Tennessee Football Misses on Top-10 Ranked Portal Target

The Vols miss on someone who has been named as a top target for their program.

Mateen Ibirogba | Mateen Ibirogba

The Tennessee Volunteers have been looking to land many different players at the top of their position, and they have been targeting many of the top 50 players across the nation. When it comes to the transfer portal, they have officially fallen short of landing a top-10 player in the portal.

The player that the Vols have fallen short of landing is Mateen Ibirogba. It was announced that Ibirogba would be committing to the Texas Tech Red Raiders following what would be listed as one of their greatest college football seasons of all time. Ibirogba is one of the better-ranked players and is a defensive lineman from the Wake Forest program. He is one of the more dominant players on the defensive line and is one of the players that was targeted the most in this portal cycle so far when it comes to a nationwide stance.

Ibirogba is set to be one of the biggest stars for the Texas Tech program, and that is thanks to a great defensive staff that will coach him to his match and coach him to his full potential, which we all know is the NFL.

Here is what Ibirogba has done prior to the years 2025 and 2026 according to the Wake Forest website.

Mateen Ibirogba Bio

Texas Tech fans get ready for the start of the Big 12 Conference championship football game, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2025, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. | Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

2024 (Junior): Saw action in four games during the 2024 season for the Demon Deacons... Totaled 32 snaps across the season... Recorded a solo tackle against Duke.

Prior to Wake Forest

2023 (Sophomore): Saw action in 11 games during the 2023 season for the Hoyas… Finished the season with career-high 29 total tackles including 18 solo tackles, 5.5 tackles-for-loss, 0.5 sacks, one fumble recovery and four quarterback hurries… Recorded a season-high six tackles and 0.5 tackle-for-loss against Columbia… Tallied a season-high 2.5 tackles-for-loss and five tackles against Lafayette… Recorded five or more tackles in three games during the 2023 season.

2022 (Freshman): Saw action in 10 games during the 2022 season for the Hoyas… Finished the season with 22 tackles including 14 solo tackles, career-highs in tackles-for-loss (6.0) and sacks (4.0) and one forced fumble… Recorded a season-high five tackles against Columbia with 1.0 tackle-for-loss and 1.0 sack… Recorded a season-high 2.0 tackles-for-loss against Colgate and Bucknell.

High School: Attended Clarksburg High School in Clarksburg, Maryland… Named All-Montgomery County First Team as a defensive lineman… Named Montgomery County MVP in 2021… Recorded 60 total tackles with four sacks, 12 tackles-for-loss and 16 quarterback hurries.

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