Report: Arkansas expected to hire Eric Mateos as OL coach
FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman is expected to fill the vacant offensive line coach position for his football team with Eric Mateos, according to a report from ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.
Mateos has been Baylor’s offensive line coach and he is expected to fill the role left by former Arkansas offensive line coach Cody Kennedy, who was hired by SEC West foe Mississippi State on Dec. 1.
Arkansas fans might recognize Mateos, as he served under Pittman as a graduate assistant at Arkansas from 2013-15.
Mateos spent two seasons from 2017-18 as the offensive line coach at Texas State where he had an All-Sun Belt performer each of his two years. Prior to his stint with the Bobcats, Mateos served as the tight ends coach at LSU in 2016 after starting the season as an offensive line graduate assistant under Baylor offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes.
Mateos’ 2019 offensive line finished the season ranked No. 12 overall as a unit by Pro Football Focus. Since 2014, Mateos has coached 13 NFL players including eight draft picks.
A native of Overland Park, Kansas, Mateos joined Baylor following two successful seasons at BYU from 2019-20. While in Provo, he molded a BYU offensive line that anchored one of the top offenses in the country in 2020. BYU finished its season ranked in the top-15 of 10 different statistical categories including scoring (3rd, 43.5 ppg), total offense (7th, 522.2 ypg) and passing offense (8th, 332.1 ppg).
In his first season leading the Bears O-Line, his crew paved the way for the Big 12’s best rushing attack, which averaged 219.3 yards per game for the 10th-best mark nationally. The group also allowed the second-fewest sacks in the conference with just 1.29 per game, helping the unit finish as a Joe Moore Award Semifinalist as one of the best offensive lines in the country.
Mateos continued to lead one of the nation’s top offensive line units in 2022, forming an elite group out of veterans that included Connor Galvin, Jacob Gall, Grant Miller, Khalil Keith, Gavin Byers and Mose Jeffrey. The offensive line group paved the way for a rushing attack that rolled to 182.4 yards per game and 2,371 total rushing yards, including 34 rushing TDs, which ranked seventh-most in program history.
The Bears also totaled 5,380 total offensive yards, the 10th-best total in school history. Gall and Galvin each earned honorable mention All-America honors from Phil Steele and Gall was tabbed as the Best Offensive Lineman in Texas by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. Miller earned all-conference first-team honors from the Pro Football Network.
Mateos was named to the Dave Campbell Texas Football’s prestigious 40 under 40 list, honoring the top assistant coaches in the state of Texas that are under 40 years of age.
Following a 3-9 campaign this season, some members of Baylor's offensive staff were let go — including offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes. Instead of sticking around in a new system, it makes sense that Mateos would want to rejoin the Razorbacks in Fayetteville with Pittman.
Some information in the article provided by Baylor Communications.