College football insider drops update on Tennessee Vols WR Mike Matthews on New Year’s Eve

Tennessee Vols fans are collectively holding their breath this week as everyone waits to find out whether or not wide receiver Mike Matthews will return to Rocky Top for the 2025 season.

Matthews, a former five-star recruit who signed with Tennessee during the 2024 recruiting cycle, requested transfer papers just before the NCAA transfer portal closed this past Saturday night.

The Georgia native isn’t officially in the transfer portal yet. Tennessee is working to convince Matthews to return to UT for his sophomore season.

On3’s Pete Nakos joined 104.5 The Zone’s The Buck Reising Show on Tuesday to give the latest update on Matthews.

“He (Matthews) is not yet officially in the transfer portal,” said Nakos. “News broke Saturday night/Sunday morning that he was going to enter (the portal). He has yet to officially enter. He remains in negotiations with Tennessee on a possible return for 2025.

“It remains unclear at this time what direction this is trending. The Tennessee compliance department has definitely made sure to wait as long as possible to put his name in (the portal). And he’s not officially in yet. But Tennessee continues to try to work the phones to get him to return for next season.”

Nakos then detailed what he believes is the reasoning behind Matthews’ flirtation with the transfer portal.

“I think we all saw the Nico (Iamaleava) rumors flying around Saturday night,” explained Nakos. “I think there was a little concern there. I’m not saying those rumors were true, I’m just saying those started to spread on social media and that maybe gave Mike Matthews some pause. But beyond that, too, I don’t know if he necessarily [made] this decision knowing if he wanted to leave Tennessee for good. I think it might have been a little bit of a knee jerk reaction and that’s what Tennessee is trying to tell him — ‘hey come back, Nico’s back, we’re going to try to keep building this wide receiver room around you and a few other pieces’. That’s kind of the pitch that Tennessee is making from everything I’ve been told.”

As for the timeline, it sounds like this saga could go all the way to Thursday (January 2) due to the New Year’s holiday.

“Saturday at midnight was the deadline to request and file the paperwork,” said Nakos. “Everything I’ve been told is that Mike has filed his paperwork and now it’s just a matter of time until Tennessee compliance puts his name in the transfer portal. But during that time period, Tennessee is doing everything they can to get him to stay.

“This timeline is going to become harder to understand because he filed the paperwork on the weekend, after the Christmas holiday. And then you would think the 48 hours would expire today (New Year’s Eve), but he’s not going to go in tomorrow, either, because it’s the New Year’s Day holiday. So theoretically he could go in as late as Thursday the way this is tracking.”

Losing Matthews would be a major blow for a Tennessee team that already has a thin wide receiver room.

It sounds like the Vols are doing everything they can to convince Matthews to stay. For now, though, Vols fans will have to continue wait patiently to see how this saga plays out.