Tennessee wide receiver Mike Matthews (4) adjusts his helmet during warm-ups at the 2025 Music City Bowl at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 30, 2025.

The Tennessee Vols football team is littered with talent, especially at the wide receiver position. Certainly, a strength of the offense is the depth at this position, but they also have stars. Junior WR Mike Matthews is one of those stars.

Coming out of Lilburn, Georgia, Matthews was a massive recruiting win for Heupel and the Vols. 247sports composite had him at a 5 star and the 6th WR in the nation for his recruiting class of 2024. Overall, he was ranked the 24th recruit in the country.

Matthews is entering his third year of college football, and all of them have been for Tennessee. Staying with one team for three years is not something many players do in today’s college landscape, so that alone is a reason to praise Matthews.

Last season, as a sophomore, the hype was building for Matthews, and he delivered. After just 7 receptions in his limited freshman season, Matthews tallied 53 receptions for 813 yards and 4 touchdowns in his sophomore campaign. He helped build a dynamic receiving trio with fellow 2024 signee Braylon Staley and third-team All-American Chris Brazzell II.

Matthews might be best known for his big play potential, which was on full display last season as he averaged an impressive 15.3 yards per catch and had a 62-yard touchdown catch against Kentucky.

It will be important for Matthews to continue his stellar play this season and build on his foundation. Now that Brazzell II has left for the NFL, the runway is open for Matthews to be the premier deep ball threat that he has every bit of talent to be.

With freshman Faizon Brandon earning the starting job, it will be important to get him easy throws. Matthews is a supreme athlete who would be any QB's best friend. He has the ability to get open and behind the defense; this will give Brandon easy throws to get comfortable.

Matthews threat alone will open up the rest of the field for the other WRs to feast as well. The Tennessee offense has consistently put up big numbers under Heupel, and Matthews should be one of the biggest reasons this season is no different.

This season I expect Matthews to have between 900-1,000 receiving yards and 60+ catches. He should improve on his touchdown total of 4 from a season ago with the increased volume and role. A good goal would be at minimum 6 TD receptions.

Fans should be excited about what Matthews can bring this season. He should have a real shot to make an All-SEC team if not first team. Matthews has that much talent, and if he continues to improve the SEC needs to watchout for the man wearing 4.

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