Despite what proved to be a disappointing three-win season for Princeton football, two senior offensive linemen are turning the page on the Ivy League and taking their collegiate careers to a new level. Using their fifth years of eligibility, Will Reed is set to join the Mountaineers at West Virginia University, while Tommy Matheson will suit up as an Eagle for Boston College.
Unlike many other schools across the nation, the Ivy League has not allowed athletes to use their fifth year of eligibility outside of their four years of undergraduate studies, with the exception of the 2021–22 season, when the rule was waived due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result, Ivy League athletes who wish to continue their athletic endeavors after their senior year, with a fifth year of eligibility, must transfer outside of the conference. Recent big names that have gone outside the Ivy League for a fifth year include Jalen Travis ’24, Ozzie Nicholas ’24, and Liam Johnson ’24. For Reed and Matheson, this process has also earned them roster spots on teams with established professional pipelines.
“I was honestly pretty surprised with the attention I was getting from schools,” Reed told The Daily Princetonian. “I ended up with 10 to a dozen offers from other schools, which was really fun.”
Entering the transfer portal does not guarantee that an athlete will be picked up by a new school. As of 2022, only about half of Division I athletes who wanted to transfer were picked up by a team.
“I put my name in [the transfer portal] when our season ended, then started talking to coaches,” Matheson told the ‘Prince.’ “It’s all very hectic in that December window.”
Both Reed and Matheson received transfer offers from multiple schools. Their decisions came down to what they were looking for most in one academic year and a single season of football.
“I wasn’t expecting to be able to get a lot done academically with only having one year of eligibility,” Matheson said. “So when Boston College said they were able to get me into their master’s program, that was a kind of difference maker.”
For Reed, transferring was all about getting time on the field.
“My front runners were Virginia, Georgia Tech, and West Virginia,” Reed told the ‘Prince.’ “It came down to the coaching and the opportunity to start.”
Both West Virginia and Boston College are a part of conferences in the FBS, or Football Bowl Subdivision, which is the highest level of Division I football. Princeton and the Ivy League sit in the FCS, the Football Championship Subdivision, which is the second-highest level.
FBS schools typically have larger student populations and greater athletics budgets compared to FCS schools. Although teams in both conferences can compete amongst each other, they differ in their playoff format. The FBS playoff, better known as the College Football Playoff, is the most widely watched college football postseason, culminating in a championship game that draws in over 20 million viewers yearly.
While it is possible to make it to the professional level after playing for an FCS team like Princeton, both Reed and Matheson note that the possibility becomes greater as a result of their transfer to larger schools.
“The offensive line coach at West Virginia has almost a decade of NFL experience,” Reed said to the ‘Prince’. “[The NFL] is still a dream I’m holding onto. I think it’s more possible now than it ever was before.”
“It depends on how the next season goes, but playing in the NFL is the ultimate goal,” Matheson told the ‘Prince’. “For now, it’s just seeing how far I can take football.”
West Virginia University is part of the Big 12 conference, whereas Boston College is part of the Atlantic Coast Conference, or ACC. Each finished in the middle of their respective conference’s rankings during the 2024–25 season.
In terms of goals for the season, both Reed and Matheson are looking to make large-scale impacts for their teams.
“I think that [West Virginia] has a big need for offensive linemen right now,” Reed told the ‘Prince.’ “I want to help the team win games, and hopefully I can play well enough to get some type of all-conference mention or honors.”
“I knew I wanted to go somewhere where I’d have a really good chance to start,” Matheson noted to the ‘Prince.’ “That’s first and foremost my goal, then it’s seeing if I can be an All-ACC player.”
At Princeton, the duo began to see frequent time on the field starting their sophomore year. During their junior year in the 2022–23 season, their contributions helped the Tigers rank No. 1 for passing offense in the Ivy League.
By their senior year, both Reed and Matheson were consistent starters for Princeton. Matheson was named Blue Bloods Second-Team All-Ivy and Phil Steele Third-Team All-Ivy.
For Reed, though, the road to a starting position was difficult after missing his first-year season due to injury.
“In Washington, we played our COVID season in the spring, and in the last game I was having one of the best games of my life,” Reed explained. “In, like, the last minute of the game, I tore my shoulder and I had surgery in the May of my senior year.”
As such, coming to Princeton in August, Reed was limited in his athletic participation.
“I didn’t play a single down of football my freshman year,” Reed told the ‘Prince.’ “I couldn’t have the type of role that I felt benefited the team.”
From here, Reed was determined to make his mark. His sophomore year, he appeared in five games.
For Matheson, although injury was not a battle, challenges came in other forms, like time management.
“I like to have a lot on my plate,” he told the ‘Prince.’ “I like that challenge, just being able to do a lot of things at once. It’s like [having] multifaceted goals, you know.”
During Reed and Matheson’s time at the University, Princeton Football earned various different rankings within the Ivy League. Nonetheless, the players each feel that Princeton has taught them lessons that they will bring with them to their new schools.
“You talk about the brotherhood at Princeton and it’s a real thing for sure,” Matheson told the ‘Prince.’ “I think about beating Harvard at home in 2023 and away in 2022, which is always a highlight.”
Reed and Matheson will graduate this spring before they transfer for their final year.
Lily Pampolina is an associate Sports editor and a staff Audience creator for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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