Tennessee’s Mike Matthews dealing with injury during fall camp, per report
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Tennessee wide receiver Mike Matthews was not a full participant at Vols’ practice on Sunday morning, according to a report.
That’s per the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Adam Sparks, who notes that Matthews was present at practice but was seen stretching on the side of the field. The report notes that Matthews’ issue, which has not yet been disclosed by the program, does not appear to be a long-term issue.
However, Tennessee’s wide receiver room has limited depth early on in fall camp. In addition to Matthews, Chris Brazzell is also dealing with an undisclosed injury and did not participate in practice on Sunday.
With Matthews and Brazzell sidelined, Tennessee is now down to 5 healthy scholarship wide receivers — all of whom are either redshirt freshmen with limited collegiate experience or true freshmen.
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That’s not an ideal environment for a quarterback competition that could shape Tennessee’s season in 2025. Joey Aguilar and Jake Merklinger are expected to compete for the starting job this offseason, with Aguilar being the more experienced option. He started at App State in 2023 and 2024 while Merklinger has stuck with the Vols throughout his college career to this point.
Matthews is entering his second season with the program. A 5-star prospect in the class of 2024, Matthews caught 7 passes for 90 yards and 2 touchdowns last year during his true freshman season. Tennessee is hoping he makes a big jump during his sophomore season.
Tennessee still has a few weeks to get healthy at wide receiver. The Vols open the season against Syracuse on Aug. 30.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
