Why Mike Matthews Needs to Have a Breakout Season for the Tennessee Volunteers

Why Tennessee Volunteers wide receiver Mike Matthews needs to have a breakout season for the Volunteers in 2025.

The Tennessee Volunteers are 100 days aaway from the beginning of their 2025 college football season and are looking to build upon last year's College Football Playoff appearance. But in order to do so, the Volunteers will overcome a handful of challenges.

One of the main challenges the team faces, is finding a reliable wide receiver to aid transfer quarterback Joey Aguilar, who joined the Vols in the spring following Nico Iamaleava's dramtic departure. The biggest candidate to do so is sophomore wide receiver Mike Matthews.

Matthews was a 4-star commit in the Volunteers' 2024 recruiting class and was expected to become an immediate weapon for Heupels offense. He would finish the year with just 90 yards from seven receptions.

Placing lofty expectations on an incoming freshman can be somewhat unfair to players, and Matthews has certainly not hit "bust" territory just yet. But if there were a time for the Tennessee wide receiver to have a breakout season, it would be this year.

With the departure of leading rusher Dylan Sampson and the transfer of Nico Iamaleava, a plethora of questions has emerged regarding the Vols weapons heading into 2025. With that, Matthews becoming the "go-to" guy for Heupels offense may not only be extremely helpful, it may be a necessity should they have aspirations of reaching the College Football Playoff.

Matthews and the Vols will begin their 2025 season in Atlanta as they face the Syracuse Orange at noon on Saturday, August 30th. This will be the fourth all-time meeting between these two programs in a series that Tennessee controls 3-0. It will be the teams' first matchup since 2001.