'25 Portal Thread

[SPEDVoL14]

Austin price on Swain

Mm - it was more about his playing time than money

Branch - noted Miami visit with no QB, no DC. Need a visit

There are other names out there under the radar blah blah

Benson - talked to him but we will see if he visits. AP skeptical that Tennessee will honestly pursue

Tennessee has ZERO portal visits set up.

On fanbase concerns: understands the concern but Tennessee has only lost backups. Let it play out.

Says looks to add:
A rb. Mentioned Angel Johnson (no visit yet) and maybe another RB.
Two or three more receivers

Another segment coming up about Landry and Banks.

He wants more playing time….what did he think he was going to get at Tennessee next year? Just don’t get it

 

[MarcoVol]

well, at the end of the day, here is what we are about to find out....was Matthews the bust a lot of you all think he was, or was he simply playing time away from being the star the rest of us thought he was going to be. if you have a player that is electric, you find a way to get him on the field before you put slugs like nimrod or kaleb webb out there just because they have been here three years or whatever. they put nico out there and said "hes young, he will learn with experience" so why not do the same with matthews. nimrod and webb were not a loss at all, they can be replaced, hard to replace 5 star talent, and hard to get past the perception now that Tennessee may not know how to use young WR talent. i told people after '22 that whatever the answer is, you have to keep that offensive momentum rolling if you want to be a juggernaut in recruiting 5 star offensive players. they have spent the last two years, for whatever reason, morphing in to a 'perceived' run-first team. thats fine as long as you have an OL and RB room that is top 2-3 in the conference. But you better keep those rooms there if you are going to have success with that philosophy. and on top of that, if nico struggles next year and the new perception becomes that heupel may not be the QB guru he was sold as, you may have a fight on your hands to keep brandon committed.

We have a fight on our hand to keep Brandon committed anyway. That’s how it works with high end talent. No need to make it sound scarier than it is.

 

[MarcoVol]

Unless we load up on receivers from playoff teams by end of January we are in terrible shape in the passing game heading into spring practice, which means fewer opportunities for Nico to develop rhythm with new receivers . I know everyone is preaching calm but this seems like a not so great situation!

I’m excited to see how it turns out

 

[Type Orange+]

Yeah I get a strong scent of butthurt over the lack of PT last year and now he’s making demands as a result.

So it’s not about the money…but the payment for past sins is.


And if I’m right, he can hit the door.

 

[Jackcrevol]

He wants more playing time….what did he think he was going to get at Tennessee next year? Just don’t get it

HE IS LOOKING FOR ANY REASON...

 

[kong]

So WR room which we all agreed was one of the weakest groups.

Returning:
Staley - FR
Brazzell - RS-SO
Boo Carter - FR

Lots of other walk-ons it looks like, not sure if any are on scholarship

Incoming: (stars from 247)
Travis Smith Jr., 4 star
Radarious Jackson, 4 star
Joakim Dodson, 3 star


Speculation a bit on my part, but wouldn't surprise me to see us use a TE more as a 4th WR option. We have 2 really good ones recruited that are "traditional" TE bodies (6'4"+, 230lbs) and Miles gets another year we'll also return Cole Harrison & Ethan Davis

I think heupel referred to Brame as an “outside weapon” on signing day. What if he steps into Bru’s role

 

[Vol423]

So WR room which we all agreed was one of the weakest groups.

Returning:
Staley - FR
Brazzell - RS-SO
Boo Carter - FR

Lots of other walk-ons it looks like, not sure if any are on scholarship

Incoming: (stars from 247)
Travis Smith Jr., 4 star
Radarious Jackson, 4 star
Joakim Dodson, 3 star


Speculation a bit on my part, but wouldn't surprise me to see us use a TE more as a 4th WR option. We have 2 really good ones recruited that are "traditional" TE bodies (6'4"+, 230lbs) and Miles gets another year we'll also return Cole Harrison & Ethan Davis

That's revisionist history. Most of you clowns claimed before the season and through the majority of the 2024 season that our WR room was one of the biggest strengths of the team.

 

[tnvolfan16]

We have a fight on our hand to keep Brandon committed anyway. That’s how it works with high end talent. No need to make it sound scarier than it is.

you may not want it to sound scary, but you also cant hide from the truth. those teams recruiting against us will make it sound a lot scarier than i do

 

[KB5252]

Gotta be more mature than let PT be the determining factor when projected to be WR1 or WR2 at worst next season.

Or maybe the staff still didn’t see him as that.

Possibly, but I think it is more about bridges burned as he sees it anyway.

Probably was told he would compete for starting position..... Had some setbacks early with injury. Then probably voiced his concerns that he wasn't seeing playing time..... We responded but it was probably too little too late from his point of view.

Hard for me to blame him, also want to be fair to our coaches though.

It's still hard for me to swallow that your best young receiver sat the bench, while you started guys you didn't feel were worthy of keeping on the roster........ and you end up losing all of them. It's a bad look for roster management, and I feel cause for concern.

 

[MarcoVol]

you may not want it to sound scary, but you also cant hide from the truth. those teams recruiting against us will make it sound a lot scarier than i do

Yes that is how it works when recruiting high end talent

 

[MarcoVol]

Possibly, but I think it is more about bridges burned as he sees it anyway.

