WATCH: 2024 top-10 ATH Mike Matthews releases mid-season highlights

One of the top recruits in the 2024 cycle is Lilburn (Ga.) Parkview four-star athlete Mike Matthews. So far this season, the 6-foot-0.5, 180 pound prospect has recorded touchdowns of 99 and 62 yards, reeled in a catch over five-star safety and Alabama commit Caleb Downs and notched multiple interceptions.

Matthews released mid-season highlights from his junior campaign on Saturday. The day before, he was photographed wearing Georgia gloves.

Matthews is the No. 8 overall prospect and No. 1 athlete in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is also the No. 2 player in Georgia. 

“He’s only going to get better and hasn’t even scratched the surface yet,” Tony Ballard, Matthews’ seven-on-seven coach, told On3’s Jeremy Johnson.

“There’s elite and then there’s Mike Matthews,” Ballard added. “There are some elite receivers in this country. Every time you see him, he’s better and it’s something different. He’s just scratching the surface and getting himself going. Before you know it, it’s going to go bananas.”

According the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine, Georgia has a close lead for Matthews’ commitment at 32.4%. Clemson has the next-best chance at 28.3%. Matthews has received 30 offers.

“I just keep my head down and keep working to try to get better and better every day,” Matthews told Johnson. “I’ve worked down my defenders in my routes to get open.”

RPM was released to the public in December. The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college. 

It factors in machine learning, social sentiment, visits and historical trends. However, expert predictions are still a big piece of the RPM equation.

Matthews has an On3 NIL Valuation of $129K. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.