East Carolina football keeps winning in-state recruiting battles and locking up prospects in its own backyard. The Pirates secured their ninth commitment from a North Carolina high school on Sunday, landing Martin County two-way standout Jordan Matthewson.
The Robersonville native picked ECU from a long list of suitors, including Duke, UNC, Wake Forest and Appalachian State. He reported 19 total offers from Division I schools, taking official visits to East Carolina, James Madison, Old Dominion and Coastal Carolina during the summer.
Matthewson, a 6-3 and 216-pound senior, fits the mold of what ECU coach Blake Harrell has been securing with his latest class – versatile athletes who have experience at multiple positions and who play multiple sports.
Matthewson projects as a linebacker at the college level. But he has been a Swiss Army knife weapon for Martin County, also playing running back and wide receiver. He lined up as a wildcat quarterback at times and defensively has held his own on the edge or as a defensive back.
As a junior, Matthewson logged 83 total tackles, with three tackles-for-loss, three sacks, two pass breakups and a forced fumble. Offensively, he rushed for 608 yards and scored 10 touchdowns, averaging nearly eight yards per carry. He also caught 10 passes for 197 yards and four more scores.
An accomplished basketball player, Matthewson made the NCBCA all-district second team for 2025-26. He averaged 13.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 3.2 steals per game. He averaged a double-double as a sophomore (14.5 points, 10.8 rebounds per contest).
Being able to play college football close to home played a major role in Matthewson’s decision, he told 247Sports in a recent interview.
“I would say that I have the best opportunities at ECU,” Matthewson told 247Sports. “The coaching staff has been talking to me since sophomore year, and they were always consistently in touch with me. I felt like ECU was home, it’s right down the street and I’m very big on support with my family – my parents never missed a game, or my siblings, so it’s really important that I’ll be right down the road in Greenville.”
East Carolina’s 2027 Class at a Glance
- 19 total commitments
- 9 North Carolina commitments (most of any school)
- No. 68 nationally (247Sports)
- No. 3 in the American Conference, behind USF and Tulane
- Matthewson committed Aug. 16
Follow the class: Track every ECU commitment, recruiting ranking and addition to the Pirates’ 2027 class on our East Carolina Football Recruiting Hub
ECU football making North Carolina recruiting a priority
The Pirates’ in-state haul is becoming one of the more notable recruiting storylines among North Carolina’s college programs in the 2027 cycle – and their latest addition comes almost literally from their own backyard.
Matthewson gives ECU nine commitments from North Carolina high school prospects, the most of any Division I program in the state. NC State, Campbell, North Carolina Central and Elon are next with six apiece.
It’s also an unusually strong in-state haul by ECU’s own recent standards. The Pirates signed six North Carolina high school prospects in their 2026 class, four in 2025 and three in 2024. The last class this full of North Carolina-based prospects came in 2019 when the Pirates signed 11 in-state players.
And the strength of the class extends beyond its North Carolina numbers.
ECU’s 19-player class currently ranks No. 68 nationally in the 247Sports team rankings – third among American Conference teams behind USF and Tulane. The Pirates have only signed one class that ranked this high in the past decade – the 2019 group that finished 66th in 247Sports team rankings.
The rest of ECU’s classes since 2015 have finished ranked somewhere in the 70s, 80s or 90s nationally.
There is still a long way to go before the 2027 class is signed and complete. But if this group largely holds together, ECU could finish with one of its strongest recruiting classes in more than a decade — while building an unusually large portion of it right at home.
ECU Recruiting Rankings, In-State Commits (2015-2026)
- 2026 – 94th, 6 North Carolina commits
- 2025 – 87th, 4 North Carolina commits
- 2024 – 79th, 3 North Carolina commits
- 2023 – 66th, 2 North Carolina commits
- 2022 – 87th, 5 North Carolina commits
- 2021 – 102nd, 2 North Carolina commits
- 2020 – 74th, 7 North Carolina commits
- 2019 – 79th, 11 North Carolina commits
- 2018 – 88th, 14 North Carolina commits
- 2017 – 78th, 10 North Carolina commits
- 2016 – 79th, 11 North Carolina commits
- 2015 – 92nd, 3 North Carolina commits
More ECU and Recruiting Coverage
East Carolina kicks off the season Sept. 5 at Alabama. Read our full 2026 ECU Football Preview.
View every North Carolina commitment from the rising senior class with our North Carolina 2027 High School Commitment Tracker.
