Tennessee Football 2025 Main Characters: Mike Matthews, Wide Receiver

In this five-part series, I kicked things off with the former five-star sophomore wide receiver.

A lot of the offseason chatter, at least at the national level, when it comes to Tennessee in 2025, has been about how the Volunteers will replace star tailback Dylan Sampson. Yes, Sampson was the SEC Offensive Player of the Year last year, who went on to get taken by the Cleveland Browns in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. However, Sampson also replaced a lead tailback in Jaylen Wright at Tennessee, who was also taken in the fourth round in the 2024 NFL Draft. In back-to-back seasons, the Vols have had their lead tailbacks that season taken in the fourth round of the NFL Draft. Across head football coach Josh Heupel’s four seasons on Rocky Top, the Vols have always averaged at least 5.0 Yards Per Carry. With sophomore Peyton Lewis, redshirt sophomore Desean Bishop, and senior Star Thomas all expected to contribute at tailback this fall, I am once again not the least bit worried about how the Vols will replace Sampson’s production in 2025.

So it should come as no surprise that one will not find Lewis, Bishop, or Thomas as one of my five main characters this week. Indeed, my biggest question on offense is at wide receiver, and how the Vols will replace Dont’e Thornton Jr.’s knack for big plays this fall. The Las Vegas Raiders wideout led all of FBS in yards per reception last fall at Tennessee. In Tennessee’s three losses, Thornton Jr. had one reception and zero touchdowns. Sure, you would have liked more snaps overall from the Oregon transfer, but the fact remains Thornton Jr. was the lone Vol wideout in 2024 that created big passing plays. It was not a coincidence that Tennessee lost games where Thornton Jr. was not a factor last fall. The question, though, is who picks up where Thorton Jr. left off last year? In 2023, it was Squirrel White. In 2022, it was Jalin Hyatt. In 2021, it was Cedric Tillman.

In 2025, it has to be Mike Matthews. Interestingly, it has been an even split on who has been the breakout wideout in Heupel’s scheme, with two guys in the slot and two guys on the outside qualifying for this list. Tillman and Thornton Jr. both shone on the outside, albeit in very different ways. White and Hyatt both shone on the inside, albeit in very different ways, too. The former five-star recruit could be the next outside wideout to break out at Tennessee, where I suspect he could be more Tillman than Thornton Jr.

We didn’t see much of Matthews last season as a true freshman, a major mistake by the Vols’ offensive brass, given how the veteran wideouts ahead of him on the depth chart fared, but we saw glimpses of what he could be in orange and white down the line. One of my favorite touchdown receptions last year was Matthews’ nifty snag from Gaston Moore in garbage time against Kent State last season. What I also found interesting was that the only two games in which Matthews reeled in two or more catches resulted in a touchdown reception for the former Parkview phenom. Similar to Thornton Jr. on a much smaller scale, Matthews made the most of his targets.