Tennessee WR coach Kelsey Pope updates the status of Mike Matthews, Braylon Staley
Freshman receivers Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley are “trending in the right direction” after not not playing for Tennessee in the 69-3 win over Chattanooga on Saturday, according to wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope.
“They’re trending in the right direction right now,” Pope said during his press conference on Tuesday. “We’re going to continue to take it day by day with those guys. They’re training, they’re working hard to get back.”
Tennessee (1-0) faces North Carolina State (1-0) Saturday night (7:30 Eastern Time, ABC) in the Duke’s Mayo Classic at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
“NC State is a veteran group.” Pope said. “They got a ton of older guys. They’ll present some problems on the back end where you got to be ready for a ton of different coverages looks. You just got to be ready for anything.”
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said during his weekly press conference on Monday that the Vols held out “a couple guys” on Saturday against Chattanooga that could have played, including cornerback sophomore cornerback Rickey Gibson II
“We held a couple guys (out) on game day,” Heupel said. “You might have seen him warm up. End of the day, he’ll be ready to roll this week.
“It was just felt like for our football team and the longevity, all of it, there were a couple guys that we held out that could have played in that one but will hold for this week.”
Up Next: Tennessee vs. N.C. State, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC
Matthews headlined Tennessee’s 2024 recruiting class as a five-star wide receiver out of Lilburn, Georgia. He was ranked in the On3 Industry Ranking as the No. 26 overall player in the country. He was ranked as the No. 6 wide receiver in the class and the No. 4 overall player in the state of Georgia.
Staley was a four-star prospect out of Aiken, S.C., ranked No. 75 overall in the On3 Ratings. He was ranked as the No. 12 wide receiver in the country and the No. 2 overall player in the state of South Carolina.
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Fourteen different Tennessee players caught passes on Saturday against Chattanooga, including nine receivers. Bru McCoy led the Vols with six catches on seven targets, with 89 receiving yards. Dont’e Thornton caught three passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Chris Brazzell II caught five passes for 59 yards.
With Gibson sidelined, Tennessee’s starting secondary in the season opener was Jermod McCoy and Jalen McMurray at corner, Christian Harrison at the Star and Will Brooks and Andre Turrentine at safety.
Gibson last season had nine tackles, one tackle for loss and a pass defended.
Rickey Gibson II is ‘a super, super talented player … really dynamic’
Brooks led the team with five tackles against Chattanooga. Turrentine and McCoy had two tackles each and McMurray and Harrison both had one tackle.
Jourdan Thomas was lost to a season-ending knee injury during training camp, with Harrison replacing him as the starting Star with freshman Boo Carter also getting time there.
Gibson was a four-star prospect in the 2023 class, ranked by On3 as the No. 173 overall prospect in the country and was ranked No. 17 among cornerbacks. He was the No. 13 overall player in the state of Alabama, out of Hewitt-Trussville High School in Trussville.
“He’s obviously a super, super talented player,” Brooks said on Monday. “He’s really dynamic as well. Really excited to have him back and be able to play this week.”
