Mike Matthews to portal? [He’s staying]

#631
#631
GiveHim6InSC said:
I hate this mostly because of my Son. He’s a young boy who absolutely lives and breathes Tennessee sports.
He got a Vols baseball jersey for Christmas and has worn it for 3 days straight.
He watches videos over and over again of all the UT games.
He got a little basketball signed by Coach Barnes after a game at TBA and just lit up. I’ll never forget it.
Wears an old Adidas #8 jersey and plays football in the yard for hours on end. Sings Rocky Top when he scores 😂
He was the only kid in his school who wore UT gear on spirit day and he wore every piece of gear he had.
I’ve seen him defend Tennessee to the point of almost fighting other boys.
We didn’t get to make a game this year, but hope to get up for a b-ball game and baseball in the spring. He has asked me 437 times when we’re going back.
Last year, we went to the UConn game. Drove 3 hours. Got there at first light and stayed til after dark because he “wanted to see it all.”
I’ve been a Tennessee fan for 40 years. I’ve watched the Vols win National Championships, have been in Neyland and TBA for some great, great wins. I’ve ridden with the Vols through the rough times, too.
But he doesn’t know any better. He couldn’t stay awake to watch the whole game the other night. When I told him the Vols couldn’t pull it out, he just got silent. I know it hurt.
Later that morning, he was back out there in that #8 jersey, scoring TDs in front of 102k fans.
How am I gonna explain all this to him?
We might be able to score tickets more easily if things keep going, so there’s a bright spot.
But it is absolutely going to suck to try to explain to him why the guys he looks up to have left Tennessee.
We are living in bizarro world.
Click to expand...
Do yourself a favor and quit getting him to look up to athletes and look up to you!!!
 
#633
#633
Voljayton said:
This is an amazing time to be a college football player. It's the wild west. They can get all kinds of money before rules and regulations take over. If I was a player right now I'd be trying to leverage every dollar (actually I probably wouldn't. I'm too dumb and loyal). This is like getting in on Google when it first started up.

That being said, as a fan, this is the worst of the worst to watch play out. I'd imagine as a coach you'd have to be wishing you were in Saban's position and watching this play out from your couch knowing you had it good.
Click to expand...
I agree. You can't really blame the players for taking advantage.

In the MLB, the time to extend young talent is in the early years of arbitration. Otherwise, players have all the leverage and are inclined to test free agency. For current college athletes, every year is a "walk year". If an agent didn't advise my son to test the waters, I would consider it malpractice.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Voljayton
#634
#634
Honestly, if I was running wide open across the field multiple times just to watch my QB scramble or get sacked, I’d probably be looking for better options. Not speaking for Mathews specifically, but WR’s in general.
 
#635
#635
TN Volunteers. said:
That is the problem. The fact that we have lost about 7 receivers but only one a loss shows bad development and scouting.
Click to expand...

How many of those were signed before the 23 class when the NCAA cloud was still hanging over the program? High risk and developmental hopefuls were best case then. Not all Hyatts unfortunately.

I will follow the 3 guys rolling in this class when some positive program trajectory and need put us in play. Early contributors? TBD.

Room construction post spring when all the smoke clears may put us in a good spot for late portal finds. All part of this new roster management world. No basis for getting cocky or depressed till then.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GetYouSomeofThat
#636
#636
C-south said:
I remember nimrod dropping a pretty easy pass. Well not really easy since he was full speed and it was between two guys but he should’ve caught it. I remember other “drops” when guys got hung out to dry. I also remember seeing guys streaking wide open and overthrown by a mile. Two of them in the Florida game alone. There’s a reason all these wrs are jumping ship.
Click to expand...
We haven’t lost any good WRs
C-south said:
So none of the receivers are good but the one read and hit the panic button qb is?
Click to expand...
what good WR have we truly lost?
 
  • Like
Reactions: rocketskates
#639
#639
bpalmer28 said:
Our best WRs are still on the team
Click to expand...

I really do have faith in Heupel to take care of business in the portal as well. I thought that our secondary was absolutely screwed this coming season and he ended up shoring it up with portal players. Same can be said for the WRs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MagnoliaVol, bpalmer28 and midnight orange
#642
#642
TN Volunteers. said:
That is the problem. The fact that we have lost about 7 receivers but only one a loss shows bad development and scouting.
Click to expand...
Maybe. Maybe not. While coaching definitely is an issue, you have to put some blame on the players. Look at Thorton. He improved significantly from last year. Look at Kaleb Webb. He had offers from us, Michigan, Louisville, SC and Ole Miss. Look some of these guys when they got their chance just didn’t cut it. Some of that is coaching but not being able to run routes and catch are basic fundamentals every WR should have at the college level.

I am not putting the blame all in coaching. These players are not executing. And that’s a player problem.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TN Volunteers.
#643
#643
BernardKingGOAT said:
Extremely quasi
Click to expand...

In a true free market employers can't collude to suppress employee wages. In sports they can do that with salary caps thanks to antitrust exemptions. For example in the NBA there's such a thing as "max" contracts. In everyday life there isn't a maximum on how much an employee can earn from an employer whose willing to pay. Pro sports owners basically built in safeguards to keep each other from spending too much on athletes. Right now in college football there are no limits on how much you can pay athletes. Hence why the players have all the power. If there was a cap on how much each team could spend then players would have significantly less power in negotiations. But then again that wouldn't be a free market. And last I checked this is America and shouldn't we all love unfettered capitalism?
 
#644
#644
JRich said:
Honestly, if I was running wide open across the field multiple times just to watch my QB scramble or get sacked, I’d probably be looking for better options. Not speaking for Mathews specifically, but WR’s in general.
Click to expand...
How often were these guys running wide open?
I can promise you, it wasnt often and almost always when it did happen, the qb was under duress.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wmcovol
#646
#646
BigOrangeTrain said:
What talent is leaving?
Click to expand...
Hopefully, we can keep Matthews. This is the only WR defection that would really sting. I'm not seeing any updates but I have to assume we are in negotiations with his "representatives."

You have to say, he played this pretty well by waiting until the last minute to enter the portal, and after every other WR had bolted. He has maximum bargaining power now. He will have a fat check coming his way. That's for sure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigOrangeTrain and Walkman
#647
#647
There has GOT to be more to this story than just players looking for more money. Why is it only WRs and why so many at once and coming on the heels of a season where everybody was complaining about our passing game and the issues (whether QB or WR or OL) were plain to see.

Did Heupel tell them to pound sand that they weren't 'as advertised'? Are they mad because Nico wasn't that good at finding receivers open? Did they rely too heavily on the run game? Was it the WR coach and not developing? Or did they have too high of an expectation on the players? I just don't get why THIS position group is all of a sudden bailing after what happened on the field this year.
 
#648
#648
UTFranklinVol said:
There has GOT to be more to this story than just players looking for more money. Why is it only WRs and why so many at once and coming on the heels of a season where everybody was complaining about our passing game and the issues (whether QB or WR or OL) were plain to see.

Did Heupel tell them to pound sand that they weren't 'as advertised'? Are they mad because Nico wasn't that good at finding receivers open? Did they rely too heavily on the run game? Was it the WR coach and not developing? Or did they have too high of an expectation on the players? I just don't get why THIS position group is all of a sudden bailing after what happened on the field this year.
Click to expand...
They addressed it in a IG chat.They don’t like their coach but love Heupel
 
#649
#649
It seems like the last-minute portal entry was a stress situation. Probably had some bad advice. He seems like he truly wants to be here, and I think that he will stick around.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top