It’s been an ugly couple of weeks for the receiver room.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before — a Tennessee wide receiver is planning on entering the transfer portal. Mike Matthews, a five-star prospect coming off of his first season in Knoxville, made the decision to enter late on Saturday night just before the deadline. He now has a little over 24 hours to make a final decision, with some reporting that a return to Tennessee is still possible.
Regardless of his final decision, the past couple of weeks have been a rough look for Tennessee on the receivers front. You can understand the decisions of Nathan Leacock and Nate Spillman, who were buried on the depth chart. You can also make cases for Kaleb Webb and Chas Nimrod moving on, even though they were set to bump up the pecking order. If they knew what they knew now, would either leave? Maybe not. Who knows.
And then you have both Squirrel White and Mike Matthews joining them in the portal, knowing that Bru McCoy and Dont’e Thornton were out of eligibility. Matthews was set to move into a starting role next season while White could have returned to his slot role.
Tennessee is left with exactly two scholarship receivers — Chris Brazzell and Braylon Staley. This is all developing just two years removed from Tennessee producing a Biletnikoff winner in Jalin Hyatt, along with two more high draft picks in Velus Jones Jr. and Cedric Tillman.
How did we get here? Part of it is the simple wild-wild-west nature of the unrestricted transfer portal. No rules, no cap — who could have possibly seen this chaos coming?
But to me, there’s certainly more to the story.
Tennessee’s offense isn’t what is was with Hendon Hooker, Jalin Hyatt and Alex Golesh
Just two seasons ago, Hendon Hooker and Jalin Hyatt were lighting up the scoreboard on their way to nearly taking home a Heisman Trophy and a 4-team College Football Playoff berth. Tennessee regularly worked downfield in the passing game, scheming guys open for big plays while using lightning-fast tempo.
That all vanished as soon as Hooker ran out of eligibility. Squirrel White’s 803 yard 2023 season fell nearly 500 yards and 13 touchdowns short of Hyatt’s 2022 production. The passing numbers continued to dwindle this season, mainly in part to starting a freshman quarterback and having the luxury of an all-conference running back to lean on. Tennessee didn’t have a receiver top 700 yards this season.
Still, if you’re recruiting a receiver, you’re using that gametape of Hyatt and Tillman getting free and making big plays down the field. But that simply hasn’t existed over the last two seasons and it feels like a distant memory at this point.
Quarterback struggles haven’t helped
Joe Milton’s deep struggles were well-documented, despite the big arm. Nico Iamaleava continued on that same path, but did flash some improvement late in the year. Regardless, this offense isn’t what it once was from the early days of Heupel in Knoxville.
Something is missing, and it’s not just with the personnel. The creativity and dowfield schemes have seemingly taken a backseat for now. Maybe that changes as Iamaleava develops further and Tennessee irons out pass protection issues up front.
It’s time to have a conversation about Kelsey Pope
An SEC school with a former No. 1 overall prospect losing six of your top seven projected receivers is a tough look for receivers coach Kelsey Pope. It’s particularly bad if you lose your prized prospect from the 2024 class, should Matthews walk away.
Looking deeper than just what’s leaving, it’s worth asking who exactly has developed under Pope. Nobody is going to say Tennessee hasn’t had quarterback and protection issues, but the wide receivers haven’t helped either. The offense hasn’t had a guy that can go get a jump-ball or win down the field since Hyatt and Tillman. Drops have been a big issue, too.
Matt Seese broke this down for us last week, but check out the production from Heupel’s true, non-inherited wide receiver signees.
Kaleb Webb: 4-star | 23 gms, 22 rec, 214 yds, 1 TD | transferred to Maryland 12/18/24
Squirrel White: 4-star | 38 gms, 131 rec, 1,665 yds, 6 TD
Chas Nimrod: 3-star | 27 gms, 29 rec, 315 yds, 1 TD | entered portal 12/11/24
Cameron Miller: 3-star | converted to safety | transferred to Memphis in ‘23
Bru McCoy: transfer (‘22) | 29 gms, 108 rec, 1,356 yds, 7 TD
Nathan Leacock: Top 100 | 6 gms, 1 rec, 13 yds | entered portal 12/16/24
Nate Spillman: 3-star | N/A | entered portal 12/16/24
Dont’e Thornton: transfer (‘23) | 22 gms, 39 rec, 885 yds, 7 TD
Add in Brazzell’s 333 yards and Matthews’ 90 yards from this season and that picture doesn’t get any better. Every name from that initial list is now gone, and Tennessee will now have to rebuild nearly completely from the ground up.
Heupel isn’t one to make staff changes, but it’s worth wondering if Pope should be the man in charge of that rebuild.
The sky isn’t falling, but….
Take a step back and look at the college football landscape right now. The portal takes, but it also gives. There are over 3,000 players that have hit the portal to this point, and the odds are pretty good that Tennessee is going to find a couple of capable veteran bodies to fill in roster holes. The Volunteers now have an obvious need at receiver, but they could also add another offensive lineman and defensive lineman as well.
Tennessee needs to, and very likely is doing everything possible to retain Mike Matthews. There was quite a bit of noise about Nico Iamaleava getting offers over the weekend to leave, and it’s very possible Matthews was simply preparing for that possibility. It could also simply be a play for more NIL money.
Should Matthews return, Tennessee will be fine. They’ll still add a veteran or two to their top five and roll with Brazzell-Matthews-Staley. Tennessee will also add four-star prospects Travis Smith Jr. and Radarious Jackson, along with three-star Joakim Dodson. Keep in mind too that Boo Carter reportedly had discussions with the staff to play offense as well, so that’s a bit of a wildcard here.
If Matthews does go, the panic meter rises significantly. Most of the top names in the portal have already found new homes and Tennessee would then be looking at adding as many as three out of the portal. Could you find any true difference makers at this point in the offseason? It’s possible, but just fixing a numbers situation might take priority.
Heupel really hasn’t leaned on a ton of youth since arriving in Knoxville, but he may very well be forced to do so next season if the situation plays out just right. Getting Smith, Jackson and Dodson up to speed quickly will be a priority no matter who comes or goes, simply to build depth.
All eyes are now on Mike Matthews, who will make his final decision on Monday when Tennessee can officially put his name into the portal. The staff will figure out the rest from there.