By Fred Jeter, special correspondent

If offered the option of being flattened by a tractor trailer or Matt Arkema, pick the truck. The difference is this: a careening 18-wheeler only levels a victim once. Arkema, fueled by brute force, an indomitable spirit and a bit of a mean streak, keeps coming and coming and coming.

The Midlothian teen, with a set of shoulders as wide as I-95 and a motor that never idles, doesn’t know when to quit.

“Matt’s a tough kid, and he is relentless,” Midlothian High School varsity football coach David Cooper said. “He finishes every play, snap to whistle.”

The 6-foot-3, 290-pound senior offensive guard was named All-Dominion District honors last fall and has accepted a football scholarship to clear holes at Virginia Tech. He will officially sign with the ACC Hokies in November.

Arkema visualizes big things at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, but only after he puts the finishing touches on a glistening Trojans career.

“We really want to win the rest of our games, and maybe make the playoffs,” Arkema said of the Central Region, Division 5 tournament. “After all, Coach Cooper has done so much for me.”

Recruitment began to take wings last winter after Cooper sent out video of Arkema’s land-clearing blocks. It helped that Arkema attended several high-exposure camps, showing off his rare combination of Shrek-like size, nimble feet and textbook technique.

Arkema’s numbers – which read like a license plate for recruiting – are verified 5.2 for the 40-yard sprint, 315 for the bench press and 400 on the squad.

Matt Arkema is a kind-hearted kid off the football field. - Photo by Patrick Dobbs

Toss in a 3.86 grade-point-average in a grinding curriculum including German 2 and Trig Analysis, and you see there’s nothing not to like about the big kid in jersey No. 75.

VaPreps.com lists him as the 26th best overall prospect in the Commonwealth.

Tech, Maryland, Vanderbilt and Northwestern were among the upper-tier programs also offering full grants.

The son of Bruce (former Randolph-Macon College lineman) and Carolyn Arkema is a natural super heavyweight. Even as a Midlo freshman, he was more than six feet and 220 pounds. By his sophomore year, he had cracked Cooper’s starting unit.

Arkema was always the biggest kid on the team while cutting his football teeth in the CQL Midlo and Weaver Associations. He polished his natural gifts with accelerated conditioning under weight-lifting guru Bob Blanton and speed specialist Reed Keegan.

Arkema attended the Tech spring game, then made two more visits (one official) before giving a verbal commitment to assistant coach Jim Cavanaugh in early June.

“There was no one thing about Tech; I liked it all,” Arkema said. “I felt a team chemistry there … a family atmosphere … and I loved the coaches.”

Cavanaugh, a long-time Frank Beamer aide, has grown familiar with western Chesterfield linemen. He’s the same Tech assistant who signed Clover Hill’s Blake DeChristopher (now starting tackle) and Manchester’s Khalil-Latif (since transferred).

Away from Friday night lights, mild-mannered and polite Arkema seems better suited to tutoring English literature than trampling other teenagers. Saturday to Thursday, he’s a defensive driver, with both hands on the wheel and a light foot on the gas.

Then Friday night he shifts into demolition derby gear.

“I turn into a completely different person once the game begins,” he said. “I really enjoy run blocking … one-on-one, and going at it.