Latest / Scouting the League / 2027 Draft Scouting - Mike Matthews WR
Transcript
- Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: It's Tuesday, October 5th here on Scouting the League, which means it's time for some draft talk. It's always fun talking quarterbacks, some guys this year who I will think will end up in 2028 or much lower in this 2027 class, and some have them right now. But today is not about them. It's about one of those guys that's helping quarterbacks out. Wide receiver Mike Matthews of Tennessee, a true junior, who is going to have a Tough decision to make before too long. Today I throw on some film talk profile and talk about where I think he lands. But before we jump into that, make sure you head over, like, subscribe, share this podcast wherever you're listening and watching. If it's that video portion, which hopefully today with the video portion, it's on YouTube. Hit those buttons, leave your comments, thoughts. Always love to hear what you think. Make sure you set the reminder. This is tomorrow. Neil Stratton sits down with Peter King to talk some football. Set your reminder for that one. Head back, listen to Monday's episode where I talked about what scouts are doing on both the pro and college side. More topics from the world of scouting coming in the days ahead. Something you want, let me know. Head over to Twitter at right stepadv is where you can follow me. I am Roderick David. Rsafootball.com is a spot where you can check out my website. Everything you need to know about me, as well as links to everything you're doing. If you need a report, No matter whether you're an agent, player, coach, team, program, organization, no matter what's where it's at, it's rightstepscouting.com. Check out this video for more information on that. Yes, the requests have been rolling in over at writtepscouting.com, which is awesome. Love doing reports. Love let you know what the player is and where I think he ends up. More conversations happen from those reports. So make sure you get those reports in today. If you're a scout or an aspiring scout, the scouting community, the scouting community.com is the spot where you need to head over and then get the best insults on the market over at blue maca.com. Code scouting20 is going to give you a discount as well as let them know. We sent you. That's blue mocha.com. But today we head to Knoxville to talk true junior Mike Matthews. As we look at his page here, he is a Georgia native by way of a Lil Burn. Third season for the Vols, listed at 6'1, 200 pounds, a five-star kid, top 10 wide receiver in his class. He knew Coach Heipel was going to be throwing the ball, so he wanted to get some of that. A part-time guy in 2024 that totaled seven receptions on the year that first year on campus had some good guys in front of him. But then that next year, 2025, jumped into a starting role in all 13 games, jumped. All the way up from seven to fifty-three catches. So far, he has 18 receptions through five games. We're going to look at some of those catches so far today. He does have one kickoff return in his career. We'll likely be asked to do that just to kick the tires whenever he starts the draft process. As we throw on some film here for wide receivers, this is what we're going to be looking at. It is going to be hands. It's going to be releases. It's going to be routes. It's going to be his ability to run and gain yardage after the catch. And of course, his blocking as well. That one is certainly fifth on the list for a reason. It's important, but it's not going to make a difference at the end of the day until you really get into stacking and splitting some of these guys. So where do I see Mike again starting with the hands? What kind of hands? I think he's got good hands. I think there's going to be a lot of good with this player. You're going to hear. Throughout the evaluation, good hands, body catcher, hands catcher, and can catch it either way. You see stuff over the shoulder, you see stuff on the sideline, you see stuff on the move. Again, he's not plucking it, but he is running through. He can catch it. He does whatever he needs to to catch the ball, gets down, protects himself. Good hands. Love good hands, very consistent catching the ball wherever it's at. You can trust him. Quarterbacks are going to trust. Putting the ball out there and letting this guy go get it with his releases. I think this guy's got a little bit of stiffness to his gait. He's gonna be a little bit mechanical. I think some of that comes from this guy's a speed guy. I think he's going to run low 4-4s. Again, is it gonna be very good speed? I don't know. It's gonna be kind of a combination of his the acceleration, get to very good speed. Is he just a top-end speed guy? I think he's got good speed, good releases at the line of scrimmage. Again, that initial movement is. A little bit rigid, a little bit mechanical. He can shoulder through, he can get square, he can double you up. But at the end of the day, this guy is not going to be elite, but he's going to be good. And you like that. This guy's not going to be and dominate top