Simon Kenton quarterback signs with college football team that made late push to recruit him

By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

Matt Shearer knew nothing about Concord University until a couple of weeks ago when a football coach from the West Virginia school contacted him to set up a recruiting visit.

After touring the campus last weekend, the Simon Kenton senior quarterback accepted a scholarship offer from the NCAA Division II football program and signed a national letter of intent on Wednesday.

Matt Shearer was one of 11 nominees for Mr. Kentucky Football after his senior season.

“They say timing is a big thing in life and I guess it all happened at the right time,” Shearer said of the whirlwind of recruiting that led up to his decision to join the Mountain Lions.

Shearer passed for 3,870 yards and 47 touchdowns during his two-year varsity career at Simon Kenton. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior also received scholarship offers from Urbana University and Morehead State University.

He said Concord got off to a late start recruiting him because a quarterback who had made an early commitment with the team decided to accept a scholarship offer from another university.

“I hadn’t heard of them before then,” Shearer said of Concord. “I was planning on going (to Urbana) most likely and if I wasn’t going there I was thinking about walking on somewhere.”

Matt Shearer

During his junior season at Simon Kenton, Shearer shared the quarterback duties and passed for 1,338 yards with 13 touchdowns. As a full-time starter last season, he completed 165 of 276 for 2,532 yards and set a single-season team record with 33 TD passes for the 11-2 Pioneers.

He was a second-team selection at quarterback on the Northern Kentucky Football Coaches Association all-star team and one of 11 seniors from across the state nominated for Mr. Kentucky Football.

Shearer was the only quarterback among Concord’s recruiting class this year. On the team’s website, there was a comment from head coach Paul Price about each recruit.

“Matt is a big, strong quarterback,” Price wrote about Shearer. “He has great IQ. He will also bring competition to our quarterback room.”

Last season, Concord had a 2-9 record and averaged just 131 passing yards per game. The starting quarterback in the last eight games was freshman Adam Fulton, who threw for 1,128 yards and 10 touchdowns with eight interceptions.

“They seemed impressed with (Fulton) last year, but anywhere you go anything can happen,” Shearer said of competing for the quarterback position. “(Price) didn’t say the spot is open so they were impressed with him, but they like me too, obviously.”