Everything From Tennessee WR Mike Matthews In His Tuesday Press Conference

Tennessee WR Mike Matthews talked to media ahead of the Week 1 matchup against Syracuse. Here is everything the sophomore wide receiver had to say to the media.

On if he has friends and family coming to the game against Syracuse…

“Yeah, I got a lot of friends and family coming in. It's real exciting, you know, being able to play back at home. The only other time we play there is Georgia, but just to be in a different scenery, I feel like be really dope.”

On if he played in Mercedes-Benz stadium…

“Not a state championship, but I played there like a showcase.”

On how much excitement he has to show people what he can do….

“Yeah, it's exciting, man. It's truly a blessing just what I went through and where I've come to today. So, I'm really just excited to see how everything plays out and unfolds this season.”

On what he saw out of Joey Aguilar…

“I would say when he first got here, he wasn't like nervous or like scared. He was really open, and he was trying to get to know his teammates. So, I really knock him for that one, and really just building his chemistry. You know, it's not going to be like you're not going to get cool with everybody in one day, but he took his time, and now he developed, and he earned his spot, and now I see.”

On how he would describe him as a quarterback…

“He's Joey. Like, I feel I can't really explain how he is, but he's a good quarterback. He's Joey.”

On how the wide receiver room has progressed throughout camp…

“I feel like we're in a good spot. We now have everybody back fully healthy. So that's good. I feel like now that everybody's here, we're seeing how everybody else works. I feel like it's making us push harder going into this first game and further on to the season.”

On how much he is seeing the sharing of targets and such…

“Oh yeah, I see it all the time in practice, but like I said before, it could really be all three. Like they are truly three really good quarterbacks, and it just so happened that he earned a spot, but I feel like everybody in the quarterback room is good.”

On the desire to be an explosive passing offense…

Yeah, hopefully it is, but you know, in in football games in SEC, like it's never it's never always going to be perfect. We just got to be good at what we do, and whatever we do, we got to hope is fun. So whether it's passing, running, whatever.”

On how the team has been able to build chemistry…

“I feel like once, um, everything went down the last year, I feel like we're always on the same page and what was going on, and we had a lot of big guys come in, like like Sam Pendleton, we had WoWo come in as well. So we had a lot of older guys that kind of already knew what was going on. So it's pretty easy to get chemistry, and I would say just by working out with them weight room, like you can understand everybody's about their business. So I feel like we all put in the work to be where we want to be.”

On navigating camp with the injuries…

“We really like to emphasize mental reps. So like even if you're not out in practice or like it could just be from little from pay attention in the meeting room, or just getting mental reps on the practice field. Just watching routes and just talking everybody through anything because he might see something that you didn't see, and it could help you out later on.”

On how ready he feels this season…

“Yeah, it feels like night and day. Like last year, I was kind of unsure, nervous, and excited. It was a lot of mixed emotions, but now I just know I just got to be ready for the moment.”

On if he and Braylon Staley are driven by the fact that Tennessee doesn’t have experience coming back…

“Yeah, we're motivated, but we're not worried about the outside noise. I mean, everybody is always going to have their opinion, but we know what we got in the receiving room.”

On what he has seen from Travis Smith Jr and Radarious Jackson…

“Just a lot of growth uh, physically and mentally, but especially mentally, you know, that's the biggest piece. Well, at least for me, when I got here was the mental part. Just understanding the playbook, understanding with classes and everything going on, but I'm sure that they've come a long way and they've been working really hard. So, I believe just right.

On how much he values having a teammate like Braylon Staley…

“I value it a lot. That's like it's almost like my brother, you know, like I'm with him every single day. So, just him being on my side and then, you know, if I'm wrong, he's going to let me know. And he's wrong, I'm going to let him know. So, I feel like he's good to have a person by your side like that.”

On advice he can offer Smith Jr and Jackson…

“I would say just trust yourself. Stay confident regardless of what's going on because at the end of the day, you can only control what you can control. So if you do that, I'm sure you'll be in good shape.”