end corners. But as a number three, a little hint there where I think he's gonna end up, he is going to be a good player. So good releases, good initial movement, nothing better than that. Again, that's where the routes fall to. Good routes. This guy runs. A full route tree. He is going to be able to snap down at a sufficient level, roll through breaks, or where this guy is really going to thrive. He does a good job. I think he's got good football intelligence, good instincts. You see him work for the quarterback, sit down in zones, be a guy that comes back to the quarterback's vision. So the routes are at a good level. But I think this is going to be really an outside guy. I think this guy will struggle inside in the slot where he's going to have to do more change of direction and break guys off. Though if you stick him in there and you just tell him to run deep and take the top off the defense, I certainly think that's going to be a spot where he could be good as well. Again, with his run after the catch, I think it's good. It's going to be primarily get what is there, straight line speed guy. But as we're going to talk with his blocking as well, this guy is physical. This guy likes to finish. This guy is edgy. This guy is tough. That's where the very good with this guy stands out. This guy's a very good, willing blocker, gets after people. And that's where, with this guy's overall profile, special teams coaches are going to want this guy on their units. There's enough speed. There's enough athleticism. There's enough size where this guy fits that vice, that gunner, that first down the field type of guy. If he's a number three wide receiver, you may have some arguments and you may have some battles on how much you get to use this guy. Maybe he becomes a gunner, a one phase guy, but he could grow into that number three, number two wide receiver where that offensive coordinator doesn't want to let that special teams coach have him for too many snaps, running 30, 40 yards down the field, burning those legs for when you need him in the fourth quarter. But the run after the catch, the finishes there. The wiggle, the shake, yeah, probably just as efficient level, the speed certainly there, the blocking, the strength, the toughness, all of it's there. Good player, good in all those categories. So, as we put all that together and jump over to our stack board here, where do I ultimately think Mike Matthews ends up? And this is where that tough decision is going to come. I think this is a solid starter, a third round grade. You like this player on as a number three in your offense. That is a great spot. I think he is a spot number two, but you're not going to love him and live with him as a number two. I don't think he's quite dynamic enough. In one-on-one situations where a top two NFL corner that's mirroring him, matching him all day, when the one goes down and miss a week, you can't rely on this guy. I think this guy is a number three vertical speed threat that lives in a good spot and does good things, but ultimately that is where he stays. He's not a guy that's going to really upgrade it, but upgrades it as a whole. Not a top-end upgrade, just a good upgrade. Solid starter. That is a third round wide receiver for him. Maybe maybe it gets pushed up end of the second round. And that is going to be where the decision comes for a player like Matt Matthews at Tennessee. Man, he could certainly see at least some comparable money over one year it staying in Tennessee, staying in Knoxville. Now, again, it's the NFL. The earlier you get there, the earlier you get to your second contract. You're talking a couple years guaranteed. So It becomes a tough decision. Do I think I can make myself up to be first round draft stock, get to that first round status? Discouse, do teams like him more than I do? I think it's gonna be a good, tough decision for him to make come December, January on what he wants to do. But if he's in this spot, it's going to be up to him, his agent, his his the people in his building to help him make that decision. But that's where I think this guy is. He's an ideal number. three that is going to be a solid starter. Third round pick is where I put put him. As we have our stack board, he's going to jump over O'Marion Miller of Arizona State, certainly behind Jeremiah Smith, the best player in the country. Cam Coleman at Texas, both first round guys. So I like him. I like him there. But always, not always about what I think. What do you think? Where should I put Mike Matthews higher, lower? Is he definitely returning to Tennessee? You let me know that here today over at right step ADV. We'll talk about it. These guys are winners. This player is going to be a guy that teams get behind. If the character's clean, you like the mentality, he's an easy one to stand on the table for. So let me know what you think at Right Step ADB. Make sure you tune in tomorrow's meal sits down with Peter King to talk football. Mourn the coming weeks on scouting. Everything you want. Let me know. Enjoy the week. Enjoy the slow onset of fall weather, as together we keep scouting.