘15) put up at the position last year.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking that Page has excelled just because he’s big. His success these past three weeks at tight end is also thanks to the comprehensive strategic knowledge that only three years as a backup in the Bears fast-tempo spread offense could have taught him. There was no playbook learning curve, and with little time to suddenly become a starting caliber college tight end, the experience was invaluable.
“[Page] knows where the routes are supposed to hit as a quarterback,” starting quarterback and senior J.J. Tomlin said. “He’s only played tight end for two months now, but he plays it like he’s played it for a long time.”
That deceptive experience shows up in unexpected places.
Take two weeks ago, the Bears’ 39-28 defeat at the hand of Centre College. The Colonels steamrolled the Bears both on the ground and in the air—gaining 641 yards of total offense. But the longest play of the day belonged to Tomlin and Page. Here’s the scene: the Bears are down 14-27 at the start of the third quarter and they have the ball. Everyone and their grandmother knows that Wash. U. is going to have to air it out to get back in this game. On first and 10 on their own 40-yard line, the Bears run an empty backfield, and Page is lined up next to the left tackle, his hand is in the dirt. When Tomlin hikes the ball, three receivers—two in either slot and Page in the center—run streaks full throttle toward the end zone. For this play, Centre’s defense is in cover-two. That means two safeties provide help over the top and prevent the big play. When the ball is hiked, they’re immediately drawn the two slot receivers and drift, one toward each sideline. This opens up a big open patch of turf in the deep middle of the field that Kindbom calls “the void.” Page wants to get to that void.
Two Centre linebackers stay underneath. The linebackers are supposed to bump Page, throw him off his route, break his stride—do anything to keep him out of the middle of the field. But Page doesn’t let them. He angles out every so slightly towards the sideline, giving him more space away from the linebackers. And when it comes time for one of the linebackers to give the shove, Page pulls a swim move, bringing his arm up and over like an overhand stroke to bat the linebackers’ hands away without breaking his stride. That little extra space he creates allows him to course correct and continue up the middle of the field and into the void. Tomlin doesn’t miss it. He hits Page at the left hash mark of Centre’s 35-yard line, and with room to run, Page rumbles down to the 11-yard line. The play went for 49 yards and set up an 11-yard pass from Tomlin to sophomore wide receiver DeAndre Wilson the next down.
There is a cerebral aspect in route running. Page had a choice. He could have broke inside and gotten hit again by the second linebacker, taking himself out of the play. Instead he angled outside, disengaged himself from the linebacker and broke back into the void—an experienced move from a not-so-experienced player.
When Page was tackled down there was no flexing jumping or LaDainian Tomlinson-style first down ceremony. He just fixed his helmet straps and lined up for the next play.
Page is somewhat reserved, but from hike to whistle, he’s a fierce competitor, even when the situation may not call for it.
“There are times where you could see … a little bit of the competitive fire where he might be running over a defender or making an interesting throw,” Mueller said. “In one of the games where we’re already up by 60-something points, airing it out for another score.”
Now at tight end, Page has more opportunities to use what Mueller calls “the truck stick,” a reference to older football video games where players could flick a joystick to make their character put an extra hard hit on a member of the other team.
The video game analogy might be more apt that you’d think. Through three games Page has put up Madden NFL-esque number. And to his credit, these are his only three games at tight end ever—college or otherwise. That makes it fun to speculate what the final seven games of the football season may offer.