Tennessee sophomore receiver Mike Matthews is a former five-star signee who didn’t get off to a five-star start with the Volunteers.
His time could be now.
“It feels like night and day,” Matthews said this week in a news conference. “Last year, I was kind of unsure and nervous. There were a lot of mixed emotions, but now I just know I’ve got to be ready for the moment.”
The moment comes Saturday at noon, when the No. 24 Vols open their 2025 season by facing Syracuse in the Aflac Kickoff Classic inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Matthews is from the Atlanta suburb of Lilburn, and he is an extremely key piece of a Tennessee receiver corps that contains just seven scholarship members.
Matthews played in 11 of 13 games last season and had only seven catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns, but he is Tennessee’s second-most experienced receiver behind redshirt junior Chris Brazzell II due to Bru McCoy and Dont’e Thornton using up their college eligibility and three players transferring — Squirrel White to Florida State, Chas Nimrod to South Florida and Kaleb Webb to Maryland.