It's been a busy few days for the Tennessee Volunteers football team in terms of players announcing their intentions to leave after this season. On Friday, linebacker Jalen Smith surprised a lot of people by revealing he'll be entering the portal.
Shortly after the Smith update arrived, even more negative news has come in for Josh Heupel and his staff. That's because cornerback Jordan Matthews, a key figure for the 2023 signing class, also won't be back in Knoxville next campaign. Matthews was buried on the depth chart, so this news isn't all that surprising, but it's still a bit of a bummer to see:
BREAKING: Tennessee CB Jordan Matthews plans to enter the Transfer Portal, he tells @on3sports
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 6, 2024
The 6’2 190 CB will have 3 years of eligibility remaining
Was ranked as a Top 15 CB in the ‘23 Class (per On3)https://t.co/60lHJXt9Bq pic.twitter.com/NxNt6DLWnm
Tennessee Vols cornerback Jordan Matthews will be entering the transfer portal
With Matthews now adding his name to the transfer list, there are now five known Tennessee players who will be making their way to the portal once things open up on Dec. 9. Matthews is joined by Smith, Vysen Lang, Khalifa Keith and Kaleb Webb.
Matthews appeared in all 12 games for the Vols this season, but he saw the majority of his work on special teams. He didn't play a large role on defense, which is why the door has swung open for him to leave Knoxville and suit up for a different team.
When Matthews first signed to play for Tennessee, expectations were sky-high for him. Coming out of Woodland High in Baton Rouge, La. in 2023, Matthews was ranked four stars, the No. 18 CB in the country and No. 7 prospect out of Louisiana for his class.
He signed with the Vols over Stanford, Michigan, Alabama and others. Unfortunately for Matthews, other players in the secondary stepped up for Tim Banks over him. As we mentioned above, Tennessee is now up to five players who will be transferring, but that number is sure to grow in the coming days.