Probably was told he would compete for starting position..... Had some setbacks early with injury. Then probably voiced his concerns that he wasn't seeing playing time..... We responded but it was probably too little too late from his point of view.

Hard for me to blame him, also want to be fair to our coaches though.

It's still hard for me to swallow that your best young receiver sat the bench, while you started guys you didn't feel were worthy of keeping on the roster........ and you end up losing all of them. It's a bad look for roster management, and I feel cause for concern.

Agree with a lot of this.

But only a concern if the passing game isn’t better next year.

 

[KB5252]

Unless we load up on receivers from playoff teams by end of January we are in terrible shape in the passing game heading into spring practice, which means fewer opportunities for Nico to develop rhythm with new receivers . I know everyone is preaching calm but this seems like a not so great situation!

It's not ideal at all...... But we could technically pull in some experienced receivers........ But as you stated that could hold back development of the offense.

 

[SagginVawls]

He wants more playing time….what did he think he was going to get at Tennessee next year? Just don’t get it

Yeah. Something smells about all this. It doesn't add up... I mean like Lynyrd Skynyrd levels of smell.

 

[CamVol8]

Mike Matthews doesn’t want to be a Tennessee Vol, it’s really that simple. And I couldn’t care less

 

[MoCo_Vol]

That's revisionist history. Most of you clowns claimed before the season and through the majority of the 2024 season that our WR room was one of the biggest strengths of the team.

Seasons over so that’s based on this year’s production.

Best to Worst
RB
TE
QB
OL/WR

 

[Jackcrevol]

Mike Matthews doesn’t want to be a Tennessee Vol, it’s really that simple. And I couldn’t care less

Truth is, some people feel entitled to playing time. Our coaches dont agree. If only someone held the cards to those decision...oh wait. Josh Huepel does.

Next question please...

 

[NighthawkVol]

That's revisionist history. Most of you clowns claimed before the season and through the majority of the 2024 season that our WR room was one of the biggest strengths of the team.

That's not what revisionist history means. What ACTUALLY happened was that many, if not most, observers believed the WR room would be very deep and very talented this season. Then, it turned out, they weren't as good as everyone thought they'd be. So their play on the field didn't match expectations. It happens. They turned out to be one of the weakest position groups on the team, if not the weakest.

Revisionist history would be if they actually were good, but people were saying they weren't. But that's not what's happening here.

 

[NighthawkVol]

And I couldn’t care less

Thank you for using that phrase correctly. When people say, "I could care less," I want to choke them. But I probably need therapy.

 

[rockytop25]

He wants more playing time….what did he think he was going to get at Tennessee next year? Just don’t get it

Also…why’d he wait until the last minute to enter? If anything, your playing time got BETTER as time went on. It all seems very strange.

I hope he’s got the right people around him regardless what he does

 

[smokeyz1]

Also…why’d he wait until the last minute to enter? If anything, your playing time got BETTER as time went on. It all seems very strange.

I hope he’s got the right people around him regardless what he does

I'm sure he did want more playing time. However, waiting until last minute to request portal papers and dragging it out this long screams of Agent driven play for more $$$. If it was all about playing time and not liking Pope, he would have already entered the portal.

 

[Vol423]

That's not what revisionist history means. What ACTUALLY happened was that many, if not most, observers believed the WR room would be very deep and very talented this season. Then, it turned out, they weren't as good as everyone thought they'd be. So their play on the field didn't match expectations. It happens. They turned out to be one of the weakest position groups on the team, if not the weakest.

Revisionist history would be if they actually were good, but people were saying they weren't. But that's not what's happening here.

Wrong. @MoCo_Vol claimed, "So WR room which we all agreed was one of the weakest groups."

However, that was NOT what most of you thought before the season (or even well into the season). Most of you claimed our WR room was a strength of the team. Now that our WR's got shown up by OSU, you guys are trying to rewrite history (revisionist history) by claiming that everyone always agreed that our WR corp was weak.

Many of you severely misjudged the talent of our WR room, and now you guys are trying to act like you always knew it was a weakness. That is revisionist history.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

Sounds like Mathews is full of sh*t and is dragging the coaches along with it.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

It’s a pretty major FAIL if we lose MM. He was the gem of the 2024 offensive recruiting class and we just let him get away a year later? That’s a lot of wasted resources used to land him initially. There’s no way to spin this one.

Yep

 

[Midas]

Sounds like Mathews is full of sh*t and is dragging the coaches along with it.

Yeah if he’s taking this long he’s seeing what he can get.

 

[NighthawkVol]

Wrong. @MoCo_Vol claimed, "So WR room which we all agreed was one of the weakest groups."

However, that was NOT what most of you thought before the season (or even well into the season). Most of you claimed our WR room was a strength of the team. Now that our WR's got shown up by OSU, you guys are trying to rewrite history (revisionist history) by claiming that everyone always agreedthat our WR corp was weak.

Many of you severely misjudged the talent of our WR room, and now you guys are trying to act like you always knew it was a weakness. That is revisionist history.

I took the "agreed" part to mean after the season was over and before dudes started jumping into the portal, not before the season. No one thought that before the season.