KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee football wide receiver Mike Matthews is coming off an Auburn performance of four receptions for 57 yards that included a 42-yard catch and run. Matthews for the season leads the No. 15 Vols in receiving with 318 yards on 18 receptions and three touchdowns, averaging 63.6 yards per game.
On Thursday night’s episode of the “Mike Keith Show,” Matthews sat down for a conversation before the team heads off to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to face the Razorbacks Saturday. Below is everything he had to say.
On getting confused with Ty Redmond, another No. 4 from the Atlanta area
“It happens sometimes, but it’s whatever.” (Said with a smile)
On how his 42-yard catch against Auburn developed
“The progression of the game, just learning how the defense is playing and what type of looks they’re playing. Are they very aggressive or are they kind of soft, or whatever looks I may get. But also just trusting myself, just running through the ball, catching it and just playing ball out there.”
On whether getting north and south is the most important thing to learn for a young receiver in the SEC
“It’s a little different because in high school, you could juke a lot. You could make a lot of plays out of nothing. But in the SEC, it’s a lot of great ballplayers out there, and they’re just as good as you on the other side of the ball. So you’ve just got to be smart and just get what you can.”
On what he’s most pleased with through five games
“We started out very good, even though we took one loss versus Texas. But I feel like that really brought us together more and helped us push more, because we were close to our goals right there, but just not yet. So we have another level to reach.”
On being known as hypercompetitive
“Yeah, I’m very competitive.”
On whether he’s competitive about everything in life
“Yeah, pretty much.”
On an example of his day-to-day competitiveness
“The little things. Just try to be the best in whatever it may be. Say if it’s as small as somebody leaves something behind, I just pick it up. It might be trash, throw it out, or it might be something that they need, give it to them. Just trying to get more positive things that I’m doing.”
On why he takes pride in blocking
“Having more positives on my side. I know that if I’m blocking hard for my teammates and they see me block hard for them, that’s going to make them want to block hard as well whenever it’s a pass play coming to me. So just trying to put that image out there showing that I’m willing to do anything for my team.”
On why a highly recruited receiver embraces blocking
“It’s really just a want to thing. You can teach blocks, you can put yourself in the right position, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to go in there, you’ve got to do the job.”
On where he’s grown the most under receivers coach Kelsey Pope
“I would say, just my mental. How I process things, how I react to things, my composure, how I intake information, and all around controlling the game itself. Kind of slowing it down and making it to where I have fun.”
On whether he had to learn to channel his competitiveness
“Yeah, because it’s a time and place for everything.”
On whether he could play defense, and if it would be corner or safety
“Yeah. Probably wherever they need me. I played safety in high school, so I know a little bit. But it is tough.”
On his summer visit to Food City
“It was amazing. It was a great scenery. There’s a lot of great people there, too, and all the employees were very helpful. They helped us get situated. We were doing some signatures. It was a lot of people there, but they still made sure the whole situation was under control. So it was a great time over there.”
