The crown jewel of Tennessee football's 2024 recruiting class is already turning heads.

Five-star wide receiver Mike Matthews was the top-rated player in the Vols' recent recruiting class and the No. 30 overall player in the country. As an early enrollee, he's taking part in spring practices and his teammates are taking note.

Eight practices into his Tennessee career, fellow wide receiver Dont'e Thornton had high praise for the freshman's future.

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"He's a guy that can play outside or in the slot," said Thornton. "He's very explosive so once he gets the speed of the game and then of course learns the playbook, he's going to be unstoppable."

Thornton noted Matthews recruitment when talking about the freshman. With immense hype surrounding the beginning of Matthews' college career, Thornton can already see why he was highly sought after.

The first thing he said about his freshman teammate is that he feels like he's 'very special.'

The abilities of Matthews has jumped out to the coaches, as well. Recently, Matthews made an impressive catch in a scrimmage which caught the eye of head coach Josh Heupel.

On a throw by backup quarterback Gaston Moore, Matthews beat projected starting defensive back Jordan Matthews for a touchdown. This provoked Heupel to bring up what he called a 'big play' in his post scrimmage press conference.

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Spring Practice Central: Everything from Tennessee football's eighth day

Matthews' position coach Kelsey Pope has also taken notice. What jumps out to him is the competitive nature Matthews brings to the table.

"Mike is highly competitive," said Pope. "Like super competitive. He hates to lose. He always wants to dominate. When he first got here, we had to control some of that because typically you won’t win every rep. You are a true freshman coming into the SEC, so we had to control some of that. He was getting frustrated when he did lose and that would lead to the next play. But he’s done an awesome job for one to compete, but two the kid is in the building every day."

While Matthews has a fiery competitive spirit, he still understands what is in front of him. It can be a tough path for even the most talented freshmen to see the field in their first year.

What will make things even tougher is a stacked wide receiver room filled with experience that Matthews is walking into.

However, it can be expected that Matthews makes some sort of impact as a freshman. Until then, he is okay with developing at his own speed.

"I feel like this time is more of a developmental type of process for me," said Matthews. "I know I still have a long way to go and I know it's not easy to get playing time as a freshman. So I know I've got to develop on myself before I worry about (playing time)."

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