Down to five, OL Matias talks officials

Union City, New Jersey offensive tackle Josue Matias took his first official visit of the recruiting process and is giving it great reviews.

The 6-foot-5, 290-pound four-star prospect from the Garden State was in Chapel Hill for North Carolina's game against James Madison.

The Tar Heels have been recruiting Matias for a while now and Butch Davis' staff has already put together an excellent class of offensive linemen, including four-stars Jarrod James, Landon Turner and Kiaro Holts, plus Jamar Lewter.

"That was a great experience down there," Matias said.

"They took me around the campus. They've really got a great campus. They had me talk to the academic people and they were great. They basically walked me through how they do things every day.

"I talked to coach Davis and then the offensive line coach. Then at the end of the day I hung out with the players for a while."

Matias' first official visit set a good tone for the rest of the process. While he has a couple of weeks to relax at home he will be on the road again soon.

He has an official visit to Wisconsin scheduled for November 13, and he recently set up trips to Georgia for November 26 and Rutgers on December 10.

Georgia has surged up Matias' list recently even though the Bulldogs have had a rough season. That just goes to show recruiting is largely about relationships.

"I've been talking to coach (Scott) Lakatos and we've got a pretty good relationship, a very honest relationship," Matias explained.

"They haven't really been that high (on his list) for long. I knew him first from when he was at UConn and then he went to Georgia and started recruiting me real strong. I knew who the Georgia Bulldogs were and when he came in that made it even better. Even though they're not winning that's still a pretty big program."

Matias said he hasn't been in much contact with Wisconsin assistant coach Greg Jackson, who has been recruiting him for the Badgers. He will try to get in contact with him within the next week before he takes his official visit to the Big Ten school.

Florida will probably get Matias' fifth official visit, though he hasn't set the date for that yet.

Matias, ranked the No. 23 offensive tackle in the nation by Rivals.com, said that those five schools -- North Carolina, Wisconsin, Georgia, Rutgers and Florida -- are his five finalists.

A knee injury has kept Matias on the sidelines during his senior season.