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Bruce Rankin Matthews (born August 8, 1961 in Raleigh, North Carolina) played American football as an offensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL) for the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise from 1983 through 2001. He is considered one of the best offensive lineman in NFL history, and was also voted into the Pro Bowl 14 times.

Personal

Bruce comes from a football family. Waylon Matthews was his inspiration growing up. He is the son of Clay Matthews, Sr., who played in the NFL in the 1950s. His brother, also named Clay Matthews, played 19 seasons in the NFL. He's the uncle of Green Bay Packers linebacker, Clay Matthews III. The middle three of Bruce's five sons are also football players: Kevin is the starting center for the Texas A&M Aggies,^[1] while Jake and Mikey play offensive line for Elkins High school.^[2]. Jake recently committed to Texas A&M as well.

In the 1970s, the family lived on the North Shore of Chicago where Bruce attended New Trier High School for one year. Matthews later moved to Los Angeles, where he was a standout playing on both the offensive and defensive line at Arcadia High School. He was also an all-league wrestler.

He is currently an assistant offensive coach with the Houston Texans.

College career

He attended the University of Southern California, where he played all offensive line positions at various times, earning All-America honors in his senior year and winning the Morris Trophy.

Professional career

Matthews was drafted with the ninth overall pick in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers, where he would block for the legendary Earl Campbell and eventually play all line positions (guard, center and tackle), going to the Pro Bowl as a guard and center. He was selected to fourteen Pro Bowls in all, tying a league record held by Merlin Olsen. Matthews was also named First-team All-Pro nine times (1988-1993, 1998-2000) and All-AFC 12 seasons (1988-1993, 1995-2000). He was selected as a guard on the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1990s. His entire career was spent with the Oilers franchise, which relocated in the middle of his career and became the Tennessee Titans. An extremely durable player, Matthews played in more games (296) than any NFL player, excluding kickers and punters, and played in more seasons (19) than any offensive lineman. Matthews retired after the 2001 season.

In his first year of eligibility, Matthews was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2007. He is the only player from the Tennessee Titans to be given this honor since their relocation from Houston. He was the fifth player from the 1983 NFL draft class to be enshrined, joining Dan Marino, Eric Dickerson, John Elway, and Jim Kelly; Darrell Green would later become the sixth player from that class.

Coaching

On February 27, 2009, Matthews returned to Houston where he was signed on as an Offensive Assistant with the Houston Texans after volunteer coaching at his children's high school, Elkins High School.

References

External links

• Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Profile at USC Legends