Steelers Invite Penn Hills Native QB/WR to Rookie Camp
The Pittsburgh Steelers have invited Penn Hills native and versatile offensive weapon Hollis Mathis to the team’s rookie minicamp on a tryout basis.
Mathis started at William & Mary in 2019 as a quarterback, and became just the third quarterback in Tribe program history to start a game as a true freshman. He passed for 976 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another 546 yards and eight touchdowns over 11 games that season.
Mathis started two games in the COVID-19-shortened 2020-21 season, and with the departure of offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, he lost his starting job the following fall. After two seasons as a backup quarterback, Mathis made the switch to wide receiver in 2023. He appeared in 10 games as a redshirt junior, making 27 catches for 373 yards and two touchdowns.
In 2024, he had 52 receptions for 602 yards, to lead the Tribe, and scored three touchdowns. He also rushed 17 times for 105 yards and one touchdown, and threw four passes for 54 yards and two more scores.
The 6-foot-1, 174-pound Mathis ran a 4.59-second 40-yard dash in pre-draft testing and posted a 36.5-inch vertical, 10-foot-10 broad jump, 4.43-second shuttle and 6.9-second three-cone drill. That gave him an 8.68 Relative Athletic Score as a quarterback and a 6.7 RAS as a wide receiver.
As a high school senior, Mathis threw for 2,800 yards and 40 touchdowns on 268 attempts while leading Penn Hills to the program’s first state title in 23 years. Mathis followed fellow Pittsburgh native Brennan Marion to William & Mary, where he starred in Marion’s Go-Go offense. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is also a William & Mary alum.
The Steelers will invite a number of players to tryouts for their three-day rookie minicamp, which will be held the second weekend of May at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.Â
Over the last few seasons, the Steelers have typically signed one or two players to contracts from rookie camp invitees. Among the team’s rookie camp tryout successes have been quarterback Devlin Hodges in 2019. Last year, vets Anthony Averett and Jonathan Ward made the team after trying out at rookie camp.
Smith is the second player to be revealed as a tryout, joining Pitt outside linebacker Nate Matlack and Rhode Island RB/WR Tommy Smith.