A lot has changed in less than a year for former Tennessee football defensive back Jordan Matthews. At this point last year, he was with the Vols in Knoxville in what turned out to be a memorable season. Yup, Tennessee reached the College Football Playoff for the first time.
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However, Matthews is now suiting up for 'the enemy', as he has since transferred to in-state Vanderbilt. It wasn't long ago that Diego Pavia was throwing some shade at Tennessee and now it looks like that's rubbing off on Matthews a bit. This week, he was asked about switching sides and he didn't hesitate in throwing some playful shade at his former squad:
Jordan Matthews on transferring from Tennessee to Vandy:
— Billy Derrick (@billyderrick10) September 24, 2025
“Some of my guys back at Tennessee have given me some stuff for it. It’s a nice rivalry, it’s deep and rich. I embrace that I’m on the other side of it and now, I’m on the winning side of it.”
🎥 @vucommodores pic.twitter.com/iT5L12cMjN
Jordan Matthews is loving life after leaving Tennessee football to join Vandy
Plenty of Vols fans didn't love this response from Matthews, but he isn't being hateful or anything. It's more of him taking a bit of a funny jab at his former teammates. However, Tennessee supporters indeed aren't seeing things that way, as they're now even more excited for Nov. 29 to get here.
Tennessee was already given plenty of bulletin-board material by Pavia, and now something tells us this clip of Matthews is going to start making its way around the locker room. The Vols aren't focused on Vandy right now, however, as the full attention is on Mississippi State.
On Saturday, Tennessee will take the field in Starkville in hopes of taking care of business and improving to 4-1. That's not going to be easy, as the Bulldogs have an upset on their minds and Mississippi State previously shocked a lot of people by taking down ASU at home earlier this campaign.
The good news for the Vols is that stud defensive lineman Jaxson Moi is expected to play following his Week 1 injury against Syracuse. Not only that, but there's hope that David Sanders Jr. will be able to make his highly-anticipated debut in Week 5 too. Tennessee will then keep taking things one game at a time, but Matthews might be eating his words once the regular-season finale gets here.