PHILADELPHIA -- When Miles Austin got to Cleveland last season, a young wide receiver from Vanderbilt was trying to make the Cleveland Browns' roster.

Jonathan Krause ended up on the New England Patriots' practice squad. But before he was released in Cleveland, he told Austin about a former college teammate of his, a guy who was always working hard to get better.

Jordan Matthews.

Second-year receiver Jordan Matthews has earned the respect of his Eagles teammates. Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports

"He's an unbelievable worker, in the weight room and on the field," Austin said Tuesday. "[Krause] was speaking so highly [of Matthews]. I didn't even bring up his name or anything. He just randomly spoke about his years at Vanderbilt and said how hard Jordan worked from freshman year all the way through senior year.

"I thought about that. To have a peer of yours speak so highly of you, unprompted, just speaks volumes of the character that he has."

A second-year player for the Philadelphia Eagles, Matthews welcomes the presence of the veteran Austin.

"He's a baller," Matthews said. "Great player. Miles is like having another coach in that meeting room. He's able to not only tell me things like coach [Bob Bicknell] is, he's able to come out here and show me how to do them. He's shown me some new things as far as release moves. He's my weightroom partner. He's one of those guys I can really lean on."

Matthews, the Eagles' second-round draft pick last year, was lined up on the outside with the first-team offense Tuesday. Teammate Josh Huff was sideline by a sore hip. Jeff Maehl was playing in the slot, where Matthews excelled during his rookie year.

Because he was in that spot, Matthews worked against cornerback Byron Maxwell most of the session. He said Maxwell, then with Seattle, was perhaps the best cornerback he faced last season. The two had a fierce competition going. At one point, both caught a pass at the same time. They refused to let go, rolling around on the ground and wrestling for control.

Mark Sanchez threw a deep pass that Matthews caught behind Maxwell. Matthews barely kept his feet in bounds.

"Right now," Matthews said, "you need to set the bar high. Once you do that, everybody has to raise their level of expectations. Not just thinking about what you're going to do -- we've got to go out here and do it every day on the field. If we're going to try to win a Super Bowl in February, we've got to win the Super Bowl out here during OTAs.

"That's why we're so competitive. That's why we play at the speed we play at. The leaders are out there working like undrafted free agents."

Matthews can count himself among those leaders. His work ethic helps set a tone for guys such as Huff and first-round pick Nelson Agholor. With Jeremy Maclin gone, someone has to step up.

"I think what everyone in our room is thinking is we've just got to go out and do our job," Matthews said. "When you start proving people wrong, you get out of whack and you don't make the main thing, the main thing. All we've got to do is go out there, run our butts off, block in the run game and catch every ball that comes to us."