The first real puzzling decision.
Here’s Tennessee’s first true curveball of transfer portal season — Mike Matthews is planning to enter after just one season on Rocky Top. The former five-star receiver apparently made the decision late on Saturday night just before the December 28th midnight deadline.
BREAKING: Tennessee True Freshman WR Mike Matthews plans to enter the Transfer Portal, he tells @on3sports
The 6’1 197 WR was ranked as a Five-Star Recruit in the ‘24 Class (per On3 Industry)
Appeared in 10 games this season for the Volshttps://t.co/RlUbB6Fk7q pic.twitter.com/ejldlaB89c
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 29, 2024
Matthews was a lock for a starting role next season with Bru McCoy, Dont’e Thornton and Squirrel White on the way out. Kaleb Webb, Chas Nimrod, Nathan Leacock and Nate Spillman also hit the transfer portal. Matthews saw big playing time due to injuries against both Vanderbilt and Ohio State to close the year due to injuries.
Per multiple reports, most notably from VolQuest, there remains a chance that Matthews could return. The move doesn’t make much sense on the surface with Matthews set to cruise into a massive role in 2025.
Is it possible that he was upset with his playing time this past season? After all, he did remain buried on the depth chart behind Webb and Nimrod for most of the season. Was it Tennessee’s lack of a passing offense for much of the year? Is it just a late play for more NIL money? Any of those explanations are possible.
Whatever the reason may be — and whether or not Matthews ultimately stays or goes — Tennessee has an issue at receiver with potentially six of your top seven guys in the rotation exiting. Just Braylon Staley and Chris Brazzell remain as things currently stand.
Tennessee will add three freshmen receivers, but the pressure will now be on to add multiple veteran bodies ahead of the 2025 season.